voice mail

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Eliminating the Eanes ISD paper trail ...

The use of "voice mail" between Eanes ISD superintendent and board members

is an effective barrier to open government. What are they hiding?

June 29, 2008 - Perhaps in response to this site's prior requests for emails between and among the superintendent and trustees, Eanes ISD superintendent Nola Wellman now communicates with Eanes ISD board members by voice mail and those voice mails are apparently then destroyed. Does the Eanes ISD practice of communicating by voice mail and then destroying the voice mail records comply with the Texas records retention laws and the Texas Public Information Act? Public information exists in many forms including audio.

"Work-arounds" to open government can often be identified as a pattern in other districts: Link: Out of the Public Eye In April 1995, two members of the Jefferson County, Colorado school board accused then board president of violating state open-meetings law by leaving voice-mail messages for other board members. "The Jeffco controversy shows how information technologies can be abused to short-circuit the public's ability to monitor and influence government decision making. "

..." Eanes ISD board members just received laptops from the district in 2007. Nola Wellman transferred to Eanes in 2004 - from a Colorado school district. Keep Eanes Informed received the first two documents indicating use of "voice mail" (rather than email) by Nola Wellman to communicate with the board in 2007. The voice mails referenced in the emails no longer exist. The next example of this practice is reflected in emails regarding the Dan Harper issue. Keep Eanes Informed requested similar documents in 2008. The district charged $22.50 to obtain six (6) pages. Click here to review those documents.

It appears that information technology such as voice mail can indeed by abused to short-circuit the public's right to know. The Eanes ISD practice of communicating by voice mail rather than email and then destroying the emails eliminates the paper trail ... and the public's access to important public information. What are they hiding?

Official's e-mails freely available -- in theory

June 29, 2008 - By DAVE LIEBER - watchdog@star-telegram.com

"E-mail is now the heart and soul of communications within our various agencies of government, and the public should have a right to know how decisions are made," Smith said. "Oftentimes, these records need to be retained for several years so people have the right to see how the decisions that affect them are made." Link to full article here.

THE PROBLEM WITH EANES ISD RECORDKEEPING ...

After year-long delay, Texas Education Agency finds Eanes ISD out of compliance with state records retention laws and Texas Education Code ... no consequence issued.

July 29, 2008 - We all talk about the importance of accountability in our public schools. Our students and teachers are held to high accountability standards. However, when districts fail to comply with Texas Education Code or the Texas Records Retention laws, there is no consequence and the administrators who are paid well to manage our districts are not monitored. How did we learn about the missing paper trail?

In October 2004, Keep Eanes Informed was contacted by community members with concerns that our school tax dollars were funding a professional lobbyist, Brad Shields. Mr. Shields's affiliations with Eanes are numerous; in fact, on his lobbyist website he advertises that he is the "Voice of the Chaps" at the Westlake High School football games and a past Eanes ISD board member. He also served as State Representative Turned Professional Lobbyist Todd Baxter's campaign manager. Was he also now the district’s professional (tax-funded) lobbyist?

Dianna Pharr contacted Nola Wellman and the superintendent denied the speculation. However, at the beginning of 2005, the check register told another story; the district was paying Mr. Shield's thousands of dollars. Documents indicated that Mr. Shields emailed his requests for payment to the superintendent and she signed her approval each time. The concern grew when, in response to public information requests, backup documentation for these expenses did not include agreements, contracts, or receipts. The paper trail was absent.

It appeared that receipts were not maintained according to law and Brad Shields was paid without an agreement in place. Keep Eanes Informed requested that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) investigate. Approximately one year later, TEA ruled that the superintendent's approval of thousands of dollars of our education dollars in expenditures to a professional lobbyist, Brad Shields, without a contract in place and without obtaining receipts for expensive meals does not comply with the Texas Education Code or the state records retention laws. Public school district administrators have control of our checkbook and yet, where is the accountability or consequence for noncompliance with important laws?

Even more troubling, when Dianna Pharr requested an investigation into the apparent expenditures of school tax dollars by the Eanes ISD superintendent to a professional lobbyist without contracts in place and without receipts to document the expenses, Nola Wellman met with the TEA and for quite some time, the investigation appeared to be derailed. TEA gave Eanes ISD several "extensions on time" because apparently Eanes needed more time to “find” the requested documents. However, the district's inability to respond to the agency’s request for information further illustrates the problem with Eanes ISD recordkeeping.

In early 2008, when it appeared that TEA would simply not process the complaint thereby protecting Eanes ISD from accountability, I wrote to Robert Scott, TEA Commissioner and reminded him the TEA has a responsibility to monitor Texas school districts. In the end, regardless of the granted time extensions, Eanes ISD found no documents, no contracts, and no receipts. After a year-long delay, the Texas Education Agency finally issued a written ruling Eanes ISD did not comply with state records retention laws or the Texas Education Code when the district paid thousands of dollars to professional lobbyist (and former Eanes ISD board member) Brad Shields without a contract in place and without obtaining required receipts.

TEA found that:

Eanes ISD is paying thousands of our education tax dollars to private lobbyist (past school board member) Brad Shields without the required contract in place and this does not comply with the Texas Education Code or reflect "good business practices".

Although required by law, Eanes ISD could not produce receipts to support the expenses (including a $489.00 for "two meetings" that may have been held at the Moonshine Bar and Grill) reimbursed to Brad Shields by Eanes ISD. Emails obtained from a state representative appear to indicate that the Eanes ISD superintendent may have been invited to those "two meetings".

Eanes ISD has apparently destroyed or "misplaced" the receipts for a TASB trip Shields took while he was an Eanes ISD board member. Eanes, not TASB, funded that costly trip to Washington, D.C. When TEA requested those receipts, even after a year delay, Eanes finally admitted that the district could not produce the receipts.

Accurate recordkeeping must be in place so that the public can follow the money. When Texas school districts fail to create contracts or obtain receipts before reimbursement, there is no transparency and no accountability for the school administrators who hold the checkbook. Sloppy, inaccurate record-keeping is one highly effective barrier to open government.

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