“A man can't have his integrity taken from him, but he can sure give it away.”
May 2010 phone conversation with
Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Ron Yelk
Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Ron Yelk
Senior Army Instructor
Mattoon High School
New Brighton - 1997
September 1997: Dinnen testified regarding his “experience in basic (K-12) schools”.
That testimony will be reviewed by Secretary of Education, Eugene Hickok who will issue an adjudication of the case.
Hickok will take 6 months to issue the adjudication, enabling Dinnen to remain employed as a noncommissioned superintendent at New Brighton.
When he applied for his LOE and superintendent certificate, Dinnen did not have the required K-12 experience to be eligible for certification.
October 1997: Dinnen is student teaching at Parkway West Technical School.
Dinnen states that he is student teaching “as part of his own professional development”.
Here are the thoughts of the New Brighton Education Association at that time:
More from the New Brighton Education Association:
February 1998: Dinnen used the “professional development” he received student teaching at Parkway West Vo-Tech to apply to the PDE for a teaching certificate. The PDE could not provide any documentation supporting the number of hours Dinnen spent student teaching.
February 1998: The New Brighton School Board (with newly elected members) voted to stop paying Dinnen’s legal fees.
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BOARD WON'T PAY DISPUTE LEGAL FEES
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)-February 17, 1998
The school board will no longer pay the legal fees of Superintendent Robert Dinnen in his ongoing dispute with the state Department of Education.
Dinnen was promoted from business manager to acting superintendent in May 1996 and later was made superintendent. The Education Department issued Dinnen a superintendent's certificate in November 1996, but then withdrew it after raising questions about his educational experience.
Dinnen is disputing the department's findings and the case is being reviewed by Education Secretary Eugene Hickock.
The previous school board agreed to pay for Dinnen's legal fees, but the new board voted 6-2 to end that practice after meeting privately in an executive session last night.
Voting against paying his legal fees were board President Lawrence Albanese and board members Edith Pavlinich, Edward LeDonne, Tina Shannon, Ralph Mason and Michael Smith. Voting to continue paying were board members Donna Fath and Walter Debo. Board member Sandra Ciccone was absent.
Officials would not say last night how much the district had spent on Dinnen's case.
Memo: NEW BRIGHTON SCHOOLSEdition: REGIONSection: LOCALPage: B-3Column: WEST NEIGHBORHOODS
March 25, 1998: Fourteen months after the PDE originally asked for the LOE and certificate which were erroneously issued due to a clerical error be returned, Secretary of Education Eugene Hickok annulled Dinnen’s LOE and certificate in his adjudication.
· On page 11, Dinnen is given credit for supervising the JROTC program at Mattoon.
To save space, only pages 1, 11-14, and final page of the adjudication are shown.
Two years credit for supervising the JROTC program at Mattoon?
As detailed in the last post, Mattoon replied to a FOIA request asking for verification of Dinnen’s oversight at Mattoon as follows:
“Only individuals hired by the Mattoon Community Unit School District #2 Board of Education have oversight over any programs within the Mattoon School District. Mattoon Community Unit School District #2 records and Board of Education minutes indicate that Mr. Robert W. Dinnen has never been an employee of the Mattoon Community Unit School District #2; therefore, Mr. Dinnen has never served as the ROTC Commander for the Mattoon High School JROTC program or had any oversight over the Mattoon High School JROTC program.”
FOIA Request Response
Mattoon Community Unit School District No. 2
April 12, 2011
“Furthermore, Lt. Col. Yelk responded to his letter dated on March 18, 1997, that Mr. Dinnen’s administrative and professional assistance to the Mattoon High School JROTC program pertained only to those activities related to formal JROTC inspections, occasional field exercise activities, and annual recruitment day activities while Mr. Dinnen was representing Eastern Illinois University.
FOIA Request Response
Mattoon Community Unit School District No. 2
June 6, 2011
Beaver County Times, March 26, 1998:
March 1998: A year after filing suit, which was paid for by the New Brighton taxpayers, Dinnen appealed his case to the PDE’s Certification Appeal Committee. As stated previously, Dinnen was asked to go through the appeal process back in December of 1996 when the PDE first contacted him to ask for the return of his LOE and certificate.
By appealing, Dinnen was permitted to remain employed as a noncommissioned superintendent in New Brighton, while waiting for the PDE’s Certification Appeal Committee to hear his case.
May 1998: Dinnen resigns from New Brighton.
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DINNEN RESIGNS AS SUPERINTENDENT
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)-May 19, 1998
The school board last night accepted the resignation of Superintendent Robert Dinnen effective June 30.
Dinnen was hired three years ago as business manager.
He was later appointed acting superintendent when John Ross, the former superintendent, was suspended May 1, 1996.
When Ross retired later that year, the school board promoted Dinnen to superintendent.
The state Department of Education had issued a superintendent's certification to Dinnen, but later tried to annul the certificate, saying it had been issued in error.
Department of Education officials said Dinnen's teaching experience did not meet state requirements for the certificate.
He continued to fight to keep his certification while seeking to accumulate enough teaching hours to meet the state requirements.
Dinnen would not comment last night on his resignation or his future plans.
Also last night, board members approved a final $16.1 million budget for 1998-99 that will not increase real estate taxes.
Millage will remain at 36 mills.
Memo: NEW BRIGHTON SCHOOLSEdition: SOONERSection: LOCALPage: B-3Column: WEST NEIGHBORHOODS
May 18, 1998: Dinnen is one of the candidates who appeared before the Fort Cherry School Board to interview for the position of Acting Superintendent.
Dinnen presented himself to the FC Board as a fully certified superintendent.
Dinnen did not divulge the following facts to the Fort Cherry School Board:
1. Dinnen was NEVER commissioned as a superintendent due to the questions about his certification.
2. Dinnen’s letter of eligibility and superintendent certificate were annulled by Hickok in the March 1998 adjudication.
3. Dinnen’s certification was under appeal.
Dinnen submitted this letter to the school board on the night of his interview:
· In paragraph 4, Dinnen states, “over five years experience supervising a department in a higher education institution with oversight of a program in a public high school.”
· In paragraph 5, Dinnen lists “Superintendent Certification” under his Educational credentials.
June 1, 1998: Dinnen submitted this application letter to the Fort Cherry School Board.
· In paragraph 2, Dinnen states, “I have a strong and diverse administrative and educational background having successfully served in the military, at the college level, and in K-12 public educational settings.”
· Dinnen lists “Superintendent Certification” under “Certifications”, even though his LOE and certification had been annulled.
· Dinnen gives himself an entire year of experience as an Accounting Instructor at Robert Morris College (1995-1996). Dinnen’s time at RMU began in January 1996. A letter attesting to his time at RMU is shown below. Dinnen was working for the State of Indiana Commission for Higher Education until October of 1995. In addition, in December of 1995, Dinnen was still attending Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana. A letter attesting to his employment with the Indiana Commission for Higher Education and his transcript from Indiana State shown below.
· Dinnen states: “Monitored and supervised JROTC Program at Mattoon Senior High School” under his duties as Professor of Military Science at Eastern Illinois University from 1989 to 1994.
· The FOIA from Mattoon states: “Mr. Dinnen has never served as the ROTC Commander for the Mattoon High School JROTC program or had any oversight over the Mattoon High School JROTC program.”
· Dinnen spent 6 months at RMU, not an entire year as stated on his resume. It would be impossible to student teach at RMU prior to January of 1996 considering Dinnen was working for the Indiana Commission for Higher Education until October of 1995 and attending classes in Terre Haute, Indiana, until the fall semester ended on December 15, 1995.
Fort Cherry School District Policy #302 states:
Any candidate's misstatement of fact material to qualifications for employment or the determination of salary shall be considered by this Board to constitute grounds for dismissal.
Fort Cherry School District Policy No. 302
ADMINISTRATIVE EMPLOYEES
ADMINISTRATIVE EMPLOYEES
EMPLOYMENT OF SUPERINTENDENT/ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT
ADOPTED: March 27, 1995
http://fortcherry.schoolwires.net/fortcherry/lib/fortcherry/_shared/District_Policies/300_Administrative_Employees/302-Employ_of_Supt-Asst_Supt.1.pdf
The word shall is defined as:
§ indicating that something must happen or somebody is obliged to do something because of a rule or law
§ to be under obligation for
§ to be obliged; must
Every member of the Fort Cherry School Board has taken this oath of office.
Oath of Office:
School Director Oath of Office
24 PS 3-321
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support, obey and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of this Commonwealth, and that I will discharge the duties of my office with fidelity.
The Fort Cherry School Board has sworn to discharge the duties of the office, which includes upholding the policies of the school district.
The Fort Cherry School Board is OBLIGATED to uphold Policy #302:
Misstatement of fact material to qualifications for employment shall be considered to constitute grounds for dismissal.
The Fort Cherry School Board recently voted to furlough legally and truthfully certified teachers, while leaving the administration intact.
Will Truth, Honor, and Integrity ever return to Fort Cherry?
