I attended the parents club meeting so I could find out more about Sherry "Chellew" Poppen and why she was running for the Fox C-6 school board. I was also curious as to why she was using the "Chellew" name on her campaign flyer.
Sherry "Chellew" Poppen handed out campaign flyers to everyone at the parents club meeting that night. The following text was at the bottom of the front cover:
"A Common Sense Approach to Leadership!"
The back cover of Sherry "Chellew" Poppen's campaign flyer had the following text:
Fox C-6 School Board
Sherry "Chellew"
POPPEN
Common Sense Leadership
Paid for by Committee to Elect Sherry Chellew Poppen, James Chellew, Treasurer
First impressions are important. The meeting was posted on the Lone Dell Parents Club Facebook page with a start time of 6:30pm. Sherry showed up to the meeting around 6:45pm.
There were a few things that stood out that evening as the candidates talked to the parents. But the number one thing that stood out was when Sherry Poppen responded to the teacher's question as to what the candidates would do if they were faced with having to make cuts in the district.
Sherry Poppen responded by saying that she would consider a tax increase.
Sherry Poppen's response was met with an immediate response from the parents telling her that a tax increase would not pass in our district for quite some time given what's been uncovered over the last year.
It was very apparent that her response didn't sit well with the parents at the meeting. A tax increase doesn't sound like, "A Common Sense Approach to Leadership!"
Sherry Poppen may want to reconsider her approach to solving potential cutbacks in our district.
Asking the Fox C-6 community for more money after all of the payouts that have been handed out over the past year to people who were rewarded for bad behavior or for not doing their job is NOT a good idea.
Other Campaign Concerns
Sherry Poppen's brother is Jim Chellew. Jim Chellew was the superintendent of the Fox C-6 School District prior to Dianne Brown-Critchlow. Mr. Chellew was responsible for getting Dianne Brown selected as the next Fox C-6 superintendent in November 2004. Dianne Brown was the only person that applied for the job according to the news article that was published on the Fox C-6 website as documented by the INTERNET ARCHIVE from 2004 (use the link below).
Jim Chellew is listed as the treasurer for Sherry "Chellew" Poppen's campaign. His involvement concerns me because of some of the conversations that I had with Mr. Chellew several years ago about what was going on in our school district.
I haven't spoken with Mr. Chellew since it was publicly announced that derogatory comments that were posted online about me and others were traced back to the home of our former superintendent Dianne Brown-Critchlow and her husband Jamie Critchlow who was the former director of the Bridges program at Fox.
Derogatory comments were also traced to the home of Dan and Angie Baker as well as former assistant principal Bill Brengle.
Dan Baker was an assistant superintendent in the district and is currently the principal at Seckman Elementary School after the previous principal was moved to an assistant principal position in the district. Dan Baker's wife Angela Burns Baker is the Director of Federal programs at Fox C-6.
If you remember, Dan Baker played golf on the first day of the MarzanoGate Conference that was paid for with Todd Scott's school district credit card that Jamie Critchlow "borrowed "for the trip to Florida. Dan Baker also paid for a $749 meal using his school district credit card at the MarzanoGate Conference as well.
In December 2011, I mentioned some of my concerns about Fox to Mr. Chellew when I saw him at the Arnold Target store. I told Mr. Chellew during that conversation that Dianne Brown and Dan Baker should be fired for making false statements to me and to the school board about various issues. Mr. Chellew told me he was the one that put Dianne in her position as superintendent and that he would fight to make sure that she didn't get fired.
Mr. Chellew also told me that he was sure that they weren't intentional lies and that sometimes people get confused about what they've said to people because they talk to so many different people. I told him that was not the case.
I told Mr. Chellew about other concerns I had about our district. Several times during our conversation he told me that I shouldn't let these school things eat at me and that things aren't perfect at Fox. He said Fox isn't a Camelot, but Fox is way ahead of most other schools out there.
It was certainly strange that Mr. Chellew was mentioned in the cease and desist letter that was sent to me by Fox's former law firm in August 2012. Mr. Chellew is the "former Superintendent of the District" that's referenced in my cease and desist letter. You can read the cease and desist letter using the link below:
It bothered me back then that Mr. Chellew was referenced in my cease and desist letter and the fact that he disregarded my concerns about Dianne Brown and Dan Baker. My conversation with Mr. Chellew took place prior to Dianne marrying Jamie Critchlow. It bothered me even more that our conversation made it back to Dianne and into the cease and desist letter that threatened me with legal action if I didn't stop speaking with people about my concerns in our school district.
I've written about the cease and desist letter before. My conversation with Jim Chellew took place on December 3, 2011. I documented my conversation with Jim Chellew back then with others in an email right after it happened so I would remember what we discussed. When I saw Mr. Chellew at the store, we first chatted about scouts. After a few minutes, I told him that I wished that we could put some Character back into our district leadership. That's when I started telling Mr. Chellew about some of my concerns about what was going on in the district and the problems that I had been having with Dianne Brown and Dan Baker and the district's attorneys.
I told Mr. Chellew how the district was violating federal law and how we were put through a charade of a Due Process Hearing and that Dianne Brown and Dan Baker should be fired for not doing their jobs and for not following the law.
During our conversation I also told Mr. Chellew that I was pretty sure that Dianne Brown and/or Jamie Critchlow were posting defamatory comments about me in an online forum. I told him I went to the December 2010 school board meeting and that I asked the board questions about Jamie Critchlow and how he got his job because of his lack of credentials and prior arrest record. Derogatory comments were posted online about me right after I spoke at the December 2010 board meeting. More derogatory comments were posted about me and my parents a week later in December 2010 just two days before an article appeared in the Arnold-Imperial Leader newspaper about Jamie Critchlow and his DWI arrest in Texas.
Jefferson County Penknife first posted an article on February 21, 2015 documenting Jamie Critchlow's most recent two DWI arrests. Jefferson County Penknife has the "must read" police reports from both the July 3, 2014 Iron County arrest and the January 31, 2015 Arnold Police Department arrest.
On February 25, 2015, the Arnold-Imperial Leader newspaper published an article about Jamie Critchlow's most recent DWI arrests.
Fox C-6 School Board Elections are April 7, 2015
Dismissing my concerns back then and over the years might be something you may want to consider when casting your vote for Fox C-6 school board members on April 7, 2015!