From:    Earl Pettit

Sent:    Friday, August 14, 2009 10:20 AM

Cc:    DUSD Administrators;

Subject: The hiring process and Mr. Cormier

Members of the Governing Board

Because of some recent public attacks, I am writing to clarify specifically the process used to hire teachers for positions currently filled by ESI teachers in DUSD.

As a reminder, all ESI teachers we had last year were retired teachers drawing pensions from the Arizona State Retirement System and all of the retired teachers that DUSD hired or work for ESI this year continue to receive their full pensions while also being paid as an employee for ESI or DUSD. The only difference is that neither ESI nor DUSD contribute to retirement for these individuals as their retirement is already set and there is no further growth in their accounts.

Each of the positions filled by an ESI employee were posted this spring. All ESI teachers were informed of this in February but they indicated that this was the current/prior expectation as well. Screening of applications and interviews took place at the school site. Be aware that all teacher recommendations originate with the school site by committee which is normally comprised of an administrator, support staff member, parent, and teachers. The District (HR nor myself) do not originate recommendations but instead review them to ensure the person is qualified, has favorable background checks, and has a favorable criminal background check. HR simply posts positions, gathers applications, forwards applications to the site principal, and assists the principal as requested. With over $400 thousand being paid to ESI last year, we looked to see if there would be any cost to have these individuals hired directly by the District and found that it was a “wash” or even a small decrease in cost but the benefits are tremendous with accountability and returning the outside contracted teacher to the team. When offered the hire for next year, we asked each former ESI teacher which they would prefer (remain with ESI or return to the District) but this had NO impact upon their selection or non-selection as the best recommendation to serve in that teaching capacity. We had 19 ESI teachers last year and have 3 remaining under ESI this year. 5 were either not selected for hire or chose not to continue and 10 were offered and chose to be hired as District employees.

Specific to Mr. Cormier:

In February, all ESI employees were informed of their need to apply as well as the intent to offer those recommended with employment with the District — this would increase the compensation package value for the employee but not cost more because it would eliminate the fees paid to ESI for that contractor.

Mr. Cormier submitted his letter of interest which was required of him to apply for the position. There were other applications to consider which were forwarded to the High School.

The high school conducted the screening and interviews, and made the recommendation of another teacher — the committee was unanimous in its recommendation. Besides very strong recommendations and very good interview, the recommended hire has a B.BA, MA, and experience in a secondary setting. Mr. Cormier was not selected by the committee. District-Level Administration had absolutely nothing to do with the establishment of the committee which consisted of: Dan Bates (Asst. Principal), Rob Doctor (CTE Director), Maria Figueroa (Support Staff/Parent), and Amy Paulmeyer (CTE Counselor). The District reviewed the hire recommendation and found the candidate to be qualified, with solid references, and clean criminal record so the recommendation was forwarded to the Board.

I have sought legal counsel for the District concerning the allegations made by Mr. Cormier of unfair hiring practices and allegations toward me and other administrators. The odd part of all of this is that the attack from Mr. Cormier is coming against the Central Administration which was not responsible for his not being recommended.

A timeline of events from Bonnie Lopez as previously reported per request of Mr. Rivera in June is (this is Mrs. Lopez’s report):

• Informational meeting with the Superintendent in February with all ES! employees

• ESI positions posted April 27, 2009

• Faculty meeting April 3, 2009 informed ES! staff that letters of interest could be submitted to me for possible ES! employment for school year 2009/2010 (I did receive a letter from Mr. Cormier as well as others)

• CTE Department Chair and committees began CTE interviews (Culinary, Law Enforcement)

• May 22, 2009 met with Mr. Cormier and discussed the fact that interviews were set up for candidates interested in the Marketing position (as well as others). Our discussion centered on the possibility that a candidate could be recommended. I told him I would keep him informed once I knew the outcome of the committee.

• June 4, 2009 interviews were conducted.

• June 7, 11 and 12th 2009 background checks were conducted.

• Recommendation made to HR for the position in Marketing

• HR informed me Thursday June 18, 2009 late afternoon that the candidate had accepted the position once contractual information had been given.

• June 19, 2009 I called Mr. Cormier and scheduled a meeting for 1:30 p.m. in my office.

• Met with Mr. Cormier at 1:30 p.m.. At this time I informed Mr. Cormier that a candidate had been selected for the Marketing position. I also informed him that I had sent letters to all other ESI employees thanking them for their hard work and dedication to DHS since their ESI assignment had ended due to new teachers being either hired or assigned to DHS, but that I had refrained from sending him a letter since we were still interviewing for Marketing and were not sure how the interviews would turn out. After a long discussion Mr. Cormier made it clear that he was not happy with the outcome and would pursue other avenues and voice his opinion. I thanked him and wished him well.

Please note that throughout this process, Mr. Cormier has NOT requested to meet with me or indicated his desire to submit any complaint. He has never met with or made any complaint to the District. ..I ask you to look at the facts and you should see that neither I nor the District Office had anything to do with his nonselection for hire other than to support the established process as was recommended by the Board during past years.