Olivia Newton-John resume padding?

Three decades before he was a serious candidate to become Florida's next education commissioner, Jim Warford was a small-time entertainer trying to make a name in the music business.
He played in clubs. He wrote songs. He penned a minor hit.

But did he really write songs for Kenny Rogers and Olivia Newton-John, as he claimed on a resume a few years ago? Rogers' agent says the claim "reeks of bogus." Warford stands by it. But Warford had enough concerns about the claim that he recently took it off his resume.  More here.

Comments

The guy is a farce. If we can't do better than this yokel, our educations system is in big-time trouble.

[nicole smith]

Anyone who knows or has worked with Jim Warford knows he is a class act and would make a fantastic commissioner. None of this draws his education credentials into question.

Lets get physical, physical

Have you never been mellow

You better shape up

Nicole,

So padding your resume with untruths is OK. Makes my point about what's wrong with education. You must have some role in our education system.

I have worked with Jim Warford. He is a blow hard with an oversized ego and an undersized brain. Resume padding typifies his past behavior. He tried to claim invention of the internet, but Al Gore beat him to it. Warford can't stun with brilliance, so he baffles with BS. As Kenny Rogers sang,"...it's to know when to fold them" and folding time is here. Time to leave, Lucille.

check out www.allfloridapolitics.blogspot.com for coverage of Florida politics

I've known Jim for a few years. I've even asked him about the Olivia Newton-John song. He told me the same thing he said to the paper -- she never recorded his song.

Jim will make an excellent Commissioner of Education.

This guy Warford sounds like a flake. I could write a song for Charlie Crist and mail it to Charlie. That doesn't mean my song is going to be looked at by Charlie, and certainly it doesn't mean Charlie Crist is going to record it and take it to the top of the charts.

And he's fit to be Education Commissioner because...

Charlie is this another egg you're about to lay on Florida?

[terminator]

I've met Warford a few times but don't really know him well.
As far as the resume thing, who really gives a hoot in hell whether or not he wrote some songs that were never recorded and is a matter of conjecture between press agents for a couple of over the hill singers?
Warford is just another recycled Tallahassee bureaucrat like almost all the other seven finalists (except for two out of state recycled bureaucrats).
Florida should have done a national search and brought in the biggest public education guru they could find.
Someone who actually worked in the trenches in a large urban district and accomplished positive things against overwhelming adversity.
Bottom line is, Charlie Crist doesn't have an education agenda, wouldn't know what to do even if he did, the state board is a total bunch of losers who have little to no practical knowledge of public education, the legislature's got alot more pressing problems on their plate that will preclude anything revolutionary happening in Florida education for at least several years and the funding situation is deteriorating as we speak.
Florida SAT and ACT scores rank below the national average (big surprise), Jeb and company manipulated the FCAT test prior to his departure as Gov, so as to artificially inflate test results (big surprise), Florida currently ranks in the bottom quartile in almost every educational statistical category.
What Florida should do is start by abolishing the worthless state board, abolish DOE (a monument of bureaucratic inefficiency), deregulate school systems to increase more competition, get away from the high stakes "tail wags the dog" FCAT kill and drill routine, establish more vocational, technical and alternative schools and adopt approaches used in Europe and Japan that have been successful models for years.
These nitwits just don't get it and never will. The state's economy (rampant growth fueled by over-development) is starting to implode amidst the sub prime mortgage meltdown, skyrocketing property taxes and insurance and is stripping Florida of any ability to take proactive measures to improve it's education system.
Thank God, the state Constitution gives us at the district level the ability to dismiss all the nonsense that comes out of Tallahassee with little to no consequences for non-compliance.
It doesn't really matter who is selected. Bottom line is, it will have a negligible effect on school improvement.

Right you are, terminator, and with the recently passed legislation, the DOE has even less influence over districts. Thank God they no longer have to teach the DOE curriculum!

[Jim Warford]

I said I wrote songs for Kenny Rogers and Olivia Newton-John. I never said they recorded them. But I wrote "Thanks for Leaving, Lucille" in one night at the request of my manager, who told me Kenny Rogers' people were looking for answer songs. It was recorded the next week and made the Billboard charts a week later. I stand by resume and I'm proud of my music. It's still a big part of my life.

Worminator: Your buddy Tom Gallagher was a staunch defender of the FCAT, and defended teaching to the FCAT. In his brief experience with a testing company, Gallagher knew that teaching to a test invalidates the test results. He also knew that false inferences were being drawn from the test results, and that the only results that mattered was individual gain, not aggregated results of a changing sample. But Gallagher still defended the practice in order to inflate the test results. In the final analysis, Tom did not want to lock horns with Jeb Bush. So go soak your head Wormy. It is obvious that you are an outsider looking in and have no idea of what actually happens.

Sad state of affairs when they can't get those who woudl do the best job in this role to even apply. All they need to do is look around town. There are several who come to mind who have the right mix of education background, savvy political skills and requisite character and integrity. All three attributes are needed for this job as it has become far more an outside the organization position. Far less emphasis should be placed on bureacratic skills since less time in required for that. That is what the other thousands of bureaucrats are hired for, the Commissioner should be an education policy leader. The current board does not seem to recognize this fact of life.

[KT]

I'm a teacher and I know Jim Warford. He is a gifted educational leader who has always put students first. Our state is fortunate his songwriting career didn't work out and that he chose to be a teacher instead.

Forget about hiring a new Education Commissioner. Instead, at the entrance of every public school in Florida, erect a large "Just Read" banner like the one on the Turlington Building in Tallahassee.

The banner with the simple reminder to students to read more would probably do more good for education than what a new education commissioner would do.

The banners would probably last longer than new commissioner too.

Sorry, if you actually read the story Warford didn't pad anything. He did not say they recorded songs he wrote for them. As a songwriter myself, give the guy a break!

[Jim Warford]

Dang! Wish my songwriting had gotten this much attention 35 years ago...
Jim Warford

[terminator]

2:51
While I do consider Tom a friend and wholeheartedly supported him in the election, I didn't always agree with everything he did ed policy wise (but hey he was the boss).
As far as locking horns, he did do that with Jeb from time to time but Tom recognized Jeb was the Governor and if he wanted to receive Jeb's support in the 06 Gubernatorial election, he would have to defer to the Governor.
I have locked horns with Jeb and am proud to say have had a hand in kicking his fanny more than a few times.
Let me see, how many times did we beat him on class size (4x), vouchers, STAR, tenure and he still gave us 6-8% more money each year for our raises.
Outsider looking in, yeah right.
You must be one of the hacks over at DOE.
Get a real job buddy!

A possible future education commissioner who fabricates on a resume will NOT be a future education commissioner.

Anyone who would hire the new education commissioner because they wrote a song for Kenny Rogers, shouldn't be making the hiring decision.

Warford is an OK guy, but the State of Florida ought to be able to do better.

(Voice From Marion County)

Warford is more than an okay guy. I don't think the State of Florida could do better and we should be grateful that someone with his educational experience is applying for the job.

Maybe one reason Florida didn't get more people applying for the position is excatly what has happened to Jim . I would like to find out what his educational philosophy is more than what happened to his record deals.

I am sure there were a lot of people who didn't apply because they weren't willing to put themselves through this type of scrutiny.

Good Luck Jim!!

Good luck Jim!

You will need it, cause you aren't the best they will see.

8:06 so you tell us you don't think the State of Florida could do better that Warford, but then you tell us that you would like to find out what his educational philosophy is. That indicated you know nothing about what might make Warford fit to hold the post of Education Commissioner.

Are you a total boob to talk about things you don't know about or just a Charlie Crist supporter. (Sorry about the redundance.)

5:20 Crist SHOULDN'T be making any decisions except what time to go swimming in "the People's Pool". He's a fool who has turned over Florida to a group of self-serving minions.

Newspapers sell through sensationalizing of trivial matters. It is an attack on his credibility, an attack which has no real substance. If you simply read Warford's explanation located in this blog, it is clearly explained.
It appears the real exaggeration is from the person who wrote the newspaper article.

A possible future education commissioner who fabricates on a resume will NOT be a future education commissioner.

The real boob is the reporter who wrote this story.

Will the members of the Florida Board of Education really decide who is hired Commissioner of Education, or are they a rubber stamp for Crist?

If Senator Don Gaetz was willing to serve as Commissioner of Education, would he get job?

The whole process is flawed, they should go back to an elected commissioner.

[Kathy]

The coalition of Bob Butterworth, the late Lawton Chiles and Charlie Reed led the charge to a non-elected commmissioner of education position. At the first meeting of the newly elected state board of education - then the gov and cabinet - in January of 1995 I think - they started a big push for cabinet reform. As many may recall, the democrats HATED the elected cabinet of equals and eventually Dexter Douglas got the constitutional revision commission revved up for the constitutional amendment which eventually resulted in the current configuration.

However, at this Cabinet meeting and led by AG Butterworth, they took advantage of the three new and unexperienced Republican cabinet members - Brogan, Mortham and Milligan - none of whom were familiar with the collegial cabinet process and none of whom could possibly realize (at that point - they later were all superb players at the cabinet level) what was about to happen. If memory serves, the governor asked Charlie Reed to "donate" $100,000 of the regents money to fund some kind of exploration project.

Tell me if I'm wrong but I was there and that's the way I remember it.

As to would an elected Commissioner of Ed solve our state's problems? Brogan was well on his way to helping but I suspect it was more than the fact he could walk the walk and talk the talk due to his experience as teacher, principal and district superintendent. Anyone who had his brains, charisma AND experience along with a true vision might be able to make a reasonable stab at it. I don't know any of the current candidates very well so can't comment as to merit or abilities.

Termie - as you will recall, the teachers and the folk in the big ivory tower hated Brogan when he was elected. Four years later when he left to be LG, those same people cried.

I was hoping that David Mosrie would be considered but I guess he's been out of the game too long. Along with Brogan, he was one of the finest bosses I ever had.

[terminator]

Kathy:
agree wholeheartedly.
Frank was awesome. One of the nicest most infectious guys I've ever met. Never saw the guy in a bad mood or not pumped full of energy.
I think you hit it on the head when you mention about his experience as a teacher, AP, Principal, Superintendent.
That's what we need! Someone who knows the process from top to bottom and HAS BEEN THERE.
The only knock on Frank would be he came from genteel Martin County where you have nowhere near the challenges you face in large urban districts such as Dade, Broward, Hillsborough, etc.

Dave Mosrie would be a good pick too but he probably figured "been there done that" who needs the aggravation. Plus his ties to the establishment (FSBA, FADDS, etc.) Most of these guys are in it for their own special interest group not the teachers or students.

Your knowledge certainly precedes mine (I thought the whole cabinet shuffle eminated from the CRC) but have no knowledge of events preceding that.

We should be looking for a young (40/50's) education policy guru hotshot with experience working in a large urban school district with a proven track record of success.

Believe it or not Arza comes to mind. The dude was sometimes too intense but extremely knowledgeable and had the experience working in Dade. Pickens would be good but he was only a school board attorney and lacks the experience of working in the trenches.

I think it all starts from the top and people know that Charlie Crist is a fake and a fraud and has no ed policy agenda.

The FBOE is a bunch of Jeb Bush retreads who are hanging on to an outmoded ideology that has been defeated by FEA and proven to be ineffective by flat or declining SAT/ACT/NAEP scores.

The question is, who wants to be captain of a rudderless ship and that's pretty much what Florida public education is about now.

[marg]

School choice for all is the only way to improve public education.

It doesn't matter who's in charge; the government doesn't do anything well.

While Mr. Warford is revising history, how is he going to deal with this?

Warford, once the elected school superintendent of Marion County and now the executive director of the Florida Association of School Administrators, was forced from his job under Gov. Jeb Bush after he questioned the fairness of Bush's school grading plan. Last year he supported Crist's rival in the Republican primary for governor, Tom Gallagher. (PALM BEACH POST)

Gallagher, Tom

09/30/2005

250.00 CHE

WARFORD JAMES

EDUCATION CONSULTANT

Does this guy really have a chance?

No way the current arrangement allows for the Ed Commussioner to be more than an uber-administrator with little authority. It is hyper-politicized position in no way attractive to any "national level educator". I'm not sure if that is a bad thing...

C'mon, guys. The lie is on his resume' for a reason. He knew the attention it would garner and he apparently wanted that attention. Now you can tell me it was small lie, an unimportant lie, but it's a lie. (Definition of 'is' sound familiar?) If I sent my essays to the New Yorker and later claimed I'd written essays for the New Yorker, that would be a lie. Jim, you seem like a nice guy, but own up. What you present implies, strongly, something different from the truth.

Makes me wonder if you did indeed write this lyric for Olivia:

I'm trapped, trapped in the spell of your eyes/In the warmth of your arms/
In the web of your lies/

Marg, improving public education is the way to improve public education. School choice let's the government off the hook. They don't have to improve schools, because you supposedly have a choice. Get them all up to par.

I was out of town and missed all this excitement. Just fyi -- if the state board was a rubber stamp for Charlie Crist then Bill Montford would still be in the running for Commish. The state board is still full of Jebbies - 4 to 3. And Termie -- I know you hate us DOE staffers, but the vast majority of us are former classroom teachers, burned out possibly, though still in some way hoping to make a difference-- can't you give us a little mercy? I love you nonetheless and look forward to your posts!

Most of us in the Republican leadership of Marion County were relieved to see Jim Warford leave his so-called "leadership" of our school district after two years of embarassment and being served a steady diet of self-aggrandzing dramatics, exaggeration, and empty promises. After leaving Marion County, he apparently repeated his karma in Tallahassee, where he embarassed the administration to the extent he was given the "opportunity" to resign his position as Chancellor of Education. Jim, as you already know, "you can fool some of the public all of the time, and all of the public some of the time," but you apparently haven't learned the remainder of the princible.

Dear Jim: Some advice on your resume! Your song writing experience has no professional relevancy to your aspirations to return to a State post in education. Perhaps you might consider Nashville!