Menlo Park school district picks Maurice Ghysels as superintendent

Who needs soap operas, however, I am sure he is great.

Amazing. This guy has a track record of poor judgement proven in the MV scandal. Not a shred of integrity in this guy, yet he’s duped them again. Menlo Park had better get ready for a wild ride with this character whose vast experience is due to never staying in one place for too long. First he’ll lay on some charm, then he’ll go after long-term loyal employees that don’t respond to him, and then he’ll fill the district with his own yes people. Fatigue by the community will set in after a couple of years after he imposes lots of corporatisms on everyone. Good luck, you’ll need it. No wonder public education is in the dumps.

Steve said “I just can’t believe the current superintendent is paid $240,000 (according to new public employee database) to run 4 schools!”

And that’s why we need consolidation. We have Superintendents making that kind of money who manage DOZENS of schools. Consolidation of Woodside, Portola Valley, Menlo Park, Redwood City, Las Lomitas and Ravenswood, we could have one very nice elementary district – with ONE Superintendent, and ONE support staff.

Forced out? Is that what you call it? The emperor does have clothes I suppose for you, Jenn. You need to separate gossip from fact. Ghysels was found to be in conflict of interest and even the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury concurred. The San Jose Mercury news report doesn’t hold back either. Personnel policies were changed at the district after he left to avoid future embarrassment. Mountain View never had a vision problem. But Menlo Park certainly appears to have a huge conflicted one now. Ghysels brought a bunch of corporate gibberish with him to Mountain View and the community pushed back. It has all been thrown in the dust bin by the new Superintendent. Ghsyels stacked the deck for applicants to leadership positions who he wanted by providing them answers to interview questions. He allowed frivolous sexual harassment charges to be leveled by his lover against loyal employees while she engaged in an appropriate relationship with him. He had his wife volunteering and engaged in the community at the very school he was having an admitted affair with the principal. I guess you had to be there to understand the disgust many felt. If there were any soap opera going on it was 100% of HIS OWN making. Public perception is everything, and he blew it. And BTW it was the current superintendent of Mountain View who was then the chief financial officer who made the right moves to keep the district afloat.

Too bad that we find all of this out after the fact. This is a done deal.

Nice job by the Menlo Park School Board.

At least they’re not buying him a house in Menlo Park!

(are they?)

Why was Maurice hired? What was wrong with the other candidates for the job?

This man may have had some accomplishments, but he demonstrated poor judgment, integrity, and professionalism. If he had been a stellar candidate, there wouldn’t be all these negative comments nor would there be a question of his departure from Mountain View.

It makes me question the MP City School Board in their assessment and decision making ability.

The school board, mostly women, obviously had no qualms about hiring a philandering, womanizing, twice-divorced egocentric public school administrator who is still in denial about having a conflict of interest while romancing one of his married principals while running Mountain View School District. And let’s not forget that he will be in charge of a profession made up mostly of women! But the devil you know is much better than the devil you don’t. Watch your backs ladies!

Since the Board’s announcement about the selection of Dr. Ghysels, the reputation of the MPCSD has been tarnished in the press. It is an embarrassment to the district. Dr. Guy’s performance in the MVWSD is chronicled in numerous articles in the Almanac’s sister publication, the Mountain View Voice.

Dr. Ghysels “always puts the needs of students first”…really? The professional and personal distractions he created in the MVWSD most certainly did detract from the education of the children in the district.

Dr. Guy was not fit to lead the MVWSD, but he is fit to lead the MPCSD?

POGO: It is not a done deal until the Board confirms his appointment Tuesday night.

Write emails to the Board. The employment offer can be voided. Attend the next district board meeting. At the very least, put him on a 12 month contract. I will be so glad when the school districts consolidate, like the fire districts. These superintendents aren’t needed en masse. The money should be spent in the schools and not to figure heads making huge salaries. If he has child support payments and/or alimony to pay let another district pick him up.

Well I guess this has nothing to do with how wives or mothers would view all this. After all, we just shuttle our children back and forth to school and are the districts primary supporters. We’d be the last to cast judgment on this Mr. Ghysels. There must be a perfectly good explanation of the way he has acted and why the board selected him. NOT!

Saying sorry or “oops” we didn’t mean for this to happen — at what point in our personal life and professional career should we be held accountable for our actions? Maybe a person who is just starting out in life, but this man is educated and experienced. He knew better when he became romantically involved with a subordinate.

What’s even more disappointing is I guess values, morals, and integrity took a back seat when the school board offered him the job.

It’s too bad for the school district because he will arrive with stink already on him.

I’m confused by Eric’s last comment: “Maurice made some serious errors in personal judgement, but was highly regarded by those in MVWSD who were active in the distict.” Are these like off-setting penalties in football or is one supposed to cancel out the other?

“Serious errors in personal judgment” — that’s a quality I would definitely look for in a superintendent. This is not an entry level position; this is the person in charge of running the whole school district.

What is the board thinking? This guy will arrive largely ineffective and ridiculed. This is not what the schools need.

Did they do any research into this guy on their own? Here’s what I found, all on Google for this very public figure (sorry, eric, if you put yourself out there in the public, you are open to public scrutiny. And it seems like he goes the extra mile to make himself fair game.) Or is all this part of his personal life?

Ghysels spent only four of the five years as Superintendent in Mountain View. The fifth year was apparently spent hiding and looking for another job. Craig Goldman ran the district in the fifth year as he does now as Superintendent.

Nonetheless, most media hits are quotes are him taking credit for everything that went on in Mountain View, giving little credit to the rest of the organization, mixed in with loads of qoutes and drivvle of his management style and self-described acumen as a leader with a sense for success.

Ghysels also might have spent the last ten months at the county level, but apparently several of those months were devoted to job hunting. So why is he really leaving the county? Something does not seem right.

His is a pretty spotty record for a public employee. He claims over 25 years of management and leadership experience, but when you do the math he includes such experience as high school teaching and assistant principalships!

His five years with CitiBank were during the boom years. He appears to be one of the first to have been let go with the bust. Then he heads a failed start-up, then he moves to Campbell where he skips around in positions for a few years.

He claims numerous publications, but I have only found small-time newsletter type essays, mostly on-line and not referreed, and none published in professional journals. Those claims are really stretched.

He also claims numerous consultant gigs, most while at Mountain View, which can no doubt be termed moonlighting.

And then he claims to be a professor at Pepperdine. When? For how long? It appears to be just one or two on-line courses.

And then he’s got an Ed.d from a third-rate university that only offers Ed.d’s in education, hardly Stanford or one of the UCs.

In short, mostly fluff, little substance.

This is typical, just typical of this school board. They’ve bumbled this up as well. How in this economy could they not have found a more suitable candidate to head the schools. Schools are supposed to be about values, to teach ethics and personal responsibility. How does Mr. Ghysels reconcile himself with such a fact if he was already found deficient in these areas while leading another district? If the head of an organization lacks personal accountability and ethics, what does that say about the rest of the organzition? It’s not rocket science folks.

Are we entitled to know what his salary will be? Or is that a state secret at well?

You said it. I guess the other candidate were convicted felons if those chose this guy. Sheeesh!

Menlo Park School District Bylaws specify, exactly as required by the Brown Act:

“The agenda shall provide members of the public the opportunity to address the Board on any agenda item before or during the Board’s consideration of the item. The agenda shall also provide members of the public an opportunity to testify at regular meetings on matters which
are not on the agenda but which are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Board.”

The citizens of the school district have only themselves to blame if they have stood silent on the selection of a new superintendent.

The school district’s web site, amazingly, does not appear to contain board agendas, minutes or the district’s current budget – again the citizens are getting exactly what they deserve.

For any who are interested, the school board meets tomorrow night (May 10) to ratify the superintendent’s contract. Meeting site: Board Room – District Office, 181 Encinal Avenue, Atherton, California.

Here is the link to the agenda (buried in their website):
http://mpcsd.csbaagendaonline.net/cgi-bin/WebObjects/mpcsd-eAgenda.woa/wa/displayMeeting?meetingID=683

Before they take final action it’s worth commenting on their pending decision.

Oh please Eric, are you really that naive to human nature? If you read the articles and posts from the sister paper, the Mountain View Voice, this guy did a hec of a lot to deny a conflict of interest existed (which clearly did) before he caved in to pressure and basically chose to leave the district before he was fired. There is a lot of suspicion regarding how he both placed his lover in a principalship and then moved her to a higher performing school. Before their relationship was discovered, he claimed it “made sense from a leadership point of view”. Then he comes clean, and all of a sudden its just poor judgement on his part. We used to call this misuse of office and corruption. How can the schools be better with him, when he brings a legacy such as this? For Pete’s sake, the teacher’s union leveled a pretty heavy charge against him, where exactly do you think that is going to find him when it comes time to his managing of Menlo Park teachers and their union?

I don’t understand your reasoning Peter? Why is this “astonishing”? This is Maria’s opinion, after vetting several candidates, and now is putting up his name for approval. Almost no one attended any of the sessions to discuss the topic of hiring another Superintendent, there has been no input, and the elected officials again have done the vetting, selecting and now asking for public comment, before the vote. If you have an issue, attend the school board meeting and voice your concerns. This blog feedback is ridiculous. I’m willing to bet 90% of the individuals providing feedback on this blog have NEVER attended a school board meeting. Please stop the “rise up in protest” garbage, and attend a meeting or two. This school district is, and has been, one of the best run school districts in the state, and will continue to be. Stop making mountains out of mole hills and go back to your overinflated, bloated fire district budget! This is nuts.

Attend ONE meeting, just ONE and perhaps I’d have a little more respect for your constant head bashing of your version of the Brown Act. It’s an old tune, that is becoming worn out. This is a very good school district that has made many, many tough decisions, with majority of them good decisions. We don’t need the Blog Bashers to rewrite the story, or continue to assume and gossip. This is not a story, but if you guys need one, again go back to the bloated fire district budget. Brown Act or not, that is highway robbery! PERIOD.

“These individuals consistently described Dr. Ghysels as a dynamic and collaborative leader who always puts the needs of students first.”

This sounds like a phrase taken out of a resume writer, and based on MV teacher’s post, apparently does not ring true.

I think he would do best to take his talents somewhere else.

OMG — this is a nightmare presided over by a Board who has been known to be insulated and given to Stockholm Syndrome. I can just imagine the level of sweet talking that went on in these interviews. He must be a close personal friend of the recruiter. This was an interview process held in secrecy under the explanation that good candidates wouldn’t apply if their application were a matter of public record while they were still holding a job. So while the public was invited to a series of meetings with the recruitment firm before they started, no one — no public, no parents, no teachers, no principals, no employees — were allowed to meet the candidates before one was hired. Brilliant. Ghysels could be fabulous but his ethical breach disqualifies him from consideration — if we can’t look up to our Superintendent to set an example in his personal conduct and his professional conduct then all is lost.

Sign me up with Eric. If we disqualify every leader guilty of workplace infidelities, we won’t have nearly enough ambitious, charismatic leaders qualified to run much of anything (Can you say WJ Clinton). Dr. Ghysels guitar and singing Cowboy act wears a little thin after a while, but it certainly livens up fundraisers. He’s definitely a multiple marrier with either too much charisma or not enough sense too be successful in marriage. Anybody checked the divorce statistics lately? Your school board certainly had access to all of that information. If you want to vet superintendent candidates publicly, every candidate will either be seeking their first superintendency, or already be between jobs with nothing to lose. In this case, if the other candidates are superintendents, it would be interesting to spy on their board evaluations “Why aren’t you better than that Ghysels guy for a high performing district like Menlo City?”

It’s not the affair that bothers me. It’s allowing that relationship to affect personnel decisions, as Maurice evidently did (no comparison to Clinton). Sounds as though academic performance slipped during his tenure. Maybe his fault, maybe not. He apparently tried to execute a poorly conceived management strategy that was not well received. And he fomented infighting among staff.

I’m sure he has some terrific qualities too, but, whoa, way too many red flags. I’m astonished he can even get another job in the profession.

He looks like James Ray from The Sweat Lodge fiasco.

Why states:”the bloated fire district budget.”

Exactly the kind of envious comment that might be expected from an advocate of a local public agency that runs a deficit, requires a parcel tax, turns away customers and operates behind closed doors about another local public agency that runs a balanced budget, has no parcel tax, has reserves to covers the replacement of all of its depreciated assets, posts all of its proposed personnel contracts for 15 days before even considering those contracts for adoption, permits and encourages public comment before every closed session and at the beginning and end its regular session and before acting on any item, and provides more services to more people every year.

Menlo Park principals, teachers, staff, and parents beware and get ready to be played. This guy knows all the tricks in the book; appeals to emotion, flashy clothing to include the Rolex, tries to be hip, tries to connect with you if only to undermine you, if you’re French, he’s French, if your Italian, he’s Italian, if your rich, you’ll hear about his jet-setting experiences, if you’re humble, he’ll talk about his humble beginnings and his mom and his dad. The conversation will always have to involve something to do with him. At Open House, if you’re not a power parent he’ll swing right by you and head to the power. He doesn’t like nobodies, he’ll want to connect to the movers and shakers, he’ll do drive-bys in that he’ll ask everyone’s opinions of everyone else (what do you think of this person, that principal, that teacher, this teacher) all designed to identify the sources of power in the district and to placate them. The parent or employee focused on student learning will have no voice. He’ll try to squash each schools individual culture. He’ll rebrand the district saying the one you have now is a tired brand. At board meetings he’ll be humble and polished with plenty of glitz and glitter. He’ll make everybody take pledges with their arms raised and frame it like an evangelical meeting while poking fun at Christians. He tries to model himself after a Clinton type. He’ll hold State of the District speeches which mostly involve his ego. There’s so much more. It may all seem pretty normal, but it’s self-reflective all designed to feed a narcissist’s ego. All we are left with in Mountain View after 4 years are fancy signs and a new logo.

I can hardly wait for the School Board to tell us why they have to have the next parcel tax.

Kinda looks like Mr. Bean. Just what Menlo Park needs.

I emailed the board because I can’t make the meeting. I don’t expect it to do any good. A friend who was on the MPCSD board told me that they make their decisions ahead of time and they would rather that the public not attend any meetings. She was only half joking.

Here’s my theory: the appointment was announced four days ago, including a weekend. The board knew that the choice would be unpopular, so they wanted to rush it through, no chance for public input. They figured that once the contract is signed, the protests will start to disappear. If someone does complain, they just shrug and say “we have a contract.”

Pretty scuzzy, business as usual.

To the writer who stated “if you’re not a power parent he’ll swing right by you and head to the power” – this is standard operating procedure for the MP Administration and Board. We are fortunate to have a foundation that raise 2-3 million a year — but as a result all of our board members are foundation folks and simply picked one of their own.

IF, and that is a big IF, any of the citizens of the school district want to begin to hold the school district and the school board to a higher standard there are three essential steps:

1 – citizens who care enough to put time into citizen oversight
2 – 2 or 3 citizens who are prepared to run for openings on the school board
3 – a thorough knowledge of the applicable laws, particularly the Brown Act.

Should such citizens exist I would glad assist them on all three items.

Out of curiosity, who represents the largest number of taxpayers in the district, that is those who do not have children in the schools and who never the less bear the bulk of the tax burden?

Missing in Menlo –

Perfectly stated.

To Joe, no one actually shows their face. You should know a coward by now, you are an adult, right? It was nice to see so many supporters last night.

Trust your board. Congratulations Maurice!

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Much blogging but no one shows at the meeting. A pretty common occurence for school board meetings around the Mid-Peninsula. Since even a four school district needs a superintendent, I believe you’ll have an enthusiastic, knowledgeable advocate for students. Since Menlo Park is apparently a community of movers and shakers, an expert schmooz is actually very well qualified.

Good On Ya, Maurice!

It’s simple. Vote out the incumbents in several months and put new faces on the board.

The district has become a private school system masquerading as public. We can not afford a superintendent that makes over $210,000 with 25 days off a year! (See the Mercury News article). He will bring in more than many superintendents responsible for double, and triple the number of school sites with several thousand more students! he rich get richer and more privileges and the poor get poorer with less. The taxpayer gets the ever-increasing bill. I agree that the school systems in Menlo Park need to be consolidated.

I love how Peter is promoting private schools over public schools as the answer. See his earlier promotion in another thread of the upcoming construction of Sacred Heart’s 100 million new elementary school. I’m all for SHP raising and spending this exorbitant amount on one small school. And it’s fine for them to charge $35k tuition as well. But our local public school do a pretty great job for 1/3rd the cost per student. Peter, not everyone can afford to spend the kind of money that it costs to attend SHP or Menlo, but our kids deserve a good education as well. Stop bashing our public schools. If you have such good ideas, why don’t you start attending board meetings or run yourself? Geez!

From the SJ Merc:

“I am thrilled and excited that we get the benefit of his vision, because I’ve wanted it for a really long time,” Trustee Laura Rich said before the vote.

Sorry, typo. Meant “and state it as fact” not “face.”

According to the Public Employee Salaries Database 2010, Ghsyels arranged to pay Mizell $116,428 as principal before he left. Mizell had three years experience as a principal. That’s the second highest salary for an elementary school principal in MVWSD. The highest was $117,229 for an elementary principal with two decades experience as principal. There is far more to this story than meets the eye.

It seems as if last night’s meeting was a mere formality in approving an already done deal.

While this man has his short comings and made some serious errors in judgment, I am much more disappointed in the school board for its decision — shame one them. I guess values, good conduct, propriety, character, and professionalism mean nothing to them.

What’s sad is most people will forget this decision come election time, and the board members will be reelected. So much for accountability in our elected officials.

This gets more interesting by the minute. Under the Ghsyels’ regime at Mountain View, Ghysels lost control of a situation regarding a teacher with a history of berating and humiliating kids and orchestrated a buyout behind closed doors but sold it to the community as a simple resignation! Now that’s definitely putting students first! Watch your pocket books Menlo Park!

From the The Voice Town Square:

“According to the Public Employee Salaries Database 2010, the highest paid teacher in MVWSD in 2010 was the controversial Patricia Polifrone who was reported to have resigned from the district back in 2009 by Stephanie Totter, director of administrative services. However, Polifrone grossed $112,500 in 2010 suggesting that she was actually bought out by the school district. Web Link The amount far surpasses the salary of the highest paid teacher in the district who actually taught in 2010. The true cost of the buyout remains a mystery, but such is the price for poor personnel administration of teachers in the district and the even poorer practices of documenting parent complaints. The as-of-yet-undetermined total amount of money used to buy out Polifrone could have been put to good use in the classroom. Hopefully, the new superintendent takes effective steps to put an end to costly and poorly managed personnel policies and practices in the district in the future. This is what the Public Employee Salaries Database 2010 was designed to do; to reveal the waste taking place everyday in public organizations.”

San Mateo County residents should say Thank You to Peter Carpenter once again.

For the last 28 years our District Attorney James P. Fox refused to enforce the Brown Act Laws. We now have a newly elected District Attorney named Steve Wagstaffe who so far has demonstrated he intends to continue that policy.

Why should a citizen have to tell the DA about this case, it is in the local newspaper and on a blog Mr. Wagstaffe and staff have been known to view.

Menlo Park screwed the pooch with his selection.
We’ve already had 2 great administrators resign because of him, and the entire administration and leadership teams are unhappy and getting dis-enfranchised.
In case you hadn’t noticed, the school district was doing great, it didn’t need someone who was going to shake things up, it needed someone who was going to stay the course. Hope you can excise this cancer before it ruins the district.

Thanks School Board!

Classic Ghysels. He already has friends in mind to plug into positions. He’ll divide and conquer to keep only people who agree with him and commit to loyalty. He’ll rig the deck in his favor, at the expense of committed professionals and the children.

While at Mountain View, he flew in a friend from Hawaii and gave her the answers to the board questions. When the local school site hiring board suspected something foul and found out they were friends, they had to exclude her and start over.

And we all know the preferential treatment he gave his mistress principal in assignments and raises.

Well… MPSD will have to learn the hard way now about the necessity to screen candidates and take seriously such scandalous, reckless, and egocentric behavior (and the documented newspaper coverage of it) prior to hiring a superintendent.

The show is just getting started. Sit back and enjoy it. Mountain View is just thrilled to be rid of him.

As one who was an active volunteer in the schools, I was concerned about this appointment. Even though my child was in 8th grade when he was appointed (no effect on my family) I felt strongly enough to speak to board members. I was assured that the rumors posted here were from just a few disgruntled people, and that all his references checked out brilliantly.

We all saw this coming, and I feel bad for young families just starting in the district. MPCSD used to have nice, caring supes, pre-Ranella. Only we long-timers remember!

It is not surprising to learn that Ghysels’ behaves the same way now as he did in college. It is clear that he still requires adult supervision. Mountain View Whisman School District understood this fact. Curiously, it appears that the School Board in Menlo Park does not.