Adam Harding replaces Clayton Muhammad for the position of community relations, communications and spokesperson for East Aurora School District 131.
Mr. Harding, 37 years old, who will make $106,000 per year, had been the full-time President of the teachers union since May 2012.
The teachers union will be now headed by Sara Imthurn.
Clayton Muhammad left the district to work for as director of communications for the City of Aurora and Mayor Tom Weisner.
10 comments:
Clayton took district property while under investigation and has not returned a Computer and I Pad. I guess it's true.
Service Center news was a child's parent filed a complaint because he was reaching out to her son on Facebook.
Sounds like Clayton may be cleaning up his computer files.
Someone who watches TV during the day works on Boys 2 Men all day should fit right in at the city.
8:50 p.m., Clayton Muhammad has had minors as Facebook friends for several years now. Even though other D131 employees have been specifically told not to "friend" current students on social media websites, administration has looked the other way with Clayton. Serves him (and administration) right that a parent finally stepped up & questioned the "Pied Piper" of Aurora.
Posted by Jeff Ward former Beacon reporter
The Beacon-News hates Hispanics…
Well…that ain’t exactly the truth, but it is exactly the message that paper has chosen to send to the Aurora east side community for the past few months. And despite my best efforts to point out the error of their way, that statement culminated in a flurry of recent “news coverage.” crosby
You see, after hammering the East Aurora School District week in and week out, in the last five days alone, “columnist” Denise Crosby has written four separate pieces slamming their school board. The Beacon bosses have even gone as far as letting her play reporter just so she can repeat the same tired old accusations on a more regular basis!
Yes! East Aurora School Board president Annette Johnson has openly admitted their financial record keeping required improvement. Yes! The insurance debacle never should’ve happened, but it did and the district addressed it. Yes! The transgender policy kerfuffle was an unnecessary distraction, but it hardly rises to the level of what West Aurora band teacher Steve Orland almost got away with.
Even in the column in which Crosby “admits” she’s been “a little hard” on the district, she repeats the same old crap one more time. Didn’t another far more famous columnist once say, “Threatening to throw someone off a school board is a lot like threatening to stop beating them with a two-by-four.”
To put Crosby’s self-serving and over-the-top East Aurora coverage in perspective, if I wrote two columns on former County Chairman Karen McConnaughay’s antics in the same four month period, she and the other editors had a fricken’ cow.
Though I didn’t dare touch upon a candidate topic 60 days before an election because “we don’t want to affect the outcome,” in her fourth piece this week, Crosby outright endorsed the entire opposition school board slate!
And it all started because East Aurora School Board President Annette Johnson had the temerity to damage Denise’s delicate sensibilities by standing up to her. Can Annette be difficult? Oh! You bet she can! But in the end, she lays her neck on the line, she tells the truth, and she makes a stand, something Crosby has never been able to do.
So when faced with the abrupt and terrifying mirror image of a strong woman who toils endless hours for no pay, Crosby has no choice but to go on the attack.
Don’t believe me? C’mon! West Aurora has never addressed the fact that Orland got an extra year abusing female high school students and, sadly, their financial situation has eroded so badly that now they’re talking about a property tax increase. But where’s all the Beacon-News coverage?
The problem is, the more Crosby makes this battle personal, and the more she repeats this perceived litany of school board faults, it actually serves to damage the challengers’ cause. You can only hammer someone so long before it starts to generate sympathy.
Here’s what Crosby and Beacon-News are missing. This incessant hammering of East Aurora while letting its western twin slide, is not lost on East Aurora community leaders who generally happen to be Hispanic.
And I know this because I actually take the time to speak with these folks on a regular basis. Not only do I find them to be a refreshing change from the average self-interested Caucasian Kane County politician, but were I to throw my hat in the ring, their support would be critical.
Give me Board Members Monica Silva, Myrna Molina and (on occasion) Jessie Vasquez over the usual suspects any day. Give me State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia over non-entities like Tim Schmitz on a regular basis. Please give me Tao Martinez, Art Vasquez and Juan Reyna over the self-appointed guardians of all things politically holy like Ken Shepro, Ellen Nottke and Mike Kenyon.
Pat Perez is the best fricken’ Sheriff to which Kane County has ever had the pleasure of bearing witness!
Again, it isn’t that some of this East Aurora criticism isn’t deserved, because it is. It’s that Crosby’s ceaseless harranguing – just to “get even” with Johnson – has gotten so bad that it’s really starting to hork off Hispanics. They clearly see the inequity in the coverage and her insistence upon denigrating a school district that’s 82 percent Hispanic is really getting under their skin.
How many times can you repeat the phrase “low test scores” before it starts to become a personal insult?
So no! I don’t believe the Beacon-News hates Hispanics, but I’m not the one who really matters.
Mike Chapin, the current West Aurora District PR guy, was a managing editor at the Beacon News during the 1990's. He hired Denise Crosby as a columnist/reporter. Do you really expect Crosby to write a negative column about West when her mentor is the PR guy. A phone call from Chapin to Crosby is certain to kill most negative publicity. Chapin couldn't kill the Orland story. The arrest of a teacher on sex charges was too big for the Beacon to ignore.
Chapin needs to explain why West administrators didn't investigate the issue when the janitor reported seeing Orland acting suspiciously with a female student in a storeroom. West administrators claim they couldn't determine the identity of the girl. They should have asked Orland to disclose her identity. If nothing inappropriate was occurring, Orland should have no problem disclosing her identity. If he refused, it should raise red flags for the district. District administrators closed their eyes to the problem. They failed the students and taxpayers of West Aurora.
The Beacon attacks East Aurora because Chapin makes sure that West is off limits. That is why they pay him the big bucks.
Seems strange that someone who was supposed to be protecting and representing teachers' interests against administration was at the same time applying for a job with said administration. Looks like this chump had 106,000 reasons to do what was best for administration and not for the teachers he was supposedly going to bat for...
Harding actually qualifies for his job and holds communications degree.
Unlike Kinard a man not even proud of his mothers name. The EA Dist. is so happy to have a professional in the role instead of Muhammad who devoted about 5% to the district of his day and the other 95% to Boys 2 Men.
Now he is just another Aurora employee who does nothing all day long.
Why does the district need to pay $106,000 for a PR position? When money is tight, shouldn't those duties be included in the Superintendent's job description?
Just wondering.
Clayton still has the district property why does he not return it. What are you hiding Clayton?
Now Clayton "Pied Piper" Muhammad is no longer a D131 employee, he can have all the under-aged Facebook friends he wants.
Until, of course, a parent has the wherewithal to hire a lawyer...
;)
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