Information is currency for democracy.
- Thomas Jefferson
A day without sunshine is like, you know,
night. -
Steve Martin
Education is unique among consumer products;
when it fails to work as advertised, it's the customer that gets labeled as
defective. - Kevin
Killion
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Courage is the most important of all
the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other
virtues consistently. You can't be consistently kind or fair or
humane or generous, not without courage, because if you don't have
it, sooner or later you will stop and say, "The threat is too much.
The difficulty is ...too high. The challenge is too great. ~ Maya
Angelou
Quotes from
Picayune article:"Doesn't it kind of smell that there
might be a problem out there if you have someone making a recommendation
to the board where they might benefit financially from that
recommendation?" - Clint Sayers
“I think that anyone who
agrees to serve on a committee for the district
should be willing to sign a conflict of interest
statement so that we are not caught blindsided and
the community is not caught off guard (by issues of
possible conflict),” Sayers said. “There are reasons
that we, as board members, have to disclose the fact
if we do business with someone who does business
with the district. There are needs for checks and
balances.”
When
asked by board member Ellen Balthazar where he
thought the possible conflict of interest in the
business partnership lay, Sayers responded, “
Doesn’t it kind of smell that there might be a
problem out there if you have someone making a
recommendation to the board where they might benefit
financially from that recommendation?”
Board members Stone, Colleen
Jones and Robert Durkee supported an investigation
to see if the district needed to have a policy
dictating possible conflict of interest procedures
for committee volunteers.
Comments from Westlake Picayune regarding the
EISD board meeting on May 25, 2010:
First comment: "At last evening's study
session of the board of trustees, it was acknowledged that
superintendent Wellman solicited 5k donationsfrom community
members to underwrite the cost of the bond survey. If that is the
case, we are left wondering why David Perkins claimed to have personally
shouldered the costs during his presentation. It seems obvious that the
intent to fund this privately was nothing more than a strategy to keep
the survey documents exempt from public disclosure. We also learned
that Eanes board president Jim Strickland helped to write the survey
questions.Why didn’t our district leaders come clean with these
alliances prior to the school board election?"
Second Comment: "Why wouldn’t Dr. Wellman fund the survey
through the District? To avoid public records or
a possible negative survey? Who else helped fund
the survey? And why would a Superintendent
request this type of thing?
Listen to some of the early study sessions in
April when the survey was first brought up- see
what Dr. Wellman has to say about it then and
compare it to now.
Since the survey was
done during an election it could be looked
at as a push poll- a poll to get people
to vote one way or the other. The only
people who have talked about actually being
polled have been people from the Eanes Elem
and Cuernavaca areas- were other areas not
polled?? If not, why these two areas??
UPDATE:
May 21, 2010 --->
1. First the superintendent appoints David Perkins (Chap Club
Athletic Booster Club Board of Directors) to chair the “Community” Bond Advisory Committee which clears
the way for him to review district information that he otherwise could
not access … information that is hidden from the public.
2. Following the review, Mr. Perkins conducts a “phone survey” about the
bond and claims that it is “private” thereby controlling the timing and
extent of disclosure … all of this during a bond election. Now the
public and even the elected officials are kept in the dark.
3. Finally, a ten minute Internet search (by KeepEanesInformed) turns up
a business partnership between Perkins and WHS head coach Darren Allman.
(Coach Concept, LLC created April 6, 2010 and phone survey conducted
April 12, 2010)
4. Now we have Jim Strickland (EISD board president and sports promotion
salesman) jumping to the defense of this whole plan (doesn’t he seem to
CARE an awful lot?) … even kicking the one board member who dares to
speak up for the public’s right to know.
There should be a clear distinction between an advisory committee and
the governing board. When members of the bond advisory committee hold
information, they hold power. When they intentionally hold information
from board members, controlling the time and extent of release, that's a
problem. During the May 10, 2010 meeting, EISD board members asked if
the district could reimburse Mr. Perkins for the costs of the survey so
that they could review all of the information. The answer was no.
The EISD board of trustees should review the approach of other entities
who have an effective and transparent process for selecting bond
advisory committee members and then create policy to guide future
selection. The board should also require
written conflict of interest disclosure when the Head Football Coach/Athletic
Director opens a private business with a Chap Club booster club board
member/Chair Bond Committee (or when any employee in a supervisory role or board member is
involved in a business venture with booster club board members or agents
of the district).
Instead, the President of the Board of Trustees
publicly
slams the only board member who dared to speak up and
defending an approach that keeps both the public and the board in the
dark during the bond election cycle. (Scroll down for more
information about the CBAC and the phone survey.)
Faltering in the shadow of the axe for the
upcoming bond after Monday’s discussion are $76.2 million in plans for
new facilities – an elementary school on the western River Hills tract,
the Eanes Elementary School renovation, the separate special education
facility, the student activity center, the swim center and the facility
to house dance, cheer and wrestling programs. With the exception of the
special education facility, all of those facilities are now included in
the district’s master plan.
Excerpt:
Eanes school district officials say the district
does not have the full results of the survey,
which they said was paid for by David Perkins .
Perkins, who led the district's community bond
advisory committee, has said he supports an
indoor athletic facility.
He did not return several
calls for comment.
Perkins also recently
formed a business with Westlake High School head
football Coach Darren Allman. Allman said their
company is a coaches' clinic. "That survey and
David's involvement with the survey and with the
district and helping them get that done and all,
that doesn't have anything to do with me or the
coaches' clinic," Allman said. "It's a
coincidence that the timing plays out like it
does with his survey and when we decided to take
this football clinic and run with it. ... But
there is no relation between the two."
- KeepEanesInformed requests information regarding the Community Bond Advisory
Committee (CBAC) and the proposed bond. - District superintendent Nola Wellman hires a a private attorney to work to
withhold the information regarding the CBAC and the proposed bond from the public. The Office of the
Attorney General (OAG) accepts the district's argument, rules that the
CBAC is "a part of the governmental body that created it" and allows the
district to withhold public information regarding the CBAC and the
proposed bond from the public. The superintendent appoints
David Perkins as Chair of the CBAC.
2010
- CBAC Chair
David Perkins (appointed by Eanes ISD superintendent) presents to
board (May 10, 2010) a phone survey regarding the proposed bond.
The presentation is in fact included on the school board meeting agenda.
However, Mr. Perkins informs the Board of Trustees that he alone
controls the results of the survey. He will decide when and if the
public and the school board members an see the full the results.
- Keep Eanes Informed requests a copy of the phone survey
and any information related to the survey.
- Eanes administration responds that the results of the phone survey
regarding the proposed bond are private and under the control of Mr.
Perkins.So which is it? Is Mr. Perkins an agent of the district as
Chair of a committee that is"a part of the governmental body
that created it" ... or simply a regular citizen who is taking political action?
And how can it be that after Mr. Perkins is appointed by
the Eanes ISD superintendent to chair the Community Bond Advisory
Committee (CBAC) and after he is allowed to review district
information regarding the proposed bond which he otherwise could have
not have accessed, Mr. Perkin then conducts a phone survey about
this very issue (the proposed bond), labels it privates, and then hides the results from the public and
to a significant degree, the board of trustees as well?
Keep reading ...
In fall 2009, Keep
Eanes Informed requested public information related to the proposed bond.
Nola Wellman (Eanes ISD superintendent) hired
Ellen Spalding a
private attorney in Houston, Texas to hide the information from the
public. The district convinced the OAG that the members of the Community Bond
Advisory Committee (CBAC) are not merely citizens.
Quote from the OAG
ruling dated December 2009: "In this case, we understand the committee was appointed by the district
Board of Trustees, and the district informs us that the committee
consists of citizens and employees who provide advice and
recommendations to the district on a potential bond election.
Based on the facts presented in the briefs concerning the function of
the committee and its relationship with the district, we conclude that
the committee is, for purposes of the Act, a part of the governmental
body that created it."
However, it is
important to note the
board did not appoint the CBAC members as set forth in the OAG ruling.
In fact, the board is having trouble accessing information from CBAC.
In fact, Keep Eanes Informed requested public information that would indicate
that the board appointed the committee and the district responded that
there were "no responsive documents." However, there are documents
that indicate that the district administration chose and appointed the
board members.
The superintendent
appointed David Perkins as Chair
of the Community Bond Advisory Board (CBAC). The
charter of the CBAC, according to Eanes ISD, is to provide advice and
recommendations to the Board of Trustees. However, after Mr. Perkins was appointed by
the Eanes ISD superintendent as the CBAC Chair and after he was
privy to district information regarding the proposed bond which he
otherwise could have not have accessed, Mr. Perkins conducted a phone
survey about the proposed bond, the results of which he has chosen to
keep from the public and to a significant degree, the board of trustees
as well. Incredibly, the district administration and the attorneys
support his position that the the phone survey (conducted by the CBAC
Chair who has special access to district information) is PRIVATE. Yes, the Eanes ISD administration and Mr. Perkins
now claim that Mr. Perkins has the power to decide who is
privy to the results of the phone survey as well
as when and if to release the results to the elected school board
members and the voting taxpayers. And questions still swirl
around regarding how Mr. Perkins was chosen and appointed to lead the
CBAC committee, who actually initiated the phone survey, the validity of the statistical methods used,
and the
source of the funding for this survey. Here's one thing we know for sure:
The public remains in the dark.
As one community member stated
"To me the question is less what
the survey says, and more about what sort of administration or board
would allow this to happen. He who controls the data controls the
information." (Westlake Picayune article, May 13, 2010)
And to take it a step
further: He (or SHE) who controls the information controls the bond
election. Eanes ISD continues to hire private attorneys to fight
transparency and battle the public's right to know. Whether it's
bond information and phone surveys at issue,
travel
expenses converted to salary, deleted
voice mails, or documented
routinely
stamped as "drafts", or
board members
kept in the dark, or
cherry-picked committee "Eanes Link" members, the results are the same. The
public is excluded from the process. So much for transparency.
Dianna Pharr, Keep
Eanes Informed
Quote from
Westlake Picayune article, May 13, 2010: “With the bond advisory committee not willing to
share the entire results of the poll with the board and the community,
they are not acting in good faith and above board. So much for
transparency when they are hiding the results.” - Clint Sayers,
Eanes ISD board member
Public
request for information and the district's response:
On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 1:47 PM, Dianna
Pharr wrote:
The OAG ruled on December 16, 2009 in OR 2009-17815, based on the
district's legal request to withhold public information related to the
proposed bond, that the Community Bond Advisory Committee (CBAC) is,
"for the purposes of the Act*, a part of the governmental body that
created it." The OAG also wrote: "In this case, we understand the
committee was appointed by the district Board of Trustees, and the
district informs us that the committee consists of citizens and
employees who provide advice and recommendations to the district on a
potential bond election." Eanes ISD convinced the OAG that the members
of the CBAC are agents of the district.
David Perkins was appointed as the chair of the CBAC. He conducted
a phone survey of Eanes ISD taxpayers regarding the proposed bond.
I request a copy of the documents used to create the phone survey and
any and all documents related to that survey, including but not limited
to the results of the survey.
Thank you,
Dianna Pharr
* Texas Public Information Act
On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 3:59 PM,
OpenRecords OpenRecords <OpenRecords@eanesisd.net> wrote: Dear Ms. Pharr,
The CBAC committee was not involved with a phone survey of Eanes ISD
taxpayers. It is my understanding that Mr. Perkins conducted and paid
for the survey in his personal capacity.
Except for the audio recording of the study session, the District does
not have records responsive to your request. The audio recording will be
posted to the District website soon.
To: OpenRecords OpenRecords <OpenRecords@eanesisd.net>,Nola
Wellman <nwellman@eanesisd.net>,trustees@eanesisd.net Date: Thu, May 13, 2010 at 3:22 PM Subject: Re: TPIA
David Perkins is, as the district argued to the Office of the Attorney
General (OAG), an agent of the district in his appointed role as Chair
of the Community Bond Advisory Board (CBAC). The district argued his
status as an "agent" of Eanes ISD when seeking an OAG ruling to withhold
public documents related to the proposed bond from the rest of the Eanes
ISD taxpayers. And further, according to the OAG ruling letter, the
charter of the CBAC is to provide advice and recommendations to the
Board of Trustees.
Quote from the OAG ruling dated December 2009:
"In this case, we understand the committee was appointed by the district
Board of Trustees, and the district informs us that the committee
consists of citizens and employees who provide advice and
recommendations to the district on a potential bond election."
So now the district's position is that Mr. Perkins is not an agent of
Eanes ISD for the purpose of the phone survey related to the proposed
bond even though he conducted the survey after he was appointed by
the superintendent as the CBAC Chair and after he was privy to district
information regarding the proposed bond which he otherwise could have
not have accessed. And Mr. Perkins will now decide who is privy to
the results of the phone survey and when and if to release the results
to the elected school board members and the voting taxpayers?
Yes, I would like a copy of the May 10 board meeting audio please. Are
you able to provide the audio by email? I would also like a copy of the
Power Point presentation that Mr. Perkins presented at the board
meeting. The May 10 school board agenda item is: Report on Community
Research into Potential Bond Election.
