Free advertising! Kiss Christina Kishimoto’s ring — the one she keeps in her back pocket — and your business can be featured in an email blast to ALL GPS EMPLOYEES! Email irene.mahoneypaige@gilbertschools.net for this fabulous freebie!
Even if giving out preferential free advertising to *special* people and *favorite* businesses looks, smells, and quacks like illegal conduct when a public officer engages in such behavior, it’s not illegal when the Gilbert Public Schools superintendent or her favorite minion does it. <Wink, wink.>
“But that’s using using public resources for private gain!” Ah, but we all know that Christina Kishimoto treats GPS as her fiefdom. If she (or her minion, Irene Mahoney-Baloney-Paige) decides to grace a local business, you know it’s for a good reason. <Another wink, wink.>
“Isn’t that also using the employee’s position to solicit for personal gain or for purchase of goods or services? Isn’t that against GPS policy?” Of course it is! GPS Policy GBEB has been used in the past to terminate employment, or at least, to attempt to terminate employment of employees. Here’s what the policy says: “Avoid using position for personal gain through political, social, religious, economic, or other influence.” Also, “Inappropriate use of technology equipment or the District’s electronic information system” is listed as an example of misconduct.
GPS Policy GBEF gets more specific: “District employees … shall not use District-owned or provided technologies to endorse or promote a product, a cause, political position or candidate.” By golly, there must be an exception for soliciting for favorite businesses offering services rather than products, but Westie hasn’t found it. Westie can’t find a provision for charging advertising fees to said businesses for sending out email blasts to all employees (about 5,000), either, so it must be free for all who ask.
Then there’s GPS Policy GBEBC: Gifts to and Solicitations by Staff Members. It has an entire section dealing with prohibited solicitations using district resources like the automated system for sending email to all employees:
Solicitations
A school employee’s position in the District shall not be used to influence parents or students to purchase books or other merchandise, except for materials approved by the Superintendent for use in the classroom.
Staff-member solicitation(s) of other employees for any outside profit, nonprofit, or charitable groups, institutions, or organizations must have the approval of the Superintendent’s designee.
Employees may not solicit students for any outside profit, nonprofit, charitable groups, institutions, or organizations.
Employees shall not use automated systems to solicit the purchase of goods or services, including survey information for the purchase of goods or services (i.e. push poll).
“What does soliciting for *special* local businesses do to advance the mission of Gilbert Public Schools, which is to educate students?” That’s a tough question, but we’re sure that it’s just too difficult for ordinary people to understand, so GPS will continue the free advertising unabated by such niceties as following laws that prohibit government-paid employees from plundering government-financed resources. Of course, public funds include every single dollar that passes through GPS coffers, but Kishimoto’s Three Votes on the governing board have abdicated their responsibilities for using public funds appropriately and in accordance with the law. If Christina Kishimoto wants something, the governing board dances to her tune.
“Which businesses receive such largess from Gilbert Public Schools?” Now we’re getting to the crux of this problem. Who gets to pick and choose which businesses get this free advertising? Is this freebie limited to businesses in Gilbert, Arizona? Or to members of the Chamber of Commerce, comprised of some of Christina Kishimoto’s best buddies who think she’s worthy of nomination as Businesswoman of the Year? <This merited Westie’s Raspberry Award for having separate categories for men and women. In this day and age. Sheeeeesh. Why not CofC Prom King/Queen?>
Shout out to members of the Gilbert Town Council: if any of you are BFFs with Christina Kishimoto, perhaps you could explain to her the code of ethics to which you adhere in your behavior as a public officer. It seems that Gilbert Public Schools doesn’t bother with such niceties as a genuine code of ethics that’s actually enforced, at least, not where the Top Dogs like Christina Kishimoto are concerned.
A new Mesa business recently was the object of Irene Mahoney-Baloney-Paige’s affections, leading to free advertising on the GPS Electronic Information System. Here’s the email blast (click image to enlarge):
Would you be surprised to know that GPS has ANOTHER policy prohibiting this abuse of public property (the GPS email system) for the private gain of Locks & Tots Hair Studio?
GPS Policy IJNDB, which includes:
Electronic Information Services
The district provides Electronic Information Services (EIS) to students, teachers, staff members, and other authorized community members in order to improve learning, teaching, and efficiency of the district’s operations. EIS helps accomplish these goals by:
Fostering interpersonal communication;
Providing access to a wide variety of information resources, applications, research and teacher training; and
Promoting collaboration and dissemination of successful educational practices, methods, and materials.
EIS exists for limited educational purposes and may only be used for educational purposes. The term “educational purposes” includes classroom activities, career or professional development, district operations, limited high-quality personal research and other work-related purposes.
Acceptable and authorized use of EIS is defined as use in direct support of the district’s stated educational vision, mission, goals and policies. Any use outside of that scope is considered unacceptable and unauthorized.
Unfortunately for this hapless business, which seems to have a terrific business model, GPS favoritism makes it appear that there’s something going on under the table. It looks like GPS can sully the best of reputations. Beware: You are known by the company you keep. But we digress.
In comparison, Northern Arizona University states clearly the same issues we discuss here, but our experience is that GPS has only a passing familiarity, if any at all, with the word *integrity:*
The university expects administrative officers and other employees of the university to be independent and impartial in all actions involving the use of public resources, that public office or employment not be used for private gain, and that there be complete public confidence in the integrity of the university.
Gilbert Public Schools: “We don’t need no stinking rules for inhabitants of the White Castle!” The GPS administration can’t figure out why GPS is bleeding students and employees. Sheeeesh.
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BTW – apologists, don’t waste your breath trying to rationalize that other school districts do this. At most, other districts have a private web page listing all available discounts, which apparently has some sort of guidance for which businesses or services are included in such lists. Perhaps it’s well-meaning, but it’s still wrong. We also know that GPS used public resources to create an exclusive *Craig’s List” of goodies offered for sale to other GPS employees. That’s an even bigger wrong. But it’s business as usual in GPS. <sigh>
