We should give Mr. Smith a break because he wasn't elected to the board president position until the April 16, 2013 school board meeting which was after the Read Receipt reply I received on April 14, 2013 from Dan Smith that read, "Your message was deleted without being read on Sunday, April 14, 2013 9:07:19 PM". Within two minutes of that email I received a message stating the same thing from Cheryl Hermann one of our other school board directors. So, perhaps if our board members don't download their email messages for 30 days, the school email server automatically deletes them. But, then it wouldn't explain how Mr. Smith was able to now download and read the email I sent to him and the other board members in March 15, 2013.
The timing of Mr. Smith reading my email message was only a day after I wrote on this blog that Dan Smith should have informed Elliott Davis in his interview Tuesday night at the May 2013 Fox C-6 board meeting that he deletes emails sent to his board email address without even reading them according to the Read Receipt messages I have received. So, our embattled superintendent or one of the board members must have read my post and informed Mr. Smith about my concerns. Speaking at school board meetings, writing letters to them or emailing them over the last 4+ years has basically resulted in documenting all of their non-responses to concerns within the district from myself and others in the community that are afraid to speak up due to fear of retaliation.
It appears that things are starting to change some now as our old school board members and our superintendent are beginning to realize that the concerns of the community and those who aren't afraid to voice those concerns are not going away. Making a policy change to grandfather in relatives of board members who are in supervisory or director positions is great but still unacceptable. Those persons such as Gee Palmer, Kelly Nash along with their relatives on the school board will still need to step down or resign from their positions. Marc McEneny should also step down from his position from gaining a position as a school resource officer only 2 months after stepping down from the school board in 2011. There are a lot of positions that need to be refilled and hopefully the turnover that needs to happen within our district will bring in some fresh faces with good morals, integrity and character.
It appears that things are starting to change some now as our old school board members and our superintendent are beginning to realize that the concerns of the community and those who aren't afraid to voice those concerns are not going away. Making a policy change to grandfather in relatives of board members who are in supervisory or director positions is great but still unacceptable. Those persons such as Gee Palmer, Kelly Nash along with their relatives on the school board will still need to step down or resign from their positions. Marc McEneny should also step down from his position from gaining a position as a school resource officer only 2 months after stepping down from the school board in 2011. There are a lot of positions that need to be refilled and hopefully the turnover that needs to happen within our district will bring in some fresh faces with good morals, integrity and character.
Our school board hasn't been following their policies for years. So, having an updated nepotism policy in place doesn't mean it will be enforced unless the community is watching them. Our superintendent and the school board have been hiding information from the public for years. I am still asking that the board publish a draft copy of the board meeting minutes from board meetings on the district website within 3 days of a public meeting. This keeps the community informed as it is written within our current board policies.
The only way the public will be able to trust our school board and our administrators is when there is complete transparency and when our administrators quit making false or misleading statements. The board has done a remarkable turnaround by finally posting the Board Meeting Packets on the district website prior to school board meetings so the community can see what will be discussed and the information that will be discussed prior to the board meeting. But, it doesn't keep them completely from hiding information from the public. We still don't know whether the public portion of the information posted in the board packets online matches what the board members are receiving. It will take a long time for the district to regain the public's trust after so many years of deceit and deception.
The only way the public will be able to trust our school board and our administrators is when there is complete transparency and when our administrators quit making false or misleading statements. The board has done a remarkable turnaround by finally posting the Board Meeting Packets on the district website prior to school board meetings so the community can see what will be discussed and the information that will be discussed prior to the board meeting. But, it doesn't keep them completely from hiding information from the public. We still don't know whether the public portion of the information posted in the board packets online matches what the board members are receiving. It will take a long time for the district to regain the public's trust after so many years of deceit and deception.
So, please email Mr. Dan Smith our school board president and see if he reads or responds to your emails. There is one person who has praised his actions online in the Topix forum. Sorry, but Dan wasn't instrumental in doing such a quick turnaround in writing a new policy. These policies have been out their for years in other districts. The board just didn't want this kind of language in our policies because they wouldn't be able to provide great paying jobs for their relatives who aren't qualified or deserving of the positions they were hired or promoted to.
Speaking of taking a step backwards in trusting our school district and school board, I recently learned from a Missouri Sunshine Law Request for all salaries for all certified employees of the school district from 1990 through 2013 that our Superintendent is making $246,824 for the 2012-2013 school year and not the $238,000 that was originally provided to me by the district back in August 2012. This again destroys that level of trust that you have with your school district and your school board. Plus, seeing Director's pay such as our Superintendent's husband getting 5.8% and 7.8% pay increases for the 2012 and 2013 school years respectively with our current economy demonstrates that we still have a serious problem on our hands. Our superintendent's husband salary was $101,884 for 2011, $107,813 for 2012 and $116,103 for 2013.
It's time that our community demand a new superintendent and the stepping down of several school board members at Fox C-6!