Education commissioner needs a ‘transition team’?

It’s still unclear why Bob Corkins, our new state education commissioner, needs a "transition team." Or why he is paying a consultant $2,500 a month to head it. Shouldn’t someone earning $140,000 a year already know how to manage? And as Wichita schools superintendent Winston Brooks has noted, nearly all of those on Corkins’ transition team appear to be from northeast Kansas.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee

9 Comments

  1. csa
    Posted November 5, 2005 at 6:42 am | Permalink

    It only gets better . . .

    The $2500/month is going to Daniel Harden, the WU prof that Corkins initially wanted to hire for $15,000 to help with the transition. Harden was another contender for the position.

    Another member of this transition team is Scott Hill, former KBOE member who (with Steve Abrams & former member Harold Voth) schemed with the Creation Society of Mid-America to mangle the state science standards back in 1999.

    The fact that these members of the transition team are from NE Kansas shouldn’t bother us too much. What needs to be looked at are their goals for Kansas’ kids. And their past actions are the best indicators.

  2. Galahad
    Posted November 5, 2005 at 9:04 am | Permalink

    Gee, maybe Ralph Reed of the Christian Coalition can use some of his illegal casino money to fund it.

  3. Ray Thomas
    Posted November 5, 2005 at 11:15 am | Permalink

    This is absolutely disgusting. The overpaid and underqualified commissioner has a large staff already. Check out:http://www.ksde.org/commiss/commis_staff.htm

    And yet he needs help? Yes, he needs help alright. It is time our spineless legislature stood up to this totally out of control board of education and change the laws. Make the commissioner either an elected or gubenatorial appointment rather than a rubber stamp of the right wing zealots who have taken over the BOE.

    This is beyond ridiculous..it is revolting. The BOE cannot be allowed to continue this insanity.

  4. mrcontroversy
    Posted November 5, 2005 at 2:06 pm | Permalink

    Just one more reason why we need initiative and referendum more than we need TABOR.

  5. Otto
    Posted November 5, 2005 at 7:18 pm | Permalink

    Bob Corkins, our new state education commissioner, is a complete idiot who has to pay people to tell him how to do his job. Is it fair that us taxpayers have to pay an idiot, who only got the job because of his political ideological slant and has no experience running anything, who can’t do his job. Now we have to pay consultants to tell him how to do his job.I can’t believe the irresponsibility of the whole school board to create this mess. The next time one of these educated morons tries to claim they have “no monkeys in their ancestry” all I have to do is look at Corkins and I think that will prove them wrong enough.

  6. JUSTA GUY
    Posted November 6, 2005 at 7:58 am | Permalink

    BELIEVE BROTHERS AND SISTERS! BELIEVE!! It is decreed in the Intelligent Design Manual that only the incompetent and closed minded should lead the children to the promised land.

  7. Galahad
    Posted November 7, 2005 at 1:13 pm | Permalink

    Yup, he’s a conservative Republican. You can’t expect him to be COMPTENT too . . .

  8. TRACY
    Posted November 8, 2005 at 6:06 am | Permalink

    I’m just surprised that CKD isn’t on the payroll (yet). Oh well, at least it was good fun when she graced us with her condescending presence here.

  9. Ben Huie
    Posted November 10, 2005 at 4:03 pm | Permalink

    Add to that another $5000/month to hire a PR firm to explain him to the people. Man, these borrow-and-spend Republican spendthrifts owuld make a drunken sailor look frugal.