I’ve tried to sit back and hope that things within the public education landscape would improve. I strongly believe that at some point in time Mineral County School District will become a case study in a textbook. It seems like everytime I turn around, there is another shady deal from the District Office that occurs with or without the rubber stamp of the school board.

I don’t take issue with consultants in general. Properly structured, consultants can prove to be a lifeline for schools and businesses. They can provide insight and information that would not otherwise be available. The issue currently occuring at the Mineral County School District is something different than that.

Consulting has basically become this endly stream of money just flying into anyone’s pocket that seems to have some opinion, whether or not there is any basis for it. The finance consulting is really just the most aggregious example. You have a school district that insists on hiring a consultant with less of a background than their Finance Manager, at a price that is almost the same. They are effectively employing two Finance Managers, but only one of them has any accountability, and thats the full-time staff member.

Some of the consultants seems to simply regurgitate information that everyone already knows. It comes down to nothing more than a pretty bound report, that is either not actionable, or it lacks support of the staff to implement. There is also a redundancy issue.

Part of the board’s great rubber stamp is approving consultants that have been paid before, but failed to deliver an outcome, or gain to the students or staff. They waltz in, collect six figures and basically say you can do better for another six figures. They are also overlapping same consultants with differing opinions. At what point does the background noise get so loud that nobody has a direction? According to the board apparently, a room full of static is a good thing, at any cost, and at any detriment to the student population.

The waste has grown so large that I have started reaching out to higher elected officials. I have been in communication with several offices. Some represent Mineral County, while others sponsor items like school finance accountability bills this session. I hope nothing else can give perspective on how the waste in the past and present do not build a brighter future for anyone other than money-hungry consultants.