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Gilbert Public Schools: Jeff
Filloon is New Assistant Superintendent for Human
Resources
Jeff Filloon, Director / Certified, has
been named to replace departing Nikki Blanchard. Teachers
and support staff who were hoping for relief from Nikki
Blanchard's management style will be disappointed.
We know that Jeff Filloon
follows a similar management style of manipulating facts to serve
his purposes, as he showed at the end of the 2010-2011 school year.
Public records in Denise
Lowell-Britt's investigation file revealed that Jeff
Filloon called the parent of a student in Sarah's
classroom, interrupting the family during a vacation in
Disneyland after the school year ended.
Jeff Filloon was
"investigating" a comment that Sarah made in an email to
Vicki Hester following a tragic accident involving
students at Meridian Elementary School. His goal was to
prove that Sarah had made a false statement to her
principal. The manufactured controversy was over Sarah's
objection to Vicki Hester asking a parent if their child
"had a good relationship" with Sarah as the child's
teacher. Vicki Hester claimed she never did that.
Jeff Filloon's quest was to
prove Sarah lied without alarming the parent about the
purpose of his investigation.
Just as Denise
Lowell-Britt "put words in the mouth" of witnesses
during interviews, Jeff Filloon manipulated a
witness's testimony.
Just as Denise Lowell-Britt wrote text for Sarah's
evaluation, Jeff Filloon "created documentation" to
suit his purposes. The immediate problem for the
district was that two investigations had not shown
grievous misconduct on Sarah's part, so Jeff Filloon,
working with Vicki Hester and Denise Lowell-Britt, set out to tighten the noose around Sarah's
neck. (In the excerpts below, punctuation shows mistakes
from the original documents.)
After talking to the parent
on the telephone, Jeff Filloon sent that parent an email:
I want to thank you
for taking the time out of your family vacation to speak with
me. I have attached a summary of our conversation. Please let me
know if this is an accurate reflection of our conversation. If
there is anything that needs to be changed, please let me know.
If it looks accurate, please say, "I approve of this summary
statement". I look forward to your email response.
Jeff Filloon also wrote a
memo on May 27, 2011:
Jeff Filloon, Human
Resources Director for Gilbert Public Schools, had a telephone
conversation with ***, Meridian Elementary School parent...Mr.
Filloon asked *** if she had recently spoken with Vicki Hester,
principal of Meridian Elementary School. *** said,
"yes"...
Mr. Filloon asked
*** when that conversation took place and *** said, "I spoke
with Mrs. Hester on the phone on Monday, May 23 between
9:00-9:30 p.m."...
Mr. Filloon asked
*** if there was any dialogue about [child's] rapport or
relationship with Ms. Sarah Green. *** said, "no", why?" Mr.
Filloon said that a concern had been raised by Ms. Green.
*** told Mr. Filloon that not once during her conversation with
Mrs. Hester did Mrs. Hester ask about [child's] relationship
with Ms. Green.
*** told Mr. Filloon
that Mrs. Hester went above and beyond to reassure that
[children] were taken care of. *** said that *** didn't know
what they would have done without the great help of Mrs. Hester.
Since Mr. Filloon
called *** while they were on vacation, he asked if he could
email the conversation summary to her for approval. *** agreed
and would reply back with verification.
Jeff Filloon didn't have
to pretend to be independent or even fair in his investigation. He
emailed Vicki Hester and Denise Lowell-Britt later that same day:
Denise and Vicki,
I was able to talk to *** at noon today. *** was at Disneyland.
I emailed *** the summary of our conversation for her
verification and she was hopeful that her hotel has internet. I
will forward you the verified summary when I receive it. *** did
say there was no conversation about the relationship between the
teacher and student ever brought up during the conversation.
Very supportive all of Vicki's help during this ordeal.
I will get that to
you when I receive it. I will be out all of next week. Have a
nice Memorial Day Weekend!
Jeff Filloon emailed
Denise Lowell-Britt (who was at the time acting as an "independent
investigator") on June 6, 2011 at 2:49 p.m.:
Denise,
Attached is the documentation you requested in regard to ***,
parent at Meridian Elementary. I spoke with *** over the phone
while *** was out of town on vacation. I documented the
conversation based on what *** told me during the phone
interview. The attachment points out the dialogue of our
conversation.
Jeff Filloon then
crafted a summary of the conversation and emailed it for the parent
to endorse, including this statement:
*** told Mr. Filloon
that not once during *** conversation with Mrs. Hester did Mrs.
Hester ask about ***'s relationship with Ms. Green.
The parent, by email on
May 28, 2011, wrote that Jeff Filloon's account sounded accurate and
complete, then added:
... Admittedly, I am
still confused and somewhat concerned where your concern arose
because I feel as I stated to you before, that the school and
all involved were more than helpful in their efforts to make
last week as comfortable for our children as possible. I do
recall and don't know if this came out in the conversation, but
the only time Mrs. Hester asked about the relationship between
our [children] and their respective teachers was when she
asked if they had a "good relationship" with their teachers...
Jeff Filloon wrote to
Denise Lowell-Britt on June 6, 2011:
Denise,
Here is the email from *** which confirms my interview write up.
I forwarded her my documentation and she read it and emailed me
to confirm that it was accurate. Please let me know if you have
further questions. Thank you.
Once again, the district
arrayed its big guns against a small teacher. Although the parent
explicitly contradicted Jeff Filloon's write up, this incident
became Charge # 9 in the Statement of Charges
against Sarah.
9. May 23, 2011: Ms. Green
sent an email to Principal Hester in which she accused
Principal Hester of asking a parent of Student B if
Student B had a good relationship with Ms. Green.
Ms. Green further accused
Ms. Hester of putting Ms. Green in the position of
having to defend herself and stated, "It's clear that
you are trying to destroy my professional reputation".
In fact, Principal Hester
had not made the alleged inquiry to the parent, which
the parent confirmed verbally and in writing.
This incident
illustrates Jeff Filloon's integrity and his belief in
"creating documentation" to further his objectives. His service as
Director/Certified under Nikki Blanchard's tutelage prepared him
well to continue the hidden agenda of the administration of Gilbert
Public Schools.
An employee can NEVER feel secure in this toxic environment
in Gilbert Public Schools. Teachers and support staff, be careful! Take
away these clues to entrapment of an employee in the district's
labyrinth known as
Progressive Documentation:
-
There may be
meetings you know nothing about (until you don't attend that
meeting, then it can become a charge against you)
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Or you don't know
about a meeting because your access to the district's email
system has been blocked (when you don't attend that meeting,
then it can become a charge against you)
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A parent or an
administrator speaks of a "concern" about you or your actions
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An administrator or
superintendent creates documentation for parent signature or
produces an email from a parent several days after a "concern"
is supposed to have occurred
Code word: "concern."
If you hear that word, it means your career probably was imperiled
before you knew anything about it. Gilbert Public Schools policies have been
carefully crafted so you don't know and can't defend when you learn that you are being fired.
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