Note to JCPS employees

Don't use your JCPS email to contact me - it can be read by the techs at JCPS and the state Department of Education. It can also be considered a public record, which means it can be discovered through a Freedom of Information Act request or a subpoena. Create a brand new account on one of the free services (Yahoo, Hotmail, Gmail) and contact me that way.

More on Carrie Shafer

A source who purports to be a former friend of Shafer's wrote to confirm allegations about Shafer's husband and their tumultuous relationship. Apparently Dr. Shafer - a neurologist, not a neurosurgeon as previously reported - has quite a temper. For example, at the Shafer's wedding, the doctor allegedly attempted to play a song on guitar, botched it, and became openly irate. According to the source, Dr. Shafer constantly accused Mrs. Shafer of having affairs and made her life so miserable at home that she took refuge in her work. The source said specifically that Carrie Shafer will be safer in jail than she was with her husband.

Sources at Manual say that teachers and students alike have been ordered not to communicate anything with anyone about this issue.

This will be the last I write about the Shafer case unless JCPS authorities do one of their classic authoritarian overreach maneuvers. Then the story will be about abuse of power, not about the all-too-commonplace public fall of a teacher, and writing about abuse of power is why this blog was created.

My invitation to JCPS whistleblowers stands open. Is your boss at Van Hoose asking you to cook the books? Is an administrator at your school making inappropriate remarks about students? Are schools claiming that they have programs, facilities, and resources that they don't actually have in order to lure in parents from across town? CONTACT JCPS CONFIDENTIAL AND LET US KNOW.

On the Manual biology teacher

Local news is all over this:

WHAS 11 ... WLKY ... FOX 41 ... WAVE ... Courier-Journal

But there are some things that JCPS Confidential knows that they don't.

1. Carrie Shafer is a Christian and -- according to students and parents -- a young-earth creationist.

2. She was the sponsor of the Manual chapter of Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

3. She once brought in a fellow young-earth creationist to address the group.

4. She was supposed to help supervise the Manual regional science fair being held at the University of Louisvile on Saturday but never showed up. Probably because she was in jail.

5. According to students and parents, Shafer is married to Dr. Christopher Shafer, a neurosurgeon at the University of Louisville.

6. According to students, Carrie Shafer has repeatedly alleged that her husband is abusive and violent, to the point of holding a gun to her head.

7. Many students allege that Mrs. Shafer was inappropriately open with them about her personal life.

8. The principal, Larry Wooldridge, has a son who attends Manual. His son is leader of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter.

9. Wooldridge has ordered student media to NOT report on the story, which seems pointless given the coverage devoted to the story by local media. Someone should tell this guy that there's this website called Google, and all you have to do is type in "Carrie Shafer Manual."

Welcome!

Hello curious readers and welcome to JCPS Confidential.

I am a JCPS employee, parent and taxpayer who is interested in getting past the shields of bureaucracy and secrecy that obscure the inner workings of this government agency. It would be easy to walk away from the problems by getting a new job and pretending that everything is OK, but I can't do that. As a JCPS employee I am privy to some of the behind-the-scenes shenanigans and I plan to use this blog for three purposes:

1. Encourage whistleblowers

2. Give a voice to teachers, parents, students and other stakeholders

3. Hold JCPS accountable

The beginning of the 2010-2011 school year gives me a lot to write about -- the new school assignment plan, the busing disaster (and subsequent principal suspensions), falling test scores, unethical athletic recruitment, school audits, and so many other things. I look forward to publishing plenty of good, solid information on this blog -- unverified reports will be marked as such -- and I will try to get sources to go on the record as often as possible. As you can imagine, in many cases the sources will be JCPS employees who (like me) wish to remain anonymous or pseudonymous.