16 January 2007

Over the past two weeks I have had the great blessing of reading and listening to the “voices” of people in the OSD community–including students, staff, parents, alumni and friends of the school, the Deaf community in Oregon, and concerned people from literally all over the United States as you have reacted to the news of my termination as Director at the Oregon School for the Deaf. Given that this is the most difficult experience I have had in my 32-year career in this wonderful field of Deaf Education, you have given me the gift of your support and love, and that has been truly amazing. I want to thank each of you who has sent an email, written a letter, made a phone call, attended a meeting, sent me a card, said a prayer, or done any other act of advocacy on my behalf and or on behalf of the students at OSD. That this has been completely unsolicited has been even more overwhelming. You have demonstrated again and again why I have repeatedly said what a privilege it has been to be part of this community.

As I have watched the ground swell of response develop, it has become clear to me that ODE is being forced down one of two paths: either to acknowledge they made a mistake in my termination, or find a way to discredit me to justify their decision. Last week it is my belief that Mr. Dennis took a first step to publically discredit me with his comments related to the hiring of ASL instructors at ODE. The information he put in the letter to parents and the community was inaccurate. I contacted him on Thursday via email, provided him with the facts, which were already available to him within the Human Resources (HR) and Procurement offices at ODE, and requested he retract the statement and issue an apology to me by noon last Friday for the implication that I had engaged in inappropriate contracting practices. I told him in my email that I believed he had made the comments out of ignorance rather than dishonesty, and asked him to make the corrections.

f you have seen his “updated letter,” you know that he did not change the accusation but only indicated the issue was not related to my termination.

Here are the facts related to the ASL Instructor situation. These facts are easily verifiable through a public records request to ODE HR and/or Procurement.

For the past several years ODE contracted with Willamette ESD to hire the ASL instructors OSD used in its community ASL classes. This summer, Willamette ESD contacted me to say they were no longer interested in carrying this contract. I met with staff at ODE HR to explore options for hiring the instructors. September 20, Mark Hunt, Nancy Latini and I met. We made the decision to put the ASL instructors on as temporary employees until the end of December to allow the Fall term to go forward. OSD was to continue looking for an entity to contract with for Winter and Spring terms.

In early November I received a monthly report from ODE HR, which provides managers with information on all their employees. In that report, the ASL instructor temporary appointments were shown as terminating in March 2007. Since that was contrary to my understanding that the appointments would end in December 2006, I contacted the HR assistant in charge of temporary appointments and asked if the March date was accurate. I was told that the temporary appointments were in place until March and could be extended until the end of the school year if necessary. Because of this information, I thought we had additional time in which to locate a potential contractor. I initiated an email to ODE Procurement, which I copied to HR, asking for information about the best way to issue an RFP to try and identify a contractor, and indicating we had until March to locate a contracting entity. I immediately received a response from HR saying the agreement had been that the temps. would only be in place until December. I acknowledged that was my original understanding, but in light of the information I had received in the report and from the HR assistant, I now understood they could be continued for Winter term as temps. About two weeks later I received an email from Mr. Hunt saying the temp. instructors would be terminated the end of December. Because it was by that time too late to locate a contractor before the start of Winter term, the ASL classes were cancelled. Emails exist that document all of this communication and they would be available if requested.

Mr. Dennis’ comments about “inappropriate contracting of the ASL instructors” were erroneous. First, no contracting took place. Second, the instructors were put on as temporary employees. Third, if there were to have been anything inappropriate either with a contract or with the placing of the instructors in temporary status, the only people with authority to make those decisions were the head of Procurement and the head of HR. I only had the authority to initiate a contract or initiate a request to hire. I did not have authority to execute either type of action.

This morning I heard from a credible source that a rumor is being spread among legislators that I signed a “gag order” to prevent ODE from disclosing a “career-ending event.” I want to take this opportunity to go on record as saying that this is completely false. Never did anyone from ODE approach me with the offer or suggestion of such an agreement. Never has anyone from ODE told me of something I have done that could be considered a career-ending event. As of January 3rd when my husband and I went to ODE and reviewed my personnel file, absolutely no documents existed that reflected any negative performance or event. In fact, there was nothing in my file indicating any information on my performance as I have not had a peformance review since 1998. I asked on January 3rd if any additonal documents for my file were pending and was told no. I welcome any media or legislator to review my personnel file through a public records request to determine the accuracy of my statements. I am proud of my career and the work I have done on behalf of OSD, ODE and the State of Oregon. I believe I am guilty only of being a forceful advocate for OSD and for the OSD community, and I willingly accept the consequences of having been the strongest and clearest voice possible for the needs of this often overlooked and marginalized group of children. In a job in which I was responsible for well over 100 employees, directly or indirectly, and in which children lived on our campus 24 hours a day, there are always things that occur. If ODE chooses to try and put together a “case” to discredit me, they will surely be able to find things to say, especially since they will be out of context and without the opportunity for rebuttal. But an administrator needs to be judged by the policies and practices he/she puts into place, the training provided to staff, the protocols established and how well they are followed, the response to incidents, and the confidence he/she has from the staff, parents, students, graduates and community. I am comfortable letting my work speak for itself. I thank the OSD community for speaking out in terms of its evaluation of my performance.

To summarize, my purpose in writing to you is to:

1) Thank you for your generous and heartfelt support of me and of OSD.
2) Make it clear that I am not advocating for or trying to accomplish any particular result.
3) Take the opportunity to provide accurate information related to the ASL Instructor situation.
4) Dispel the rumor of a “gag” order.

My hope and prayer is that some good will come from this situation. My interest is in making sure OSD is able to continue to provide the best services and programs possible for the children who need this educational environment. I am humbled and awed by the strength of your commitment and feeling for the school, and I thank you for having allowed me to be a part of its rich history.

Jane Mulholland

Copy of the email was sent by Jane to the following:

George Scheler, Chair of OAD Legislative Committee
Nancy B. Rarus, her former principal/supervisor at AzSDB
Jadeth
Jim Tucker, Supt. of MarylandSD, President of CEASD
John Dickinson, NAD IV Region Representative
National Office, CEASD
C. K. Hoiland
Brad Houck, Mental Health for Deaf, Oregon
Damara Paris
Robyn Brown, ODC, Parent
Ron Bartell, ODC, Spouse of Staff
Pam Rimmer
and yes even to:
Ed Dennis, Deputy Superintendent
Susan Castillo, State Superintendent
Don Ouimet, Director of Oregon School for the Blind
Gene Evans, responsible for news releases by ODE
Jay Gense, Interim Director of OSD