On BREAKING: Garrow resigning, getting pay and severance
Posted on December 14 at 12:42 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
You can read all the documents at Channel 3000. Seems apparent at this point that, whatever shortcomings Garrow might or might now have personally and professionally, he never stood a chance with this school board. By their mishandling of the situation at every step, it's no wonder he felt like he couldn't continue his career here. The school board really has only itself to thank for the spread of damaging rumors, at least one of which I was pretty sure was true based on the voracity of the gossip-mongers. Shame on me. But had the board addressed this issue with even an ounce of transparency and decency from the start, much of this could have been avoided. Rob Roy called this a "mess." It's a mess of the board's own making, and hopefully one we won't see again. But that requires Milton voters to actually elect people who haven't been moldering away on the board for years already. Until that happens, I'll remain dubious about the likelihood of positive change in this community.
On BREAKING: Garrow resigning, getting pay and severance
Posted on December 14 at 11:54 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
abass80 - Thanks. To me it sounds like Garrow is being paid both salary through June 30 and $35K in severance. Nice work (or not), if you can get it.
Again, this speaks to the shortcomings of this school board. Is Garrow's contract written so that he would receive such a payout regardless of how his employment ends with the district? If so, that's pretty shortsighted on the board's part. More likely, the board couldn't adequately prove its case against Garrow, misconduct or not, but because they handled the whole situation so poorly, they offered him the paid vacation and a positive letter for not pursuing any legal action against them.
How differently might this have been handled, had a couple of the new candidates for school board last year actually gotten elected? We'll never know now, but surely it couldn't have been dealt with much worse.
On BREAKING: Garrow resigning, getting pay and severance
Posted on December 14 at 11:27 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
A positive letter of reference certainly speaks to the school board's inability to handle this properly, doesn't it? If Garrow did act inappropriately, or rather could be proven to act inappropriately, there's no way he'd get a positive letter of reference from the district. Instead, the school board bungled this thing from the start and, apparently, left themselves few options but to pay Garrow off and write him a glowing recommendation. This is what happens when an elected body is perpetually filled with "life-long" residents with no term limits: a dearth of knowledge and common sense, cronyism, and ineffectiveness.
On BREAKING: Garrow resigning, getting pay and severance
Posted on December 14 at 11:17 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
I also hope the Gazette will ask the board what constitutes "inappropriate fraternization," as well as what the nature of Garrow's interactions were that lead to the initial complaint. Also, why did the board decide to place Garrow on leave? From what's outlined in this article, the punishment seems awfully heavy-handed. Did even more happen than has already been let on? Did the board determine that the district and its staff could no longer place its confidence in Garrow to lead? Did they just mishandle the entire investigation and paying him to go was deemed the best course of action? There are still a lot of unanswered questions, and while I highly doubt Garrow bears no guilt in this, the school board has done a pathetic job of managing this situation.
On BREAKING: Garrow resigning, getting pay and severance
Posted on December 14 at 11:04 a.m. ( Suggest removal )
Can the Gazette confirm whether Garrow's home in Milton is also for sale, and apparently sitting empty already? It certainly looks like the guy has already taken his money and run.
On Milton schools to release records on Garrow's leave this week
Posted on December 14 at 10:32 a.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
On Milton schools to release Garrow records by Friday
Posted on December 12 at 10:53 p.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
On UPDATE: Garrow put on leave following complaint
Posted on November 27 at 12:11 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Iamnotbetterthanyou — Why should we assume that just because Garrow says something it must be true unless proven otherwise? There's enough going on here, with enough being left unsaid, that the logical conclusion is there's something the district and Garrow are actively trying to hide. If this was as simple as bereavement leave, or pursuing his dreams, why the district investigation into a complaint against Garrow? Obviously, there's more than meets the eye. And, frankly, the "pursuit of dreams" excuse is b.s. If his dream isn't to be an educator or administrator, then he should just quit his job and go pursue it. To do anything else in that scenario is practically stealing money. That the district would be complicit in that is ludicrous, even if you have very little faith in this school board.
No, the logical conclusion is Garrow did something unseemly, but outside the boundaries of being a fireable offense. The school board likely took the advice of its legal counsel and put Garrow on paid administrative leave through the end of his contract so they could just (they hoped) quietly pay him to go away. And it's in Garrow's best personal and professional interests to act like there's nothing to see here so let's just all move along.
You're absolutely right that the truth, whatever it may be, has yet to see the light of day. But not everyone is jumping to unfounded conclusions. Some of us actually know a little about the man and his history, so none of this comes as a complete shock.
On None
Posted on November 26 at 4:11 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
"I am not having, nor have I ever had an affair ..." Just curious, but if not "affair," what term would you use, Mike, to describe how someone both met their current spouse and got a divorce from their first one some 10 years ago?
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On BREAKING: Garrow resigning, getting pay and severance
Posted on December 14 at 1:14 p.m. ( Suggest removal )
Wis_Family - I agree. I know a lot of teachers in this district, from a lot of the buildings. I don't think staff attire is an issue in Milton, at least not to the extent that student attire is. Certainly the inane level of detail Janesville schools are looking at for teacher attire is unnecessary. But the dress code should be better enforced for students. We don't need school uniforms, but leaving a little something to the imagination, as it were, wouldn't hurt.
Of course, since the school board arguably doesn't even know what constitutes "inappropriate," I don't think we want the decision left up to them.