Recall Rebutals

Click http://kentclawson.com/Home#comment-95 to refer to an ongoing discussion between Jackie Vialpando and myself related to the Assertions and Facts below.

This page has been designed to counter the false allegations that have been leveled at myself, and to some extent Dave Martin, during this recall process. I have let many of these slide without response frankly because I assumed that many were so blatantly false that they would not require a response. The assumption that I incorrectly made was that everyone kept up with the D-49 Politics as I do. It was not a fair assumption and I should have known this since when we have Board meetings it is usually the same group of people with complaints. I would assume that they are up to speed on the details and nuance associated with a number of these issues.

I have set up this page to give some of the facts related to the recall effort.

ASSERTION:“During a recent discussion, one board member made the statement “we don’t have to have this district run by committee, we pay people a lot of frigin money to do this.” He was talking about the work of community volunteers.”
• FACT: This is the only comment that can be specifically tied to me as an individual. This comment was related to a matter that the Long Range Planning Committee had already addressed and a Board member would not approve a list of capital projects until they had heard from the LRPC committee chair who basically said (a week later) that they had no additional input on the list.

ASSERTION: The Board operates in a secretive and non-transparent manner:

• FACT: D-49 is one of the only School Districts in the state of Colorado to post it’s check register online for full and open public viewing. Additionally Clawson requested that the information be presented in a spreadsheet so that it could be sorted and evaluated as users felt interested.

ASSERTION: "The Board is currently being sued by the Gazette over an Open Records Act request. At issue is another Executive Session, and instead of just allowing an independent judge to review the tapes and issue a ruling, they are fighting it and costing the taxpayers thousands of dollars in legal fees."

• FACT: I agreed with the fight for 2 reasons; a.) I thought that we were within the bounds because the discussions were related to individual employees and positions, b.) the next reason is because I didn’t want the information that was related to specific employees, particularly those with poor performance, to be released in a manner that it could impact them at a later date if somebody was searching to hire them.

ASSERTION: Certain Board members refuse to respond to community members, either by email or phone. They do not feel the need to communicate with the community.

• FACT: All board members either list their home or personal cellular phone numbers on the District web site http://www.d49.org/co/boe/Pages/MeetYourBoard.aspx Granted some of us are better at returning email than others, but we make ourselves available in various formats and locations.
• FACT: Two Board members even maintain blogs and post answers to constituent’s questions.

ASSERTION: They have approved a budget where Reserve funds (one time monies) were used to pay salaries, resulting in the non-renewal of several personnel for the 2009/2010 school year and dramatically drawing down the Reserve Fund.

• FACT our reserve funds are over 3 times the TABOR requirements. Half of the positions released for 2009-10 fiscal year were single year assignments to quicken the efforts of our Learning Services as they worked to develop curriculum maps so that parents can understand where their child should be in their academic experience (i.e. should they be reading, doing basic math concepts, etc). These will truly empower parents to take a role in where their child is performing and allow them to know when to ask for help. The other half of these positions were reduced as the District had to reposition itself after the State took back appropriated money resulting in over $600,000 being taken back in January (half way through our school year). There is expected to $1.2 million taken back this fiscal year, but at least we can budget for it instead of having to scramble at the last minute. Right now there is a fund setup specifically for this likelihood. The Board directed the Administration to keep these cuts away from the classroom at all cost and we were successful. Other Districts had to lay off teachers and increase class size.
• FACT: The General Fund Reserve has not dropped below this level during the incumbency of Martin and Clawson.
• FACT: Dave Martin helped bring developers to contribute a development fee for each house built. These funds have been used to add 300 seats of student capacity in the new VRHS, without any taxpayer funds.

ASSERTION: Established a Long Range Planning Committee over 2 years ago, but has yet to approve a Long Range Strategic Plan to guide the future of the District.

• FACT: The Long Range Planning Committee (LRPC) has been tasked with FACILITY planning and has implemented projects related to the relief of overcrowding at Sand Creek and Sky View.
• FACT: This committee brought forth its initial facility plan on November 2007, an updated plan in November 2008, and will probably bring forth another in November 2009.
• FACT: The LRPC is currently involved with a full scale assessment focused on increasing the efficiency and of all school buildings boundaries and the way that they feed into the middle and high schools.

ASSERTION: It identifies purchases of a grill, popcorn maker, laptops and training.

• FACT: Boards approve budgets, not operational purchases. We rely on year to date spending reports that we receive to understand where purchases are at and if they are in line with expectations. FYI The superintendent who made these purchases no longer works for the District.

ASSERTION: At a recent board meeting, two board members walked out of the room while a community member was speaking.

• FACT: The community member had used up the allotted time for her open forum statement, and would not finish up her statement. Additionally you should know that Director Martin was not present, and I stayed in the room and was later thanked by the individual for doing so.

ASSERTION: “At another meeting, a community member came to discuss the issue of their student and when they did not get any help from the board, they stormed out of the room and one board member condescendingly stated, “Oh Well.”

• FACT: We can’t discuss individual student issues, particularly in a public setting. The process was explained that she needed to contact the administration and work with them to address the issue. She blew up at the Board and told us that what we explained was not acceptable and that she was going to sue us.

ASSERTION: “Because of Board actions there has been a high turnover at Central Office.”

• FACT: There have been a number of positions created within the central office and a number of people have been hired and reorganized. Have there been people leave? Yes. Because of the Board? Maybe, but I have not been told that by anyone associated with the individuals, but of course they could be lying to me, but I try to not make that characterization about people without some sort of facts to back it up. Most of the people that I know who have “turned over” in the central office either took other positions within the District. Not to be accused of spinning, this assessment does not include the people who were nonrenewed last month.

ASSERTION: “The Board has created an atmosphere of fear amongst teachers and staff and they don’t feel like they can openly attend board meetings or offer up suggestions.”

• FACT: I am regularly approached by teachers and administrators with questions and critique. Could they be afraid or not representative of the whole? Sure. Again I am limited by my experience, but the statement itself is difficult to prove because it is self limiting. If they do fear, then they don’t talk to me, but if they don’t talk to me I don’t know why they are afraid. Do you think that it is comfortable explaining why we have got rid of a superintendent after 10 months on the job? But people ask and they still work for the District.

ASSERTION: “Two (2) Superintendents hired in as permanent replacements and five (5) other interim Superintendents in 6 years show a clear pattern of instability in the District.”

• FACT: I was involved in the hiring (and firing) of A superintendent. FYI the District had 3 interim superintendent, the recent 2 were “acting Superintendents” meaning that they were internal personnel who stepped up and did a great job. There were 2 in the 5 months since this all began because the first started to have some health issues and wanted to shift back to his original duties to gain more time with his young family. Now to prevent queasiness, 2 superintendent in 6 years does seem like a lot, even when the average tenure for a superintendent nationwide is 3-5 years.

ASSERTION: “Has not established plans for easing overcrowding in the District (The majority of the school buildings are at or over capacity. Skyview MS is built for 900 students and will have an enrollment of over 1300 next year)”

• FACT: The Long Range Planning Committee is currently in the process of evaluating boundaries for buildings and they all work together. The hope is to reduce some inefficiencies that currently exist, such as kids that get on the bus across from Remington Elementary to go to Springs Ranch elementary instead of walking to Remington. Will Sky View still be crowded? Yes, and we will likely go out for a bond in 2010 specifically to address this school and others. Currently it would be tough to get community support for a bond to relieve overcrowding at SVMS since we are only using 75% of Vista Ridge, and have space opening up at Sand Creek.

ASSERTION: “Currently conducting a Superintendent Search that according to experts is being done at the wrong time, is being conducted too fast, and without any true community input.”

• FACT: we have had more community comments and participation related to the candidates that were reviewed for this position than we did last time when it was conducted at the “right” time. We turned away a state level Assistant Commissioner for Education. We had more candidates apply than we did when did it the “right” time. We are ending up with a superintendent that was Tulsa’s go to guy and has a track record to prove it. Which begs the question is early Spring really the “right” time to hire? Shouldn’t they be working in their District?

ASSERTION: “The Board has banned a community member from speaking at Open Forum because of comments they made after a Board Meeting was adjourned.”

• FACT: This is true, but again context matters. After a meeting an individual made a disparaging remark to a Board member. Our policies are very clear that this is not to be permitted in the District buildings, regardless of the target, and the policy does not make an allowance for time. This community member has never sent an apology. Has never asked for consideration of the matter from the full Board, and has never chose to use the other methods that allow for community participation (i.e. email, fax, etc.).

ASSERTION: “The Board has established an Open Forum policy that limits true community involvement and interaction.”

• FACT: The Board of Education meets once a month to do the business of the District. There are things that can only be done when we meet as a quorum and while we value community participation Open Forum is not the best avenue for it. The best avenue is to give us a call or send us an email. Then we can engage in a dialogue. If I engaged everyone that I wanted to during the Open Forum, we would all be there all night. As it sits the Board usually leaves at about 1:00-2:00 a.m. The open forum is for people to get their comments “on the record”. I would prefer that people send an email and asked to have it entered into the record, but it is what it is. Ideally community members would come up and talk to me after the meeting or during the breaks, or arrange to meet at some other time. In the end I guess it depends on what you want to accomplish, if you want to be on record then use the open forum. If you want dialogue communicate with me.

ASSERTION: “Without input from the District Advisory & Accountability Committee (DAAC), the board rewrote the bylaws for the committee without any input from the members, per Robert’s Rules of Order.”

• FACT: The bylaws were rewritten to bring them into conformance with guidance from the Colorado Department of Education. At the time there were a handful of school of our 21 schools (to avoid any ailment, 21 includes Charter Public Schools as well) represented on the committee. Unfortunately I am not an expert on Roberts Rules, and therefore cannot confirm or deny this accusation. In 3 public meetings the policy change was discussed among the Board, who is ultimately the author of bylaws and charges established for the various District committees, and besides individuals who didn’t like the idea, Robert’s Rules were never brought up.

ASSERTION: “On one occasion the board tried to hold a short notice board meeting at a board member’s house.”

• FACT: I wasn’t on the Board at the time.

ASSERTION: “The Board has dismissed two Superintendents in the last 4 years at a cost to the taxpayers of over $500K ($290K buyout for Dr. Hull; $46K buyout for Grant Schmidt; $45K for the Woodmoor Group Executive Search firm; $51K for Board Legal Fees for the months of January, February and March 2009 to address the Grant Schmidt issue; $65K for Legal expenses for April for the Board Attorney and a Labor Law firm to address the Grant Schmidt issue; and an unspecified amount for moving expenses and other associated costs).

• FACT: Though I was not on the Board for Dr. Hull, and the Woodmoore Group was already retained, I am culpable for the others allegations.

If you wish to take advantage of this option I encourage you to fill out the letter at http://www.kentclawson.com/sites/default/files/withdrawalrequest.doc Contact Liz Olsen at (719) 520-6222 lizolson@elpasoco.com If you don't want to pay for the stamp contact me and we will deliver them for you.