Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

You’re Fired!

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by

Dick Hall-Sizemore
in , ,

Jillian Balow, ex-Superintendent of Public Instruction

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

So, what almost everyone suspected is now confirmed: Governor Youngkin fired his Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jillian Balow.

However, to avoid embarrassment over having to fire his own hand-picked state leader of public education, the governor asked her to resign, instead. She agreed to do so in exchange for a payout of almost $300,000, as reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

So, state government is acting more and more like a business, as many conservatives say it should. Top executives screw up and, instead of being sacked, they are given a golden parachute.

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78 responses to “You’re Fired!”

  1. walter smith Avatar
    walter smith

    Well, there go his presidential chances. I mean, he’s a Pubbie, and he paid somebody to go away, so it was for political reasons.
    I guess the alternative as a chief executive should be you keep someone in who is not doing what you want to avoid admitting/correcting a mistake?
    I’d be more curious as to why he was unhappy with her performance. Was she part of the educational morass? Not tough enough? Too ineffective at fighting the entrenched bureaucracies?
    I’m still not sure on Youngkin’s overall education beliefs. He was given a huge gift by McAwful and the Crazy Dems (but I repeat myself), but what does Glenn think?

  2. James A. Bacon Avatar
    James A. Bacon

    Well, so much for my theory, posted immediately after Balow’s resignation was announced, that she resigned because she was burned out from the politics. I got that one wrong — and I’ll admit it. The $200 million budgeting error was a huge mistake, and the rollout of the history/civics standards was far more confusing than it should have been. Youngkin did what he had to do.

    Balow came to Virginia from Wyoming and had a big challenge mastering Virginia’s system of government. It seems she did not climb the learning curve fast enough. I expect that Youngkin will not pick someone from out of state to succeed her.

    1. M. Purdy Avatar
      M. Purdy

      Good on ‘ya. She was also utterly unqualified, and that was pointed out by many posters on this site when she was chosen. What do you make of the $300K payout? Seems like a lot for a failed one-year tenure.

      1. James C. Sherlock Avatar
        James C. Sherlock

        “utterly unqualified”. She spent 8 years as Wyoming superintendent of public instruction. She was qualified. She and her department simply did not perform. She is gone.

        Instead of firing her, he bought out her contract. Now the recruiting process will not face the “firing” headwinds. $300k is a cheap price to pay.

        That is simply good management.

        1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
          Dick Hall-Sizemore

          She did not have a contract. All department heads serve at the pleasure of the governor. They know that going in.

        2. M. Purdy Avatar
          M. Purdy

          Wrong. The population of WY is less than half that of FFX county, our largest school district. It is ranked in the lower tier of public schools nationwide. And the state is deep crimson. The critics were right day 1. And this goes into the file of a long list of poor appointments by Youngkin. It wasn’t a hard call; she failed over and over and over again.

        3. Stephen Haner Avatar
          Stephen Haner

          There are no “contracts” in appointments at that level, unless Youngkin voluntarily offered them. Positions are at will, at the pleasure of the Governor. Certainly some severance is fair but that was a bit much. Perhaps to get her to move across the country some promises were made. It is true that the state personnel act basically exempts the Governor’s political appointees (likewise the AG’s as I recall.) But unless you know there are contracts, you are speculating.

        4. James McCarthy Avatar
          James McCarthy

          Sounds to me the equivalent of qualifications recently criticized of some UVA administrators. “She (Ballow) was qualified” only “failed by her department.” Sheesh!! Keeping carps straight is difficult.

        5. M. Purdy Avatar
          M. Purdy

          Wrong. The population of WY is less than half that of FFX county, our largest school district. It is ranked in the lower tier of public schools nationwide. And the state is deep crimson. The critics were right day 1. And this goes into the file of a long list of poor appointments by Youngkin. It wasn’t a hard call; she failed over and over and over again.

        6. Randy Huffman Avatar
          Randy Huffman

          Sherlock has it right, not necessarily whether its a contract or not, but in principal. To call this a golden parachute is inaccurate, those usually involve executives in companies that got bought out and involve a heck of a lot more money.

          This is a one year salary payout, not unreasonable for this level of position. The other funds were payout of unused vacation (earned, right?), and medical insurance, isn’t continuing medical insurance the right thing to do?

          For those wondering if a Dem had done this we would be apoplectic is nonsense. Youngkin took action, that’s better than just keeping her in the position or re-assigning her. Hiring mistakes are made all the time (by either party), it was dealt with.

          1. Eric the half a troll Avatar
            Eric the half a troll

            “…and medical insurance, isn’t continuing medical insurance the right thing to do?”

            In what world do laid-off employees get medical insurance continued (let alone employees fired for cause)? COBRA is there to continue coverage but the ex-employee pays for it… and dearly…

          2. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            No need for COBRA if someone can buy ACA insurance , though.

            Not something the GOP nor Youngkin really supported though…..

            😉

            https://www.healthcare.gov/unemployed/cobra-coverage/#:~:text=Can%20you%20change%20from%20COBRA%20to%20a%20Marketplace%20plan%3F&text=Yes%2C%20you%20can%20change.

          3. Randy Huffman Avatar
            Randy Huffman

            Cobra is available for anyone who leaves employment regardless of why you left, many severance packages would continue coverage for the severance period. In most Government settings run by Democrats, she would not have been fired but reassigned, you know that, right?

            And there is no indication she was fired for Cause. Mismanagement is not Cause.

          4. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            The fact that she is staying on as a “consultant” means what?

          5. Randy Huffman Avatar
            Randy Huffman

            Good question. But the article says she is free to find another position.

          6. Eric the half a troll Avatar
            Eric the half a troll

            You have to pay for COBRA but yes it is available to all. She doesn’t have to pay for her continued coverage post-employment… we do… why is there a “severance period” is the big question. My company just went through a … umm.. resource reallocation process was the euphemism. These individuals were laid off through no fault of their own… HR distinctly told them they absolutely did not loose their jobs due to performance issues. They were cut off from all benefits there and then. They had 30 days to sign up (and pay for) for COBRA to avoid a gap in coverage. That is the norm every non-elitist worker in the US faces. Those are the facts.

            In my experience there are only two types of terminations. Lay offs or performance-based. This was clearly performance-based.

          7. Randy Huffman Avatar
            Randy Huffman

            We presume its performance based, but its not for Cause.

            Yes I do not disagree with you on layoffs versus performance as the two typical types. But you need to look at this from the standpoint of trying to recruit management talent on a National search. If I understand it correctly, she was recruited from Wyoming and was gainfully employed. Anyone with special skills or management talent who is asked to move from a current position and hometown to another City to take a major position, would require a severance agreement if it did not work out.

            I recognize this is taking it to an extreme, but how many basketball or football coaches get fired with no severance or contract?

            This is very different from a job posting in a local community. And again, I have seen other severance agreements pay for COBRA during the severance period, that is not out of the norm.

          8. Eric the half a troll Avatar
            Eric the half a troll

            I think the point made by others is that there was no employment contract in this case and no severance was warranted. Indeed, the severance package is the central issue to this post. I get she is “different” but wanted to point out how different. She is being treated like a corporate executive… but they typically have contracts… she doesn’t.

          9. Randy Huffman Avatar
            Randy Huffman

            I don’t know anything about how this may work in the public sector and freely admit that. But I don’t believe for a minute high profile cabinet people in State or Federal Governments are simply terminated with no ability to transition to another position, whether reassigned until they land a good job, or severance.

            In addition, not all management people fired in the private sector who get severance have it in a contract. Though I would agree if it goes for a full year, they likely did unless it was part of a company wide severance plan that took into consideration years of service.

          10. Eric the half a troll Avatar
            Eric the half a troll

            Looks like she was appointed for a term and while not a contract may have given grounds for a suit. The point is no longer a valid criticism.

      2. VaNavVet Avatar
        VaNavVet

        Her performance was representative of the entire Youngkin education policy!

        1. M. Purdy Avatar
          M. Purdy

          Yes, her tenure was the embodiment of his education policy, for sure.

    2. VaNavVet Avatar
      VaNavVet

      Don’t forget the teacher tip-line and the inherently divisive issues disasters.

      1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
        James Wyatt Whitehead

        Don’t forget Uncle Ralph’s disastrous oversight of Virginia’s public schools’ descent into the abyss.

        1. VaNavVet Avatar
          VaNavVet

          Are you referring to the pandemic and the CDC recommendations on shutdowns?

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            yes, of course. The fact that this was done across the country and even the world, matters not.

  3. emjak Avatar
    emjak

    The use of “golden parachutes” is out of control across the United States, both in the government and private sectors. If Ms. Balow served at the pleasure of the Governor, then an almost $300K severance was grossly excessive and unwarranted.

  4. James Kiser Avatar
    James Kiser

    Just like school superintendents everywhere.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvonne_Gonzalez

      The best of the best.

    2. Stephen Haner Avatar
      Stephen Haner

      Superintendents DO have contracts with defined terms for early separation.

      1. James Kiser Avatar
        James Kiser

        I have yet to read of a school superintendent who doesn’t walk away with a nice compensation package no matter what the reason.

    3. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
      James Wyatt Whitehead

      The former Loudoun super, Ziegler, is a great example.

  5. James C. Sherlock Avatar
    James C. Sherlock

    correction: $266,213 buyout of her contract in bi-weekly installments.

    1. James McCarthy Avatar
      James McCarthy

      Health insurance and unused vacation pay add another $30k to this mistake.

      1. walter smith Avatar
        walter smith

        Now care about trillions

  6. James C. Sherlock Avatar
    James C. Sherlock

    Her perhaps biggest strategic mistake was bringing her Chief of Staff with her from Wyoming. The new Superintendent is from Tennessee but her new Chief of Staff has been superintendent of Goochland County Public Schools since 2016.

    1. Lefty665 Avatar
      Lefty665

      Goochland experience in itself may not be much of a qualification, it’s a pretty small system. It at least means familiarity with Virginia’s education hierarchy and methodologies that a CoS coming from Wyoming is not likely to have.

    2. M. Purdy Avatar
      M. Purdy

      Oh, yeah. The new supe looks to be a retread of the old one from a larger deep-red state in the midst of the culture wars. This’ll go swimmingly, I’m sure. Just what VA needs…

    3. Lefty665 Avatar
      Lefty665

      Good point. Goochland experience in itself may not be much of a qualification, it’s a pretty small system, although its proximity to Richmond helps. It at least means familiarity with Virginia’s education hierarchy and methodologies that a CoS coming from Wyoming is not likely to have.

  7. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Forgot the definition of “woke”?

  8. M. Purdy Avatar
    M. Purdy

    Man, he can pick ’em, can’t he?

  9. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
    James Wyatt Whitehead

    I looked but I can’t seem to find one of the chutes in the Acme catalog.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5cec55e295cea7bcdae0f9472b77a442500928b0d68fbc265a60ff388ef4987c.jpg

    1. M. Purdy Avatar
      M. Purdy

      Can you imagine if a D governor had paid a failed hand-picked cabinet member $300K to just go away? This site would be apoplectic.

      1. James C. Sherlock Avatar
        James C. Sherlock

        It would have been worth whatever it cost to get rid of Atif Qarni, and he stayed as Secretary of Education for four years.

        1. M. Purdy Avatar
          M. Purdy

          Oh super, so as long as you don’t care what public officials are paid, regardless of the level of success, can I ask why this blog amplified the bogus questions regarding MG Wins getting a mere $25K bonus (for doing a superb job)?

          1. James C. Sherlock Avatar
            James C. Sherlock

            She didn’t work out.

            The state at the governor’s request bought out her contract.

            End of story.

          2. William Chambliss Avatar
            William Chambliss

            What contract? This was an appointed position as Dick and Steve both pointed out.

          3. William Chambliss Avatar
            William Chambliss

            News reports say she received a year’s salary AND is staying on to act as a “consultant.” Talk about a featherbed….

          4. walter smith Avatar
            walter smith

            You are trying to be wrong, as usual. Wins got a small bonus and did not do a “superb” job, unless his job was to destroy VMI. Getting rid of bad hires is the right business decision. In the real world, hire slowly, fire quickly.
            But… maybe if we didn’t have all the invented drags on hiring and firing, we wouldn’t have to pay $300k to get a release from an “at pleasure” job…

          5. M. Purdy Avatar
            M. Purdy

            We don’t have to agree on whether he did a good job or not (he did, facing some of the most disgusting attacks I’ve ever witnessed), because even if he did a bad job, we’ve set the precedent that he would get a huge payout. Tell me, what year did you graduate from VMI where you would be so close to it that you know what sort of job he’s doing?

          6. Keydet Avatar
            Keydet

            Is criticism from outsiders off limits now?

          7. M. Purdy Avatar
            M. Purdy

            No, I don’t think so. But having an actual frame of reference helps. And you get that through connections, alumni, teaching there, having gone there, etc. If you got all your news from this website, it would be skewed out of all reasonable proportion.

          8. Matt Adams Avatar
            Matt Adams

            His frame of reference is being a source of Ian Shapria’s articles in the Wash Post. He’s hardly an unbiased viewer, so take his comments with a grain of salt.

          9. walter smith Avatar
            walter smith

            What is your VMI year?
            What are the disgusting attacks, or are you from the any criticism of a black man is racist school?
            And attacking Soros is anti-Semitism?
            Then why isn’t criticizing a white guy racist? And sexist!
            Applications down. Admissions down. Morale down. Armed forces in general pretty inept would be an opportunity for VMI to score well against service academies, but too busy with CRT/DEI/ trans insanity.

          10. keydet16 Avatar
            keydet16

            Yeah…the Applications/Admissions/Morale issues started almost a decade earlier under Peay. He was so blinded by his obscene focus on construction that he sat on his hands and did nothing to improve things on post. Wins is literally the first person do anything about the aforementioned items. Sure, there may have been missteps but he’s a helluva a lot better than his predecessor.

            Signed,

            A ’16 alum

          11. walter smith Avatar
            walter smith

            But you aren’t M Purdy. And I still don’t have the disgusting things done to Wins. You could be M Purdy inventing a different Bottish persona… What was done wrong by the prior? Could it have been the Obama admin hollowing out morale and capability? Or feckless BOV appointments?

          12. keydet16 Avatar
            keydet16

            Ugh. Im definitely not M. Purdy, I’ve actually disagreed with him on a few things (you can see my post history). How the ever-living hell is Obama related to Wins? Aside from the most obvious fact that they’re both black men?

          13. walter smith Avatar
            walter smith

            Obama was in charge when many senior level flag officers were removed. Part of the lessening of our actual military capabilities and the rebuilding of a woke, incompetent military. And way to go….the race card! Obama was the real Manchurian candidate…just not from the Right…
            Here to make you feel better – Joe Biden is a brain dead perverted tool who showered with his daughter and was bought by the CCP. Now I hate white people with dementia and am against sex positivity and communists, so I am a McCarthyite.
            So, what disgusting was done to Wins since your stupid “they’re both black men” isn’t an answer?

          14. Carter Melton Avatar
            Carter Melton

            You have no idea what you are talking about. General Peay rebuilt a crumbling physical plant, implemented a culture of civility and respect, and led an academic revival resulting in national recogniton.

          15. keydet16 Avatar
            keydet16

            I will concede that initially he was all that and a cup of tea. But by the time I arrived in 2012, many cadets were done with him. He didnt to do anything about the declining applications, refused to keep up with times in regards to D&I items and the Confederacy, overlooked numerous sexual assaults (don’t get me started on Fridley) and obsessed over construction projects of dubious value such as the Aquatic Center and Corps physical training center.

            Don’t get me wrong, he did a lot of good for the school – and he most assurdley is not a racist. But his obscene failure to address the above negates all the positives.

        2. James McCarthy Avatar
          James McCarthy

          Ah!! A failed fantasy. Woulda, coulda, shoulda!!

      2. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
        James Wyatt Whitehead

        BR would have passed the hat to see any of his Excellency, the former Governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam’s henchmen hit the road jack.

  10. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    $300K to go away? Don’t forget to file your 760PY.

  11. William O'Keefe Avatar
    William O’Keefe

    There’s a lot of speculation going on about her termination payment but where are all the facts? The fact that there was a $200 million budgeting error is damning but what about the review process that should have taken place before the budget was finalized?

    1. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
      Dick Hall-Sizemore

      The error was not in budget, but in the calculator that DOE made available to localities to estimate how much state funding they would get.

      I don’t hold her responsible for that. The mistake was made by staff below her and it would not be reasonable to expect her to catch it.

      Although that error was embarrassing for the governor, I think what did her in was the mess she made in the November rewrite of the History and Social Studies standards. The Governor publicly expressed frustration with that effort and made the Dept. do it over.

      Furthermore, as Matt Hurt has pointed out on this blog, she made little effort to get out and connect with local superintendents and school officials. Therefore, she had little support from that arena.

      1. William O'Keefe Avatar
        William O’Keefe

        Thank you for the additional information.

      2. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        So, here’s the thing. Someone or some team was responsible in VDOE for that actual function and work as well as others in charge of the history standards.

        When a new leader gets appointed to an existing organization, they have to get to know and get along with their subordinate leaders.

        If your immediate subordinates don’t like you (and are not afraid of you), they can lay back and let things break and roll down on you.

        I don’t know the how or what really happened but I cannot imagine the “calculation” was not done by a small team and hard to imagine all of them not getting it right unless there were losses of significant people who did that job and/or people who stood aside and watched it happen.

        I’m quite sure Barlow had an opportunity to explain what happened and it appears that it was not sufficient for the Gov.

        1. James McCarthy Avatar
          James McCarthy

          Sounds like you are opening the Deep State cabal that plagued a POTUS.

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            I’m surprised it hasn’t been provided as an excuse to be honest and Anne Holton fingered
            as involved…… 😉 Obviously there has to be a proper purge in order for VDOE to operate effectively.
            😉

      3. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
        James Wyatt Whitehead

        Balow produced unpleasant headlines. Not good for a governor who thinks he can run for the big house.

  12. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Could be worse. Yavonne Gonzales of the Dallas ISD was convicted of embezzlement. She embezzled money as the FBI was auditing the books during an investigation of her predecessor for embezzlement.

  13. Eric the half a troll Avatar
    Eric the half a troll

    Out of the frying pan… https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/32997b674de3a1de5f4ea7969be493c34f70dcb485ddf8a79c5551ed7669d493.jpg

    1. Monica Wright Avatar
      Monica Wright

      Failing up? Hasn’t he had two unsuccessful runs for state Senate and Congress?

    2. M. Purdy Avatar
      M. Purdy

      Remember when people thought Glenn would be a centrist governor?

      1. James Wyatt Whitehead Avatar
        James Wyatt Whitehead

        Remember when Mark Warner was a centrist? I had hair on my head back then.

        1. Lefty665 Avatar
          Lefty665

          Warner even styled himself as a “radical centrist”. I had hair back then too:)

      2. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        Not really! He was in disguise from the get go IMO.

    3. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      So what is the implication here? Are you trying to say he is unqualified for his job because his family failed to say negative things about the confederate battle flag when he was a kid?

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