It took nearly 6 months to obtain copies of the Fox C-6 School District's credit card statements for the 2013-2014 school year. I can't help but wonder if Superintendent Critchlow would have attended the May 2014 graduation ceremony if the district's credit card statements had been made public prior to graduation. The reaction from the community has not been very positive after reviewing Dianne Critchlow's credit card charges.
Recent events may have taken a much different path if I had paid the $170 fee the district wanted to charge me for the credit card statements back in April.
I didn't pay the fee because the district shouldn't have been charging a fee. In fact the credit card statements should have been part of the monthly board meeting packets that our school board members review each month prior to approving payments. The Fox C-6 school board was simply approving the lump sum payments each month to the credit card companies and trusting that the cards were being used wisely and according to school board policies.
We've now learned that most of our school district administrators weren't using district credit cards according to district policy. It also became very clear as to why there was such a resistance to making the credit card statements available to the public. Even the updated Bill Payment reports that were modified in April 2014 didn't provide the proper information as required by school district policies.
Request for State Audit
For these reasons, I suggested that the Fox C-6 BOE or acting superintendent request a State Audit of the Fox C-6 School District at the June 30, 2014 Fox C-6 School Board meeting during Public Comment. It costs less for the school district to request a State Audit than it does to have an audit forced by a signature petition. The Fox C-6 BOE has called a Special Meeting for Tuesday August 12, 2014 at 7PM to approve the request of conducting a state audit of the district.
I would like to see the district request that the State Audit review the last 5 Fiscal Years rather than the 3 suggested by Mr. Brazeal in his letter to the school board. The review should go back to when leadership changes were made in the district during the fall of 2009. Documents should should still be available for the past 5 years.
A State Audit can also check for compliance with state and federal regulations as well as proper certifications, etc. It's very important to know that our superintendent was recommending individuals who were properly certified for the positions to which they were being hired or promoted to within our district.
Unbelievable Credit Card Purchases
The credit card statements really woke up the Fox C-6 community to the fact that there are problems in our district's leadership after reading many of their comments on Facebook. Wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars is an embarrassment to the community. The community's trust of our district's leaders and school board has been shattered. Not only were Central Office Administrators being overpaid, they were also using taxpayer dollars to purchase meals on an almost daily basis when they were the ones who could have most easily afforded to pay for their own meals.
School district policies cover Credit Card usage and Payment Procedures. But it's very obvious that many of our administrators using district supplied credit cards weren't following district policy. Superintendent Critchlow appears to have been the worst offender. She refused to correct the bill payments earlier in the year when asked to include a payment description or reasons for payments as required by district policy.
I'm glad that documented evidence of wrong doing has made it to the public. Now the school board has proof that there have been problems in our district for quite some time and should be able to take action towards terminating those involved. Even the school board shares responsibility for not verifying credit card statements.
One of my concerns currently is the fact that some of those in charge of overseeing and investigating these issues were also participants in the incorrect usage of district credit cards. The credit card companies should be able to provide the statements for the cards and destruction of that data would not look good at this point in time.
I thought it would be helpful for the community to understand why it took so long to obtain the credit card statements by publishing my exchange of emails with the district. The emails start after pointing out at the February 2014 Fox C-6 school board meeting my concerns that the district had already paid $2 Million dollars in credit card bills for the school year but credit card statements to document what was purchased was not provided in the board packets.
Accountability means that billing statements must be reviewed each month before the payments are approved by the board of education. Spending $2 Million dollars on credit cards is a lot of money to be spending without checking where and what it's being spent on.
As you can see from the email exchanges below, I requested that the district waive the $170 fee per Missouri Sunshine Law. Eventually I received a response to my request from Dr. Rizzi's on May 1, 2014 near the end of the email chain. My request to waive the fee was denied as quoted below!
I think it is quite clear why Superintendent Critchlow didn't want this information public. That's why my request to waive the fees were denied. But, now that Superintendent Critchlow is no longer pulling all the strings, my most recent Sunshine Request for the credit card statements was supplied FREE of charge.
You'll also notice in the exchange of emails that the district wanted me to forward all of my questions to the district prior to asking them at school board meetings so the district could be more "proactive" rather than "reactive". This request from the district certainly singled me out for asking questions that they don't like to answer. They could have just kept doing what they had been doing by not answering questions but then that's a completely different problem.
Receiving copies of the credit card statements has awakened the Fox C-6 community. It seems that a lot more people are paying attention now and are taking the time to review the data. It's definitely amusing to listen to people's comments as they read through the credit card statements for the first time. There are those purchases that just jump out at you such as "The Disney Store", the "Drunken Noodle", payments to Political Action Committees for school district administrators as well as Red Light Traffic tickets and the almost daily purchase of meals from local or out of town establishments such as the "Swinging Doors Saloon". Then there was the $1000 purchase at Walmart on the same day of another $418.07 purchase at Walmart.
Of course, there were legitimate purchases made by Family and Consumer Science (FACS) teachers that were purchasing "instructional materials" for their classrooms. So please know, that many purchases for Save-A-Lot, Walmart and Shop-n-Save are valid purchases. But, you shouldn't be finding that many charges from our superintendents at Walmart, Shop-n-Save or Save-A-Lot.
The cost to obtain Fox's credit card statements was originally $170 but was eventually FREE!
Watching people's reactions as they review the credit card statements, PRICELESS!!
It's pretty easy to see why people are upset. Just read what school district administrators were spending our taxpayer dollars on while telling the public that the district didn't have money for various things.
Below are the emails documenting my correspondence with the Fox C-6 Board of Education, Assistant Superintendent Andy Arbeitman and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Lorenzo Rizzi for the months of February through May of 2014 as I attempted to obtain the district's credit card statements. Getting answers to questions has been a problem for several years despite what Superintendent Critchlow told the public as you will see when I had to repeat my questions and email multiple times.
Hopefully, this documentation will give the public a lot better understanding as to how these problems have been allowed to go on for so long without anyone knowing about them.
It also helps to know that school board meeting minutes don't document very well what was said during Public Comment like audio or video recordings do. If they had, the public might have known much sooner what was being investigated which may have led to more people questioning our board and things might not have gotten so out of hand.
Recent events may have taken a much different path if I had paid the $170 fee the district wanted to charge me for the credit card statements back in April.
I didn't pay the fee because the district shouldn't have been charging a fee. In fact the credit card statements should have been part of the monthly board meeting packets that our school board members review each month prior to approving payments. The Fox C-6 school board was simply approving the lump sum payments each month to the credit card companies and trusting that the cards were being used wisely and according to school board policies.
We've now learned that most of our school district administrators weren't using district credit cards according to district policy. It also became very clear as to why there was such a resistance to making the credit card statements available to the public. Even the updated Bill Payment reports that were modified in April 2014 didn't provide the proper information as required by school district policies.
Request for State Audit
For these reasons, I suggested that the Fox C-6 BOE or acting superintendent request a State Audit of the Fox C-6 School District at the June 30, 2014 Fox C-6 School Board meeting during Public Comment. It costs less for the school district to request a State Audit than it does to have an audit forced by a signature petition. The Fox C-6 BOE has called a Special Meeting for Tuesday August 12, 2014 at 7PM to approve the request of conducting a state audit of the district.
I would like to see the district request that the State Audit review the last 5 Fiscal Years rather than the 3 suggested by Mr. Brazeal in his letter to the school board. The review should go back to when leadership changes were made in the district during the fall of 2009. Documents should should still be available for the past 5 years.
A State Audit can also check for compliance with state and federal regulations as well as proper certifications, etc. It's very important to know that our superintendent was recommending individuals who were properly certified for the positions to which they were being hired or promoted to within our district.
Unbelievable Credit Card Purchases
The credit card statements really woke up the Fox C-6 community to the fact that there are problems in our district's leadership after reading many of their comments on Facebook. Wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars is an embarrassment to the community. The community's trust of our district's leaders and school board has been shattered. Not only were Central Office Administrators being overpaid, they were also using taxpayer dollars to purchase meals on an almost daily basis when they were the ones who could have most easily afforded to pay for their own meals.
School district policies cover Credit Card usage and Payment Procedures. But it's very obvious that many of our administrators using district supplied credit cards weren't following district policy. Superintendent Critchlow appears to have been the worst offender. She refused to correct the bill payments earlier in the year when asked to include a payment description or reasons for payments as required by district policy.
I'm glad that documented evidence of wrong doing has made it to the public. Now the school board has proof that there have been problems in our district for quite some time and should be able to take action towards terminating those involved. Even the school board shares responsibility for not verifying credit card statements.
One of my concerns currently is the fact that some of those in charge of overseeing and investigating these issues were also participants in the incorrect usage of district credit cards. The credit card companies should be able to provide the statements for the cards and destruction of that data would not look good at this point in time.
I thought it would be helpful for the community to understand why it took so long to obtain the credit card statements by publishing my exchange of emails with the district. The emails start after pointing out at the February 2014 Fox C-6 school board meeting my concerns that the district had already paid $2 Million dollars in credit card bills for the school year but credit card statements to document what was purchased was not provided in the board packets.
Accountability means that billing statements must be reviewed each month before the payments are approved by the board of education. Spending $2 Million dollars on credit cards is a lot of money to be spending without checking where and what it's being spent on.
As you can see from the email exchanges below, I requested that the district waive the $170 fee per Missouri Sunshine Law. Eventually I received a response to my request from Dr. Rizzi's on May 1, 2014 near the end of the email chain. My request to waive the fee was denied as quoted below!
Your request to waive the fee of $170 has not been granted. We would be happy to complete the request upon payment.I asked in a follow up email when the school board decided that they would NOT waive the fees. I never received a response to that question. I had backed them into a corner with my questions so there was no way to answer the question.
I think it is quite clear why Superintendent Critchlow didn't want this information public. That's why my request to waive the fees were denied. But, now that Superintendent Critchlow is no longer pulling all the strings, my most recent Sunshine Request for the credit card statements was supplied FREE of charge.
You'll also notice in the exchange of emails that the district wanted me to forward all of my questions to the district prior to asking them at school board meetings so the district could be more "proactive" rather than "reactive". This request from the district certainly singled me out for asking questions that they don't like to answer. They could have just kept doing what they had been doing by not answering questions but then that's a completely different problem.
Receiving copies of the credit card statements has awakened the Fox C-6 community. It seems that a lot more people are paying attention now and are taking the time to review the data. It's definitely amusing to listen to people's comments as they read through the credit card statements for the first time. There are those purchases that just jump out at you such as "The Disney Store", the "Drunken Noodle", payments to Political Action Committees for school district administrators as well as Red Light Traffic tickets and the almost daily purchase of meals from local or out of town establishments such as the "Swinging Doors Saloon". Then there was the $1000 purchase at Walmart on the same day of another $418.07 purchase at Walmart.
Of course, there were legitimate purchases made by Family and Consumer Science (FACS) teachers that were purchasing "instructional materials" for their classrooms. So please know, that many purchases for Save-A-Lot, Walmart and Shop-n-Save are valid purchases. But, you shouldn't be finding that many charges from our superintendents at Walmart, Shop-n-Save or Save-A-Lot.
The cost to obtain Fox's credit card statements was originally $170 but was eventually FREE!
Watching people's reactions as they review the credit card statements, PRICELESS!!
It's pretty easy to see why people are upset. Just read what school district administrators were spending our taxpayer dollars on while telling the public that the district didn't have money for various things.
Below are the emails documenting my correspondence with the Fox C-6 Board of Education, Assistant Superintendent Andy Arbeitman and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Lorenzo Rizzi for the months of February through May of 2014 as I attempted to obtain the district's credit card statements. Getting answers to questions has been a problem for several years despite what Superintendent Critchlow told the public as you will see when I had to repeat my questions and email multiple times.
Hopefully, this documentation will give the public a lot better understanding as to how these problems have been allowed to go on for so long without anyone knowing about them.
It also helps to know that school board meeting minutes don't document very well what was said during Public Comment like audio or video recordings do. If they had, the public might have known much sooner what was being investigated which may have led to more people questioning our board and things might not have gotten so out of hand.
Email Exchange To Obtain Credit Card Statements
and Correct Bill Payment Reports
From: Arbeitman, Andy - Assistant Superintendent
Date: February 19, 2014 1:08:40 PM CST
To: Rich Simpson
Cc: Davis, Debby - CO Secretary, Critchlow, Dr. Dianne, Arbeitman, Andy - Assistant Superintendent
Subject: Response to public comment at the February 18, 2014 board of education meeting
Mr. Simpson,
Thank you again for your time and public comments at our board meeting last night. With regard to your requests to;
-include more information in our board packets online
-more detailed credit card bills
-the district budget online
-more descriptions of payments
-the statement according to your calculations the district has approximately $2,000,000 in credit card bills to date
The district actually has $1,993,799 in credit card bills to date and a lot of schools utilize credit cards/purchasing cards to pay bills for added cash back rebates. This allows for more value of the school district dollar. Most of the credit card bills during the current year are electric bills district-wide, monthly copier costs, and as much of our office/teacher types of supplies when the credit card was still allowed for those types of charges. We have received approximately $35,000 in rebates to date.
In order to better meet your needs, thoughts, and questions, we would like to be more proactive with your monthly public comments rather than reactive. That said, I am requesting that if you know what your questions, opinions, thoughts, or desires are prior to our board meetings, that you to please call me in advance so that we can better serve you and your comments. This will in no way stop you or prevent you from making monthly public comments, but rather it will allow more validity and affirmation for our board of education that you are following the proper chain of command as per board policy. If you choose not to contact me in advance, all further responses from your public comments will be a “thank you” response and that we look forward to responding to you in the future when you are willing to communicate with district employees first. At this time, your request for more detailed credit card bill descriptions, the district budget posted online, and more detailed descriptions of monthly payments are being requested from only one individual and we can make those available to you upon request. The board appreciates your comments and they will continue to be taken under consideration.
Finally, you added a comment about administrative salaries that was not on your public comment request sheet. I will be happy to look into this for you upon receiving a return phone call. My number is listed below. I look forward to your call.
Andy Jay Arbeitman
Assistant Superintendent of Instruction
From: Rich Simpson
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 7:24 AM
To: Arbeitman, Andy - Assistant Superintendent
Cc: Davis, Debby - CO Secretary; Critchlow, Dr. Dianne; Dan E. Smith; David Palmer; Steve Holloway; John Laughlin; Laughlin, John; Cheryl Hermann; Linda S. Nash; Dan Kroupa
Subject: RE: Response to public comment at the February 18, 2014 board of education meeting
[Responses to Mr. Arbeitman's email in red]
From: Arbeitman, Andy - Assistant Superintendent
Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2014 1:09 PM
To: Rich Simpson
Cc: Davis, Debby - CO Secretary; Critchlow, Dr. Dianne; Arbeitman, Andy - Assistant Superintendent
Subject: Response to public comment at the February 18, 2014 board of education meeting
Mr. Simpson,
Thank you again for your time and public comments at our board meeting last night. With regard to your requests to;
-include more information in our board packets online
Yes, my request to the Fox C6 School Board on 2/18/14 included that all the credit card statements (full originals less account numbers) be included in board packets.
-more detailed credit card bills
Actually, this statement is not completely accurate. My request to the Board of Education on 2/18/14 was that the Board make available to the public the actual original credit card invoices/statements. I asked the Board to provide the original statements from the credit card company to the public by including them, in their entirety, in the board packets that are then made available to the public on the District's website. By copying this correspondence to Dan Smith, I renew my request to the Board and ask that a member of the Board respond to my request.
-the district budget online
My request to the Board of Education on 2/18/14 was that the Board publish the district’s budget(s) on the District’s website. The district recently provided the Board with the 2014-2015 district budget. Please publish the 2014-2015 budget on the district website like they do in other districts such as Rockwood.
-more descriptions of payments
Again, this is not completely accurate. My request to the Board of Education on 2/18/14 was that the Board include a description for each line item payment/disbursement. Currently there is no description at all, so it’s not accurate to state that I am requesting "more descriptions" when none currently exist. The only information that the Board currently makes available to the public is the name of the Payee to whom payment is made. No information regarding what the payment is for is included and, therefore, the information is not useful to the average citizen. My request to the Board on 2/18/14 was that the Board provide information about the intended purpose for each payment. The example I provided was the recent payment of $24,000 to "The Bridal Shop" which may seem unusual to the average resident but would be immediately clarified if accompanied with a simple description statement indicating that this payment was for "choir robes". This was practice in our District previously and it currently is the standard in other area school districts. Since the Board that approves spending based on this information, my request is directed to the Board. Board policy 3150 states that list of bills for approval, “will be supported by invoices, approved purchase orders, properly submitted vouchers, or in accordance with salaries and salary schedules approved by the Board.” Therefore I renew my request to the Board.
-the statement according to your calculations the district has approximately $2,000,000 in credit card bills to date
The district actually has $1,993,799 in credit card bills to date and a lot of schools utilize credit cards/purchasing cards to pay bills for added cash back rebates. This allows for more value of the school district dollar. Most of the credit card bills during the current year are electric bills district-wide, monthly copier costs, and as much of our office/teacher types of supplies when the credit card was still allowed for those types of charges. We have received approximately $35,000 in rebates to date.
Thank you for this information; however, to clarify, my concern was and is not that the District utilizes a credit card(s). My concern is that the Board provides no descriptive information about credit card purchases to the public and does not include credit card statements like they do in other districts in their board packets.
In order to better meet your needs, thoughts, and questions, we would like to be more proactive with your monthly public comments rather than reactive. That said, I am requesting that if you know what your questions, opinions, thoughts, or desires are prior to our board meetings, that you to please call me in advance so that we can better serve you and your comments. This will in no way stop you or prevent you from making monthly public comments, but rather it will allow more validity and affirmation for our board of education that you are following the proper chain of command as per board policy. If you choose not to contact me in advance, all further responses from your public comments will be a “thank you” response and that we look forward to responding to you in the future when you are willing to communicate with district employees first. At this time, your request for more detailed credit card bill descriptions, the district budget posted online, and more detailed descriptions of monthly payments are being requested from only one individual and we can make those available to you upon request. The board appreciates your comments and they will continue to be taken under consideration.
This is where we disagree, and where I seek your further very specific clarification. Please provide me with a copy of the Fox C6 school board policy to which you refer above.
Perhaps you may be referring to school board Policy 1480 regarding “School/Community Relations - Public Complaints”. It states:
“Although no member of the community shall be denied the right to petition the Board of Education for redress of a grievance, the complaints will be referred through the proper administrative channels for solution before investigation or action by the Board. Exceptions are complaints that concern Board actions or Board operations only.”
Obviously, Policy 1480 is not applicable here since my concerns meet the stated exception, i.e. the concerns I addressed at the 2/18/14 school board meeting are about “Board actions” and “Board operations” and I am therefore not subject to any “chain of command”. My concerns/questions were not about student or personnel issues, instruction, discipline, or learning materials. But perhaps there is another policy that applies of which I am unaware?
Furthermore, I find it shocking that you have made a threat to me on behalf of the school Board-- “If you choose not to contact me in advance, all further responses from your public comments will be a “thank you” response and that we look forward to responding to you in the future when you are willing to communicate with district employees first.”
Therefore, at your earliest convenience, please provide me with any school Board policy, documentation, or correspondence that supports your claims that:
- the School Board may refuse to respond to a public question/concern about Board actions unless the resident “first” submits their concern to you
- you, Andy Arbeitman, an employee of the school district, hold the authority to prescreen questions and concerns from members of the public to determine if, in your assessment, the concern is “valid” or not “valid” for consideration by the Board
- the Board has made the decision to abdicate its responsibility and has expressly delegated its authority to you to determine if questions/concerns from the public are “valid” or not “valid” and deserving of a reply from them
Finally, you added a comment about administrative salaries that was not on your public comment request sheet. I will be happy to look into this for you upon receiving a return phone call. My number is listed below. I look forward to your call.
Your request seems silly since my only availability for phone calls is outside of regular business hours when you would not normally be in your office. My question, as asked to the School Board on 2/18/14 is that the School Board of Education include the administrative salary schedule on the district website. It should also be included in the board packets with actual salaries and not just “X”’s for the salary amounts. It doesn’t provide the public with any information to only place an “X” for a salary amount. Generally, I can be reached by phone at home between the hours of 6 and 7 a.m. or between 8 and 10 p.m. Or, if it's more convenient, please simply include this information, along with your responses to my other questions contained in this email, in your response.
I also request that the Board of Education delay approving the Board’s updated Policies, Regulations and Forms until the April 2014 Board meeting. The District and the Board should have properly notified the public that they were available for review and recommendations. No announcements or notifications were posted on the district website or in the local paper notifying the public that the updated Policies and Regulations had been posted for the public to review.
Prior to approving the updated Polices, Regulations and Forms, please remove Vickie Hanson as a point of contact. She retired from the district in 2008.
Thank you,
Rich Simpson
From: Arbeitman, Andy - Assistant Superintendent
Date: March 19, 2014 11:23:46 AM CDT
To: Rich Simpson
Cc: Davis, Debby - CO Secretary, Crutchley, Tim - CO Admin., Arbeitman, Andy - Assistant Superintendent
Subject: Response to Public Comments at the March 18, 2014 board meeting
The district has their revised board policies on the website for review; however, we will add a public notice so that the patrons can be more informed.
The board of education continues to be in consideration of Mr. Simpson’s comments and suggestions. In the meantime, upon request via email or phone, hard copies of the budget and such will be made available to Mr. Simpson. Please contact Andy Arbeitman at 636-296-8000 or arbeitmana@fox.k12.mo.us.
Andy Jay Arbeitman
Assistant Superintendent of Instruction
From: Rich Simpson
To: Arbeitman, Andy - Assistant Superintendent; Dan E. Smith - Board President; David Palmer - Board Vice President
Cc: Davis, Debby - CO Secretary; Critchlow, Dr. Dianne; Steve Holloway; John Laughlin; Cheryl Hermann; Linda S. Nash; Dan Kroupa
Subject: RE: Response to public comment at the February 18, 2014 board of education meeting
Thank you for delaying the decision to approve the school board policies at the March 2014 school board meeting and for posting a link to them on the front page of Fox’s website.
Since the March 2014 school board meeting, I discovered that the entire section of Employee Evaluations was left out of the board policies Forms section even though they are listed in the Form’s Table of Contents. I was able to locate the Employee Evaluation Forms in the 2012 draft version of the board policies on the district website and review them. These should be added back into the Forms section of the document.
Contrary to Superintendent Critchlow’s statement at the November 5, 2013 board workshop, all questions from Public Comments are not answered. Many questions have gone unanswered.
At the February 2014 Fox C-6 school board meeting I asked the following questions that are still unanswered despite renewing my requests in my previous email:
How can the school board approve Bill Payments when there are no payment descriptions documenting what each payment is for?
How can the school board approve paying the credit card bills when they aren’t provided with the credit card statements to document what was purchased with the credit cards?
I also asked where I could find a copy of the Administrator Salary Schedule? Could it be found on the website? The copy from last year’s board packets for the 2013-2014 school year only had “X”’s for the Administrator Salary amounts.
I haven’t received answers to these questions. I was simply told by Mr. Arbeitman in his email that if I wished to have him look into the matter that I should give him a call.
Fox has now paid more than $2 Million in credit card bills for the 2013-2014 school year and the board packets did not include credit card statements. There needs to be accountability for this spending. Fox’s board policies states that Bill Payments need to be supported by Invoices, Purchase Orders and Vouchers. Those aren’t provided in the board packets. If a board member wants to know what a payment is for, they must make a request for the documentation. If there aren’t any descriptions on the payments, it’s difficult for them to know what to ask for.
Please email me electronic copies in PDF format of the Credit Card statements for the American Express, Visa and Discover card for the 2013-2014 school year.
Also, please email me a PDF copy of the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 Fox C-6 Administrator Salary schedules that include salary amounts.
The Fox C-6 school board needs to request that the district post the school district budget on the district website like they do in other school districts. If Northwest, Camdenton, Rockwood and Parkway can afford to take the 30 seconds that it takes to copy the documents to their district website, Fox should be able to do the same as well.
I haven’t received a response from Mr. Arbeitman documenting the policy that he alluded to about following the “chain of command”. Mr. Arbeitman spoke about this at the November 5, 2013 school board workshop. At that workshop, when Mr. Arbeitman suggested that the district put a policy in place, Superintendent Critchlow stated that the district already had rules in place. Board member Cheryl Herman said that “It’s not a must.” that the community has to contact district administrators prior to speaking to the school board.
Please review our school board policies and provide me with the section that states that questions concerning board actions or decisions requires patrons to first speak with district employees prior to speaking to the board.
I look forward to your response.
Thank you,
Rich Simpson
From: Rich Simpson
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2014 7:50 AM
To: Arbeitman, Andy - Assistant Superintendent; Smith, Dan - Board President; Palmer, David - Board Vice President
Cc: Crutchley, Tim - CO Admin.; Davis, Debby - CO Secretary; Critchlow, Dr. Dianne; Holloway, Steve - Director; Laughlin, John - Director; Laughlin, John; Hermann, Cheryl - Director; Nash, Linda - Director; Kroupa, Dan - Director
Subject: Questions for the Fox C-6 School Board and Missouri Sunshine Law Documents Request
Last week on March 28, 2014, I emailed everyone on the Fox C-6 School Board my questions which I posed at the February 2014 school board meeting. I have not received a response to my questions as required by school board policy.
I didn’t even receive any acknowledgements that anyone in the district or on the school board received my email. I did receive two Auto Replies stating that Superintendent Critchlow and a school board member were out of the office.
In last week’s email, I renewed my request for answers to my questions from the February 2014 board meeting and the questions posed in my March 18 email to the board. I also made a request for electronic copies (PDF) of the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 Administrator Salary Schedule as well as electronic copies (PDF) of the credit card statements for the 2013-2014 school year that the school board approves payments for each month as listed in the Bill Payments.
Please consider this email a Missouri Sunshine Law request for electronic versions of the documents requested above as well as the requests for information that I emailed to the board on March 18, 2014.
I also requested from Mr. Arbeitman a copy of the board policy that states that persons wishing to speak to the school board must follow a “chain of command” for questions that are board actions. My review of our board policies was documented in my March 18 email. Please provide the policies as requested that states a “chain of command” requirement for board actions.
I also renew my request to the school board to post the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 school district budgets on the school district’s website like they do in many other school districts such as Northwest, Parkway, Rockwood, Camdenton and many more. It takes less than 30 seconds of time to publish the documents on the district website. Hearing Superintendent Critchlow state that there is no state law or mandate that requires our school district to even have a website is not a good excuse for not publishing the data. As a school board, you should be requesting that this data be made available to the public on the district website.
As Fox C-6 school board members, you were elected by the community to represent us. You took an oath and are required to follow the Code of Ethics as documented in our school board policies. You are required by the Code of Ethics to “maintain the public trust through full and open communication” and“Insist that school funds be spent prudently and effectively to provide maximum educational benefits.”
Can you please explain how failing to respond to emails from parents or patrons or failing to respond to Public Comments follows our school district’s Code of Ethics which state, “As a member of the school Board, I shall maintain the public trust through full and open communication.”?
Thank you,
Rich Simpson
From: Davis, Debby - CO Secretary
Date: April 8, 2014 11:39:41 AM CDT
To: Rich Simpson
Cc: Hermann, Cheryl - Director, Critchlow, Dr. Dianne, Dan Kroupa, Smith, Dan - Board President, David Palmer - Board Vice President, Davis, Debby - CO Secretary, Laughlin, John, Linda Nash, Steve Holloway
Subject: RE: Questions for the Fox C-6 School Board and Missouri Sunshine Law Documents Request
Mr. Simpson,
Attached is a letter in regard to your Mo Sunshine Law request and the items that you requested that the District does have in a pdf format. The letter will explain the procedure to follow in receiving the remaining documents you requested.
Thank you,
Debby A. Davis
Administrative Asst. to the Supt/BOE
Fox C-6 School District
From: Rich Simpson
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2014 7:42 AM
To: Davis, Debby - CO Secretary
Cc: Hermann, Cheryl - Director; Critchlow, Dr. Dianne; Dan Kroupa; Smith, Dan - Board President; David Palmer - Board Vice President; Laughlin, John; Linda Nash; Steve Holloway
Subject: RE: Questions for the Fox C-6 School Board and Missouri Sunshine Law Documents Request
Thank you for your reply.
No one on the school board has addressed my questions that I presented at the February 2014 Fox C-6 school board meeting and that I included in my March 28 and April 4, 2014 emails regarding Bill Payments and credit card payments. When will these questions be answered by our school board?
The administrator salary schedule that I requested is the one that was included in the board packets in the past. It lists all of the administrator's names and positions along with their salaries for each of the upcoming school years. I have attached a copy of the report from the 2013 school board packets as an example. However, the Administrator Salary report that I attached from the 2013 board packet did not list the salary amounts. The report only had the letter “X” where the salary amounts were to be listed. Please provide the Administrator Salary Report in PDF format similar to the one attached for the 2013-2016 school years with salary amounts included. Also, please include Superintendent Critchlow’s 2014-2015 salary amount as well.
Regarding my question on “chain of command”, I have read the board policies on Public Complaints. My questions to the school board regarding Bill Payments are not complaints. They are simply questions for the board asking them how they can approve bill payments without being provided descriptions for the bill payments or the credit card statements for them to review each month. Nowhere in our board policies does it state that I cannot ask our school board questions at a school board meeting during Public Comments without first contacting district administrators or personnel for board actions.
As our elected school board members, Fox's Code of Ethics states that "As a member of the school Board, I shall:" accept and follow each of the items listed in the Code of Ethics; following our district’s Code of Ethics is not optional.
My request for the credit card statements for this school year was for the public interest and not a request for personal or commercial interest. Therefore, I am requesting that ALL fees for locating and copying the credit card statements for the 2013-2014 school year be waived as documented on the Missouri Attorney General's website so the credit card statements can be provided to the Fox C-6 community so they can review and understand where their tax dollars are being spent.
Thank you,
Rich Simpson
From: Davis, Debby - CO Secretary
Date: April 11, 2014 1:57:38 PM CDT
To: Rich Simpson
Cc: Hermann, Cheryl - Director, Cheryl Hermann, Critchlow, Dr. Dianne, Dan Kroupa, Smith, Dan - Board President, David Palmer - Board Vice President, Laughlin, John, Linda Nash, Steve Holloway
Subject: RE: Questions for the Fox C-6 School Board and Missouri Sunshine Law Documents Request
Mr. Simpson,
I apologize for the confusion but in your request for records you asked for (“In last week’s email, I renewed my request for answers to my questions from the February 2014 board meeting and the questions posed in my March 18 email to the board. I also made a request for electronic copies (PDF) of the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 Administrator Salary Schedule”).
Thank you for the clarification of what you were requesting. Attached are the Administrator Salaries for the 2013-2014 and the 2014-2015 school years.
Debby A. Davis
Administrative Asst. to the Supt/BOE
Fox C-6 School District
From: Rizzi, Dr. Lorenzo - CO Admin
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2014 2:52 PM
To: Rich Simpson
Subject: response to public comments
Mr. Simpson,
I would like to thank you for your public comment last evening. I am writing to inform that beginning with the BOE May meeting, the payment of bills will show more detail which includes credit card purchases. These will be included in the board packets and posted on the website each month. I have scanned an example for your viewing.
I hope you have a great Easter Break!
Sincerely,
Dr. Lorenzo C. Rizzi
Assistant Superintendent
Secondary Education
National District of Character
Achievement - Character - Excellence
From: Rich Simpson
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2014 7:07 AM
To: Rizzi, Dr. Lorenzo - CO Admin; Laughlin, John - Director
Cc: John Laughlin
Subject: RE: response to public comments
Dr. Rizzi and Mr. Laughlin,
I appreciate your efforts in providing more transparency for the Fox C-6 community. However, in order for the transparency to be meaningful, the reports must be accurate. As I pointed out to Dr. Rizzi a couple of weeks ago in my email, the Vendor Names will need to be correct on the report for credit card payments otherwise the new reports will raise even more questions about the purchases.
The credit card payments should also have a transaction description listed with them other than CARD SERVICES or AMERICAN EXPRESS similar to the check payments. Perhaps the empty LINE AMOUNT column can be used to populate the credit card account on the report. If the community cannot trust the information being supplied by the district, the district will need to provide the credit card statements along with the Bill Payments Report in the board packets as I have previously requested.
I have not received a response from my Sunshine Request regarding the waiving of the $170 fee to obtain the credit card statements for the year. As I stated at the April 2014 Fox C-6 school board meeting, the credit card statements are public record and are not for personal or commercial interest. Providing the credit card statements to the community is for the interest of everyone in the Fox C-6 community. Therefore, I renew my request for the district to provide PDF copies of the credit statements for the 2013-2014 school year and that the school district waives any fees for providing that information. The new copiers recently procured by the district have a scan to PDF or network function making it very easy to produce a PDF document of the credit card statements.
Once the new Bill Payments Report format is updated to provide the correct information, I ask that all of the 2013-2014 school board packets be updated to include the new information provided in the new report. This will help reduce questions regarding this year’s payments. The board packets are already quickly updated each month with the late materials bill payments and replacing those pages with the new report should not take very long.
I attached a copy of the sample Bill Payments report that Dr. Rizzi emailed me on Wednesday April 16, 2014. I rotated the report 90 degrees to make it easier to read.
Thank you,
Rich Simpson
From: Rich Simpson
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2014 6:39 AM
To: Rizzi, Dr. Lorenzo - CO Admin
Subject: RE: response to public comments
Dr. Rizzi,
Thank you for emailing a sample report. That’s good news and will greatly help the board and the community in knowing how our tax dollars are spent by the district.
I would like to suggest changing the column order of the report to having the VENDOR NAME listed prior to the TRANSACTION DESCRIPTION.
In the final version, will the Transaction Description for Check Payments post a description for the payment rather than duplicating the VENDOR NAME?
I hope you have a nice Easter break as well.
Sincerely,
Rich Simpson
From: Rizzi, Dr. Lorenzo - CO Admin
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2014 11:32 AM
To: Rich Simpson
Subject: RE: response to public comments
Rich,
Thank you for the suggestions. I will pass them along and I will let you know whether or not there will be any more changes. I am not sure how long that will take.
Thanks again,
Lorenzo
From: Rich Simpson
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2014 7:07 AM
To: Rizzi, Dr. Lorenzo - CO Admin; Laughlin, John - Board President
Cc: John Laughlin
Subject: RE: response to public comments
Dr. Rizzi and Mr. Laughlin,
I appreciate your efforts in providing more transparency for the Fox C-6 community. However, in order for the transparency to be meaningful, the reports must be accurate. As I pointed out to Dr. Rizzi a couple of weeks ago in my email, the Vendor Names will need to be correct on the report for credit card payments otherwise the new reports will raise even more questions about the purchases.
The credit card payments should also have a transaction description listed with them other than CARD SERVICES or AMERICAN EXPRESS similar to the check payments. Perhaps the empty LINE AMOUNT column can be used to populate the credit card account on the report. If the community cannot trust the information being supplied by the district, the district will need to provide the credit card statements along with the Bill Payments Report in the board packets as I have previously requested.
I have not received a response from my Sunshine Request regarding the waiving of the $170 fee to obtain the credit card statements for the year. As I stated at the April 2014 Fox C-6 school board meeting, the credit card statements are public record and are not for personal or commercial interest. Providing the credit card statements to the community is for the interest of everyone in the Fox C-6 community. Therefore, I renew my request for the district to provide PDF copies of the credit statements for the 2013-2014 school year and that the school district waives any fees for providing that information. The new copiers recently procured by the district have a scan to PDF or network function making it very easy to produce a PDF document of the credit card statements.
Once the new Bill Payments Report format is updated to provide the correct information, I ask that all of the 2013-2014 school board packets be updated to include the new information provided in the new report. This will help reduce questions regarding this year’s payments. The board packets are already quickly updated each month with the late materials bill payments and replacing those pages with the new report should not take very long.
I attached a copy of the sample Bill Payments report that Dr. Rizzi emailed me on Wednesday April 16, 2014. I rotated the report 90 degrees to make it easier to read.
Thank you,
Rich Simpson
From: Rizzi, Dr. Lorenzo - CO Admin
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2014 9:40 AM
To: Rich Simpson; Laughlin, John - Board President
Cc: John Laughlin; Critchlow, Dr. Dianne; Cheryl Hermann; Steve Holloway; Vernon Sullivan; Kroupa, Dan; Mullins, Dawn; David Palmer - Board Vice President
Subject: RE: response to public comments
Mr. Simpson,
I apologize for the delayed response. Here are the answers to your questions and suggestions:
- The bill details will be posted on the website and placed in board packets as conveyed in the sample bill descriptions I provided to you previously.
- The bill details will be placed on the website and in the board packets from this point forward.
- Your request to waive the fee of $170 has not been granted. We would be happy to complete the request upon payment.
I have highlighted your questions to verify that I have answered them. Thank you for your suggestions and concerns.
Sincerely,
Dr. Lorenzo Rizzi
From: Rich Simpson
Sent: Monday, May 05, 2014 6:45 AM
To: Rizzi, Dr. Lorenzo - CO Admin; Laughlin, John - Director
Cc: John Laughlin; Critchlow, Dr. Dianne; Cheryl Hermann; Steve Holloway; Vernon Sullivan; Kroupa, Dan; Mullins, Dawn; David Palmer
Subject: RE: response to public comments
Dr. Rizzi,
Thank you for your reply.
When were these matters discussed and who made these decisions?
Thank you,
Rich Simpson
From: Rich Simpson
Date: May 6, 2014 6:39:52 AM CDT
To: Rizzi, Dr. Lorenzo - CO Admin, Laughlin, John - Board President
Cc: John Laughlin, Critchlow, Dr. Dianne, Cheryl Hermann, Steve Holloway , Vernon Sullivan, Kroupa, Dan, Mullins, Dawn, David Palmer - Board Vice President
Subject: RE: response to public comments
Dr. Rizzi,
These decisions were not discussed or made during the Public Session of the April 15, 2014 board meeting.
Were all of the issues discussed and decided during Closed Session under Agenda Item 8.0 - Sections 610.021.14 Records and 610.021.22 Credit Cards as listed on the April 15, 2014 Fox C-6 Board Meeting Agenda?
Thank you,
Rich Simpson