Porter suspended
Porter suspended
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By Wendy K. Kleinman
Published: January 7, 2008
The Oklahoma City school board voted this morning to suspend Superintendent John Porter.
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Conflicting statements
Speaking at John Marshall High School on Sunday, Porter refuted Hudson's description of a meeting in which he said Hudson "demanded that I resign.”
Porter did not provide his account of what happened.
Hudson says he suggested Porter think about resigning following a discussion of harsh criticisms from school principals. He said he does not have the power to demand a superintendent's resignation.
Porter said that he had not heard of any such criticisms until he read reports in The Oklahoman.
But in response, Hudson provided more details of his account of that meeting.
The meeting took place over the lunch hour on Oct. 10, between Hudson, Porter and an outside consultant, Hudson said. The three discussed feedback from administrative staff and principals from a September Organizational Health Indicators survey, he said.
The Oklahoman spoke with that consultant, Leon McLean, on Sunday evening. McLean confirmed that Hudson neither asked for nor demanded Porter's resignation.
McLean, who works for the Organizational Health, Diagnostic and Development Corp. and has consulted with the Oklahoma City School District for five years, agreed to confirm what was not said in the Oct. 10 meeting. Because of confidentiality arrangements, he would not discuss specifics that were discussed.
Other developments
In defending himself against the allegations that have been made public, which involve the purchase of a reading program and travel expenses, Porter mostly repeated what he wrote in his earlier letter to the community — in some cases word-for-word.
He flatly denied misusing or intending to misuse any school funds. He said he always turns over receipts from travel to his staff members, and the school board approved the purchase of the computer program.
But Hudson said that while the board did approve the purchase of the program, Porter did not disclose then that staff members had circumvented the bidding process.
Staff members are responsible for soliciting bids on anything the district purchases to get the lowest price.
According to Hudson, Porter maintains only one vendor sells the type of program in question. However, the district's vendor told investigator Robert McCampbell the names of several competitors, Hudson said.
Separately, Porter also denied any allegations in the copy of the investigation report he received have anything to do with personal relationships or improprieties. Hudson has said not all the district's concerns are related to money matters but has so far declined to elaborate.
‘Stand with me'
At the press conference, Porter was surrounded by Terry Abbott, a friend and the former chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Education, and public relations associates with Saxum Communications.
His wife, Linda, also stood behind him throughout the press conference, and Porter in turn asked the Oklahoma City community to stand by him as well.
"When I came here we embarked on a nine-year plan to make our schools the envy of the nation. .... I ask the community and the school board to stand with me in the battle for better schools,” he said.
Porter will be at the district's administration building, 900 N Klein, to meet with the board this morning, he said.
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jason i see you cant do better than that.