“The firing of Traci Davis was nothing short of a long term, well-orchestrated coup.”
That remark represents a consensus from informed sources about the firing of the Washoe School superintendent who will probably walk away with a million-dollar settlement as did her predecessor.
This week, the school board starts the process of hiring a high-priced consultant to conduct a national search for a new ingenue naive enough to want to work here.
Nobody knows that in 2017, with about an hour’s notice, the entire school board was rousted to attend an emergency meeting with lawyers.
The officials were informed that unnamed high-level administrators were leaking inside info to a former employee who had sued the district. The trustees were sworn to secrecy under pain of death, dismemberment or sacrifice of their firstborn.
Fast-forward a couple of years. The alleged leaky administrators were fired for their dastardly deeds, then their boss was fired because she she should have known what skulduggery was afoot.
Was she ever informed about what the underlings were doing? Nope. The trustees were sworn to secrecy and the lawyers, paid by the taxpayers, didn’t tell her either.
In criminal lingo, someone who witnesses a crime and fails to report it is guilty of misprision. Apparently, the school district is such a snake pit of mismanagement that no one informed the boss about what was going down.
Nobody was allowed to talk to anybody and Ms. Davis got fired on July 1.
“This was a total setup to take advantage of Traci’s unpopularity,” said an insider.
Ka-ching.
KA-CHING, PART DEUX. Some assert that a contributing factor was St. Mary’s unsuccessful bid to win the lucrative school district health insurance contract against Renown.
MY EMPLOYMENT APPLICATION STANDS. If Alfred E. Neuman remains unavailable for the superintendent’s post, I want to be considered. I guarantee I can screw up the school district just as badly, if not worse, than the current crowd and I’ll do it for half price. A mere $200k per year plus expenses will suffice.
PORN ADDICTS BEWARE. With our school board in the thrall of superstition and unable to make a decision on sex education, students must resort to learning the old fashioned way – from other students. Fortunately, we now have the Internet.
Last Monday, the fake news New York Times reported that major cyberbiggies, including Facebook and Google, are tracking feelthy peekchur website visitors: “A new study scanned 22,284 pornography websites and found them riddled with trackers from major technology companies.”
Lighten up. It’s just kids from southern states like here in Mississippi West trying to get an education.
With Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court and the self-admitted “stable genius” in the White House, we now have a government that demonstrates what enlightened pornographers can achieve.
For instance, our anatomically correct president certifiably does not have a racist bone in his penis.
CORREXION: Last week, I noted that the Reno City Council passed a rent control ordinance on Nov. 13, 1978. The vote was probably five yea vs. one nay (then-Mayor Bruno Menicucci) with Councilmember Bill Granata absent. The Reno Evening Gazette did not publish an itemized count.
You will find an annotated and extensive expansion of last week’s report at Barbwire.US/
BABY BOOM MINORITY. As of 2019, the vaunted 1946-64 Baby Boom is no longer the largest generational cohort in the United States. I can live with that but GADZOOKS, that pesky fake news New York Times reported a Pew Research poll that found “boomers now identify with the conservatism of the Republican right more readily that any other political ideology.”
If Abbie Hoffman wuz alive, he’d be rolling over in his grave.
DOONESBURY’S ART OF WAR. Garry Trudeau has updated the ancient manual of guerrilla warfare.
“In a tight race, who do you like,” he wrote in last Sunday’s comics, “some doofus Democrat with ‘solutions for America’ or a feral POTUS fighting tooth and nail to stay out of prison?”
Ingenious military strategist Sun Tzu advised always leaving a defeated enemy a path for retreat. Those with nothing to lose are far more dangerous.
Or, as Trudeau put it, “Always bet on the cornered rat.”
Say cheese!
SPEAKING OF NUMBERS. The US Census is in total disarray under Czar Donaldov. Surprise, surprise.
WALK WITH THE GIANTS. Nominations for the Nevada Press Association Hall of Fame are now open. I have re-entered two Tribune alumni, UNR Journalism Professor Emeritus Jake Highton and Don Dondero, official photographer of the 1960 Winter Olympics, among many accolades. E-mail your support to NPA Executive Director Richard Karpel at. Copy me and I’ll upload your comments to their websites.
These were great journalists who deserve posthumous induction. Pass the word. Do it!
Be well. Raise hell. Esté bien. Haga infierno.
Andrew Barbano is a 50-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com/ E-mail Additional references for the above will be added to the expanded web edition of this column at Barbwire. US/ Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988.