There are times in our lives when we encounter things that make us sick--and that's what's happening to me now... I am sick and tired of hearing about the grievance that someone filed against me because I wouldn't send him an availability and because that person thinks that a post on the blog was written about him. I am REALLY SICK AND TIRED of the runaround I have been receiving at the hands of those in leadership in Texas and the USTA.
In order to avoid a grievance, I am only naming people by their positions or by the use of the word "someone." I am also going to lay out the facts and then draw a few conclusions...
FACTS:
** On September 20, 2008, the Texas Section Officials Committee met in Austin and during that time our Sectional Chairman led and permitted a public discussion of me, my blog, and my profession as a pastor when I was not in attendance at the meeting. This discussion was done in direct violation of Roberts Rules of Order for a committee meeting.
** On September 25, 2008, our Sectional Chairman met with me in Grapevine, Texas, and at that time shared that a person had filed a grievance against me for the following reasons:
*** That I had not sent him an availibility for ITA matches.
*** That one of the posts on my blog was written about him personally.
At that time I made a verbal request for a copy of the grievance.
** On October 7, 2008, our Sectional Chairman refused to send me a copy of the grievance (after three written and one verbal request). His statement was, "I do not see any benefit in sharing that information."
** On October 11, 2008, I began to receive emails from officials around the state and nation as well as correspondence from leadership in Austin that the grievance has basically been settled in NYC at the USTA headquarters! Their conclusion was that the person who had filed the grievance had no basis for his grievance against me for the ITA availability and that he should take up his complaint with the universities that hire me. They also said that the complaint against the blog was without merit since his name was never mentioned.
** As of October 18, 2008, our Sectional Chairman has never shared this information with the Texas Section Grievance Committee (which was re-created at the Officials Committee meeting in September, 2008).
CONCLUSIONS & OBSERVATIONS:
** It is strange that the Texas Section Grievance Committee has been totally bypassed in something that is specifically their responsibility. They were given the responsibility of settling this grievance and have been totally ignored in the proceedings. In the past 7 years that I served on the Grievance Committee (before it was re-invented) we never had the USTA settle a grievance. It was always done in the section (according to the advice we received from the USTA.)
** It is strange that the Sectional Chairman even let this grievance become reality when even in a casual evaluation it was ludicrous. To think that someone could file a grievance about not receiving an availability when they hadn't even been sent out is a ridiculous joke!
** It is strange that in today's world someone would be denied access to a grievance that had been filed against them.
** It is strange that I have not received a written explanation (which I requested in writing to our Sectional Chairman and Executive Director of the Texas Section) about the resolution of this grievance. Since word is all over the country about the grievance and its settlement in NYC, then perhaps it is time to send the written evaluation.
** It is strange that someone would file a grievance saying that a post about a ruined hunting dog was written about him when noone's name was mentioned in the blog. If that had been me, I never would have stood up and said I was the hunting dog he was talking about. (That blog post was an allegory and written about ABSOLUTELY NOONE in particular.) This fact was also confirmed by our able leadership at USTA headquarters in NYC.
** It is strange that we are still dealing with this issue when the hunting dog blog is gone into internet eternity and my availabilities have been sent out, returned, and assigned. The issue is a moot point.
** It is strange that people can hyperventilate over a little bitty blog down in the state of Texas.
5 comments:
Who's on the Texas Grievance Committee? If it is led by your inept Sectional Chairman, then you shouldn't be surprised on what has transpired. You guys really need to fire the entire Committee and start from scratch. Sometimes fresh air is exactly what the doctor ordered. If you can't do that, call a young lawyer ready to make a name of himself and see what happens. I will be happy to pass the plate around to solicite funding if you want me to.
The newly re-invented Grievance Committee is composed of the following members:
Chairman, Bruce Sampley
Sara Lammerts (College Station)
Ralph Martin (Corpus Christi)
Steve Smith (Ballinger)
Nancy Vivero (Houston)
Sounds like Bruce Sampley has dropped the ball as usual. Its time for him to be replaced.
Ref the members of the Grievance Committee....Sara Lammerts? Is this the same petulant child that "got into it" with some of the bloggers on the "OLD" blogspot? Is this the same person who, per postings on the dearly departed "OLD" blogspot, cratered out at the Waco ITA Training? If so, shouldn't we expect more from the members of that committee? Or, is it a "committee" in the worst sense of the word?
Thats the grievance committee? One incompetent, one that is a grievance personified (and married to the only TX official I know that I personally considered filing a grievance against.) And the other three ... I don't know so I can't comment.
However, haveing had extensive experience working with "committees" here is a definition I have developed.
Committee - a collection of the over-zealous, led by the incompetent, to do the unnecessary in the most inefficient, ineffective and untimely manner with the maximum collateral damage possible.
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