Demand accountability, communication and transparency in Oyster River School District.
As you will see from the correspondence I received from the District, the School Board was not involved or even informed of the Brady case against the District or the amount of the settlement.
If the Brady case did not hit the papers, would the Board or members of the public ever have known that this happened? It would appear the answer to this question is an obvious “no”.
How is it that a Superintendent has no requirement to get input or, at a minimum, inform his governing body of pending litigation and subsequent $50,000 legal settlement? Keep in mind these funds do not account for the amount of money the District has spent in staff time and our own legal fees. This is unacceptable.
Once a suit was filed, this was no longer an internal matter with a student. This became a fiscal and legal issue that should have legally mandated input and information from the governing body of the District. The Board has an obligation to demand and provide open and transparent communication with/from the Superintendent and the community.
The elected members of this Board must step up and stop this blatant abuse of taxpayer resources, require transparency and institute policies to hold the Superintendent to a higher standard.
From: "Wendy DiFruscio"
Date: July 19, 2010 1:45:59 PM EDT
To: "Jenna Roberts"
Subject: RE: Right To Know Request
Dear Ms. Roberts:
Normally, settlements pertaining to student matters are left to the administration to approve. The administration was able to approve this particular settlement with funds allocated in the FY-10 budget, coupled with a sizeable contribution provided by our insurance carrier.
Sincerely,
Howard
Wendy DiFruscio
Administrative Asst. to Superintendent
Oyster River Cooperative School District
36 Coe Drive
Durham, NH 03824
868-5100 x20
Email: mailto:wdifruscio@orcsd.orgwdifruscio@orcsd.org
The Right-To-Know Law provides that most e-mail communications, to or from School District employees regarding the business of the School District, are government records available to the public upon request. Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public disclosure.
From: Jenna Roberts
Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 12:10 AM
To: Wendy DiFruscio
Cc: ORCSD School Board
Subject: Right To Know Request
I would like to know at what meeting the Board voted to approve the $50,000 settlement with the Brady family that was in the paper this week.
Thanks,
Jenna
It appears that the district is using confidentiality related to student privacy and settlement as a way to avoid transparency. This allows them to bully parents without having to answer to taxpayers. What would drive an administration to pay 100,000.00 (including the estimated district attorney fees) in taxpayer dollars over six months of school, while also keeping in mind that the student's iep indicated that he would have the right to stay. Why would any reasonable administration risk that kind of money to fight an obvious losing battle. The whole situation begs transparency.
ReplyDeleteI understand that the public does not have a right to know confidential information about the student however, the public should be entitled to know how much money is being spent. The bottom line taxpayer bill is not confidential. The public should demand a forensic audit.
I agree, it does seem time for a forensic audit.
ReplyDeleteWe have a new business administrator, it seems a fitting time for this audit to take place. This would also allow the new BA to start fresh and know for sure what has gone on in order to know how to move ahead.
The board needs to request this, and stop listening to Mr. Colter say it is not needed. It IS NEEDED to clear the air.
I agree with Ms.Roberts in believing that the school board would have never been informed about the Brady case. I feel it is because in doing such, it would have shed light on the misjudgment and incompetence of our administrators.If this and other cases were shared, then they would have to be held accountable. But since this case did make the news, why has the school board still not demanded accountability. Have they even questioned the administration how many other cases like the Brady's are they not aware of?
ReplyDeleteIt appears that Howard Colter is completely in charge in this district. I had always thought that the School Board was above the Superintendent in the school hierarchy. It doesn't appear to be true in this district. He is able to go his merry way and do whatever he wants without question. What does this man have to do before he is questioned? Is it possible to have a "vote of no confidence" for the superintendent? And how is this done?
ReplyDeleteHoward Colter consider "questions" evil. And he considers people who question troublemakers. And he is the leader of an educational program??? Aren't questions the foundation of education?
ReplyDeleteProcedure/policy should be changed so that the board is aware of big expenditures for legal issues. 6 months of public high school was much less expensive and rightfully due to the student per his IEP than what the administration "approved" to spend on legal fees. How many other large expenditures is the board not aware of? This was quite a large one in my eyes. And to say it was taken from another budget and the insurance carrier kicked in still does not make it appropriate that the board is not made aware.
ReplyDeleteIf our district is spending a significant amount of money on legal fees, it would make sense that our insurance premiums would increase as a result. Is our board aware of the premiums being paid out on our insurance carrier? I find it hard to believe that our premiums wouldn't increase given all these expenditures.
ReplyDeleteMan, you all need to take a chill pill. Though I may question Mr. Colter's actions from time to time, on this issue I have complete faith in him.
ReplyDeleteThere is a reason why this issue is not spoken about in public. It is ALL protected under confidentiality laws. The district would be opening itself up to more lawsuits if they spoke about it in the public domain. Then when this case is settled, when would the next case come forward that voters demanded to see the private materials. It would NEVER stop.
Have faith in some of the professionals that work for you. There is no conspiracy out there to bilk the district. You should all be ashamed of yourselves to demand to see individual students' files - files that are protected by this intrusive invasion of privacy that you demand. These privacy laws are specifically written to protect students and parents from undue public pressure and remain private.
I don't think anyone on this blog has indicated a need to invade student privacy. To suggest otherwise is ignorant!! Our community has a right to know how much is being spent on ALL legal matters. The district can release this information to the public without violating confidentiality.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, we might all need to take a chill pill if an HONEST audit were actually completed on the dollar amount wasted on special education attorney fees.