Fox C-6 Voters Approve $40M Bond Issue - ED OCR Ignores Nearly 7 Years of Investigation Data

It's good to see that Fox's $40M Prop P bond issue was passed by voters last week.

Meramec Heights Elementary and Antonia Elementary have long overdue upgrades needed to bring them into ADA compliance.

New School Board Members Elected

Also, congratulations to our new Fox C-6 school board members. It’s interesting to see that we now have 5 people on our school board member who were either directly involved or are related to someone who was directly involved with the 504 issues that I have been following up on since 2008.

ED OCR Did Not Issue A Monitoring Letter for 16 Months What’s also interesting is the fact that OCR did not issue a “monitoring letter” to Fox C-6 for 16 months after the district submitted a “monitoring report” to OCR.

Fox submitted a monitoring report to OCR on December 12, 2018 with the final changes to Fox's 504 Manual. Originally, Fox agreed to update the district’s 504 Manual by June 3, 2009.

OCR didn't send a "monitoring letter" to the district until April 17, 2020 approving the changes that were submitted to OCR in December 2018. I obtained a copy of OCR’s “monitoring letter” from the district a few weeks ago.

OCR's Delay Was Due To Being "Understaffed"

I contacted OCR to find out what caused the delay. Kansas City OCR’s excuse for the 16 month delay was due to their office being “understaffed” and having to work on new complaints and district wide compliance reviews. It's been the same excuse I've heard for years.

What's odd is that OCR told me last July, that they hoped to complete their review of the changes before the start of the 2019-2020 school year.

Parents and Advocates Need To Know How Kansas City ED OCR Handles Complaints

There’s a lot to cover on this ongoing issue. It’s definitely worth the effort documenting how OCR handles complaints. Parents and advocates need to know just how long it may take their school district to comply with Section 504 and how long OCR can drag out a complaint once it goes into the “monitoring” phase after the signing of a Resolution Agreement.

Fox's Compliance Review Would Make A Great Law Student Research Paper

Fox’s District Wide Compliance Review would be a great example for a research paper for law students as to how OCR conducted a Compliance Review. It took 8 years for OCR to perform Fox’s District Wide Compliance Review. It took OCR 8 years investigate whether or not Fox C-6 was providing Individualized Health Plans to students with disabilities instead of Section 504 Plans.

Before OCR completed their investigation and issued any findings, Fox agreed to sign a Resolution Agreement in March 2018 which closed the complaint and moved it into the “monitoring” phase.

OCR Decided Not To Look at What Occurred Prior To 2015

To top it off, OCR also informed me that what occurred in the district between March 2008 and December 2014 related to the 504 issues wasn’t really looked at because so many people had left the district. It just happens that the law firm that was responding to OCR during that time left the district as well. The law firm was released by the district in 2014 during the Critchlow fiasco.

All I can say is, Wow!

Accountability seems to be a thing of the past.

Who's Watching Over The Office for Civil Rights

Arnold-Imperial Leader Article titled "Bad bonds" about Fox's Bond Issue Fiasco!

An article in this week's Arnold-Imperial Leader covers the $18.5 million dollar bond issue that was approved by voters in August 2012 and documented as a serious problem in the May 2016 State Auditor's report.

The state auditor's report claims that Fox C-6 will spend an additional $5.6 million dollars in interest because of how the bonds were sold.

The article references former Fox C-6 Superintendent Dianne Critchlow's letter that explained how "all the stars aligned for the school district" when the district "earned" an extra $4.2 million dollars on our bond sale.

Voters approved an $18.5 million dollar bond issue in 2012, not a $22.7 million dollar bond issue.

June 23, 2016 Arnold-Imperial Leader Article

"Bad bonds"

On January 13, 2013, I wrote an article about a letter from former Fox C-6 Superintendent Dianne Critchlow that contained some of the phrases that were referenced in today's Arnold-Imperial Leader article about the 2012 Bond Issue.

Critchlow wrote in her letter that,

"the district earned almost 2.5 million dollars more than anticipated. This was fantastic news for our district. So much so, that we asked the building principals to put together additional lists of wants and needs for their respective schools due to the extra funding."

She went on to explain how it occurred. She wrote that,

"As much as we would like to predict the market, we can't. However, all the stars aligned (and the market) for the school district."

The letter was referenced in an alert that was posted on the district website letting the community know that plans to move the administration office have ceased.

You can read Critchlow's entire letter to the community using the link below:

Plans To Move The Administration Office Have Ceased!

Plans To Move The Administration Office Have Ceased!

On Saturday January 12, 2013, our superintendent sent out an email asking the community to visit the district website www.fox.k12.mo.us for an update regarding bond issue progress and recent safety and security initiatives.  I copied the alert from the district website as it was shown below.  She wanted to let the community know that plans to move the administration office have ceased.

She also presented new information regarding the issuing of the school bonds.

The following message was found on the school district home page exactly as shown below:

Attention all community members! The safety of our students is our top priority! The district will spend the extra bond issue dollars on buzzers and other security improvments. In light of the recent shootings at Sandy Hook, plans to move the administration office have ceased. Please check out our progress on the website.   All projects, as promised, will take place plus many more!  Please read more in the Superintendent's Message below.

Here is the Superintendent's Message:

Dear Parents & Community Members,

            I am writing to provide an update on what has been occurring in our school district with regards to the recent “No Tax Increase Bond Issue” and the safety of our students.

            In November, 2012, when the first half of our bonds were issued (approximately 9 million dollars), the district earned almost 2.5 million dollars more than anticipated. This was fantastic news for our district. So much so, that we asked the building principals to put together additional lists of wants and needs for their respective schools due to the extra funding. Furthermore, we anticipate when the second half of the bonds are issued in late spring, we will receive another 2 million dollars more than expected. This means that our 18.5 million dollar “NO TAX INCREASE BOND ISSUE” has the potential to become a 23 million dollar “NO TAX INCREASE BOND Issue”, at NO cost to the tax payers.

You may ask yourself, how can this occur? As much as we would like to predict the market, we can’t. However, all the stars aligned (and the market) for the school district.   The issue was run at the best possible time in today’s market. The important thing to keep in mind is that our students will benefit greatly.   Please check the district’s website for the progress of our bond issue.

            Our last Board of Education meeting was held December 11, 2012.  The Sandy Hook tragedy took place on December 14, 2012.  This created a heightened sense of security, for not only me, but for our Board of Education.  Discussions of moving the central office administration to the Service Center occurred at the December 11^th meeting. However, the events of Sandy Hook were a reaffirmation of student safety. With that being our top priority, I believe we are the only district in the area that immediately scheduled a Safety Summit. The summit is scheduled for Jan. 31^st. Please sign up on the district’s website to attend.   I feel very fortunate that we have the extra monies to spend on our children’s safety. The moving of our central offices is not a priority at this time.

            The safety of ALL of our students is just important to me, as it is to every parent in the school district. I, too, have children attending our schools. My husband and I have two children in elementary and one child in high school. I feel and understand your concerns. As a mother, and as the superintendent, I am taking every precaution possible to ensure the safety of ALL of our children. Buzzer systems are out to bid and the plan is to install the systems in every single district building as soon as possible. In addition, we plan to seek advice from the members of the safety summit to ensure some proactive measures to keep our loved ones safe.

As always, you can contact the district office @ 636-296-8000 and we would be happy to speak to any question or concern you may have. I look forward to seeing you at the next Board of Education meeting.

Genuinely,

Dr. Dianne Critchlow

Fox C-6 Central Office Remodel Was Not In Original Bond Issue Budget

$100,000 Spent On Central Office Remodel Was Not Listed On Bond Issue Budget
The roughly $100,000 being spent on remodeling the Fox C-6 Central Office building that was announced in October 2012 was not in the original August 7, 2012 Bond Issue budget posted on the on the district website for the public.  But, you would not know that unless you had downloaded a copy of the budget during the short amount time that it was available on the district website.  The document was promptly removed from the website once the Bond Issue passed and the district thanked the community.  I emailed district officials and asked that it be placed back on the district website but never received a response, and it was never re-posted.  However, you can download a copy of both the original document supplied to me by the district as well as a more readable version of the document I created using a spreadsheet right here:

Original Copy of the August 7, 2012 Fox C-6 Bond Issue Budget Document Supplied by District (PDF)

A More Readable Version of the August 7, 2012 Fox C-6 Bond Issue Budget (PDF)

Bond Issue Budget Not Originally Posted On District Website
Originally, the Bond Issue budget was not posted on the district website for the public to review.  The only documents posted on the district website regarding the bond issue was the appeal letters from the superintendent and the Fox C-6 school board asking for your support because it was for the kids.  If the district wanted the $18.5 million dollars from the public, why didn't they want the public to know the details as to how their money was going to be spent?  More of a concern was the fact that I could not find a copy of the budget in any of the board meeting packets for the prior year that are supplied to the school board members before each board meeting for them to review.

I emailed our board and board secretary for a copy of the Bond Issue budget and also asked them to post the budget on the district website prior to the Bond Issue election.  The budget did get posted to the district website prior to the election.  However, it wasn't posted until July 22, 2012 which was only a few weeks before the election.  In my email to district officials, I asked why the budget had never been supplied to the public for review and also why it never showed up in the school board meeting packets that I had received from the district.  I did not receive an answer to either question but I did receive a copy of the budget.  I found it alarming that the school board approved the $18.5 million bond issue amount without having the budget document provided to them in their board meeting packets detailing how the money was going to be spent.  There was an April 10, 2012 Special Meeting/Workshop regarding a list of proposed capital projects that may have included a copy of the budgeted list of items.  But, the budget list of items was never posted on the district website prior to my request. The original PDF copy of the budget supplied by the school district had a PDF CREATED DATE of April 12, 2012.

Bond Issue Budget Document Removed From Website
Once the bond issue passed and our superintendent posted her thank you message to the community, the Bond Issue budget document was removed from the district website.  I emailed district officials and asked that the budget be re-posted on the website.  I never received a response and the document was never restored to the website.

Without the budget document, you have no way of holding the district accountable for their Bond Issue spending.  I suggest you call and speak with your board members and ask them why they removed the budget information from the district website.  As taxpayers, you have the right to know how and where your taxpayer dollars are being spent.

Bond Issue Numbers Look Really Small
If you print the original document supplied by the school district on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper you will find that the amounts of money budgeted by the district "look really small"!!  In fact, when I showed the budget to my father, he told me that he couldn't read the numbers because they were so small.  He hadn't seen a copy of the budget for the bond issue prior to my giving him a copy.  My search for the budget started after my father told me that the Fox High School athletic director made a presentation to the Arnold Rotary Club about upgrading the athletic field but he didn't know how much it would cost for those upgrades when he was asked at the meeting.

You can find my original post as to why I suggested that you vote NO on the August 7, 2012 Bond Issue.  Prior to the August 7, 2012 bond issue election, several parents told me that they would be voting NO on the bond issue because they thought that spending roughly $3.5 million dollars to upgrade our football fields when there aren't enough textbooks to go around for all the kids in the middle school.  In my opinion, I believe that if the voters of our community were more informed by the school district as to how the bond issue money was going to be spent and were knowledgeable about the other issues going on within the Fox C-6 School District, that the bond issue would not have passed.  I know a lot of taxpaying voters were not too happy to learn after the election how much money was being spent to put artificial turf on our football fields!

School district parents regarding textbook shortages prompted me to ask some of our school board members and school administrators about the textbook shortage after the December 2012 school board meeting.  You can find a response from district officials regarding the textbook shortage in my other post here.

Do You Trust Your School Superintendent and School Board?

Why would our school district superintendent tell me after the August 30, 2011 Board of Education meeting, "You know that we don't have a person that's just in charge of the website. We put our money in the classroom." when the district already employs a full time Web Designer who has been working for the school district for 7 years? This was in response to a request to the school board to post financial and board meeting packet and board member contact information onto the district website like they do at other school districts. Instead, I was told how the district puts its money into the classroom and not the website like other districts do. However, it appears now that she is planning on putting our money into the football fields and not as much into the classroom. Please note that the district does in fact have a full time Web Designer who was contracted to make $44,731 for the 2011-2012 school year. She could have just told me the truth but decided not to. This wasn't the first time I had been provided false or misleading information and wasn't the last and in doing so she destroys her credibility.

Our district seems to have a significant problem when school board members and administrators ignore requests for information or requests to post information such as board packets on the district website like they do in other districts. Not providing the information gives the appearance that our district is trying to hide things from the public. It certainly brings into question why the district never published the estimated cost of items for the $18.5 Million dollar bond issue.

So why didn't the district ever publish the budget for the items they wished to purchase with the Bond Issue money until I made a request for the budget on Monday July 16, 2012 which was then emailed to me and published on the website on Wednesday July 18, 2012?

How the school district plans to spend your taxpayer dollars should be of great interest to those in our school district. There are certainly repair needs within the district. The Election Ballot is written quite deceptively in regards to what is really happening with the $3.3 Million dollars being invested into what the election ballot lists as "converting the existing athletic facilities into multipurpose facilities."

What academic benefit is gained in spending $1.5 Million dollars to install artificial turf on the football fields and then another $1 Million dollars to replace the already rubberized tracks and the remaining $800,000 on bleachers?

I think our superintendent and school board is hoping to sneak the artificial turf in under the radar by not mentioning it on the ballot. Most people that I have spoken with had no idea that the school district was planning on installing artificial turf. One parent told me she was not going to pay for artificial turf when her son's middle school doesn't have enough books for his class to go around so they had to share books. She asked why they needed artificial turf? I said that is a really good question but that it was most likely because several other schools in the area recently installed artificial turf so our coaches want it too.

I emailed the school board secretary and the school board over two weeks ago requesting the cost analysis that was provided to the school board in justifying the cost of installing and maintaining artificial turf verses natural grass and how long the artificial turf would last before needing to be replaced. My questions were forwarded to Mr. Crutchley on July 16 but I have not received a response to those questions as of August 2, 2012 even after emailing another request. Most people I have spoken with seem to think that those are valid questions and that the school board should be asking those questions before spending that much in taxpayer dollars. You as taxpayers should be highly concerned because artificial turf typically only lasts around 8 to 10 years before needing to be replaced according to the industry. Additionally, there is quite a bit of maintenance cost as well. Not to mention the fact that artificial turf can reach temperatures of 140 degrees Fahrenheit according to a 2008 National Institutes of Health report. So, that means the district will be needing to spend another large sum of money when we are only half way into paying off the Bond Issue which would be extended to 2032.

So, should you be concerned with how the district plans on using the largest portion of the $18.5 million dollar bond issue?  The estimated costs for the bond issue items from the district website totals to less than $16 Million dollars. What is the extra $2.5 Million dollars going to be used for?

I certainly hope that you VOTE NO on the $18.5 Million dollar bond issue!

IT IS SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT WHEN CHOOSING BETWEEN ARTIFICIAL TURF AND SCHOOL BOOKS!

Why You Should Vote NO on Fox C-6's $18.5 Million Dollar Bond Issue!

There are a number of reasons that you as taxpayers in the Fox C-6 School District should VOTE NO on the proposed $18.5 Million Dollar Bond Issue on August 7, 2012.  It's not just about the FACT that you WILL PAY MORE IN TAXES even though the school district touts this as a No Tax Increase Bond Issue.  You should cast a NO VOTE on the Bond Issue, unless you are interested in purchasing artificial turf that will only last for half the length of time that the Bond Issue is being extended to.   The district is asking that you extend the debt service to 2032 rather than retiring it in 2022. YES. YOU WILL PAY MORE TAXES!

This is not just about the taxes.  It is about what the school district wants to do with the money and how the school board has rubber stamped their approval on it. Or did they?  The Cost Estimates for the Bond Issue items were not included in the monthly board meeting packet information that is sent to school board members each month or at least not the copy of the board meeting packets that I have been provided by the board secretary which should be the same. They are supposed to be the same as the copy that is kept on file at the Central Office for the public to review anytime during regular office hours according to board policies.

Please review some of the reasons that I feel warrant a NO VOTE on the August 7, 2012 Fox C-6 Bond Issue Vote.

SOME REASONS TO VOTE NO ON THE AUGUST 7, 2012 FOX C-6 BOND ISSUE:

• The school district never published the Bond Issue Budget until I requested a copy via email and asked the district to publish it on the district website.
• The Bond Issue Budget was never published in the Board of Education (BOE) monthly meeting information packets for the board members to review and approve.  The only item regarding the Bond Issue in the BOE information packets was the Bond Issue Ballot which was approved at the May 2012 BOE meeting.  Why was the Bond Issue Budget not provided to the board members in their monthly information packet?  Or, was the packet I received different from the copy that the BOE was sent?  It should be the same.  The date the PDF file was generated was 04/12/2012.
• The Bond Issue Budget LISTS LESS THAN $16 Million Dollars of Upgrades, Repairs and Purchases.  What will the other $2.5 Million Dollars not earmarked be used for? 
• The coaches want Artificial Turf on the two high school football fields at the cost of $1.5 Million Dollars for both high school football fields.  Industry estimates that Artificial Turf has a typical life span of 10 to 12 years.  Washington University was recently featured in a June 2012 STLTODAY.COM article where the university recently replaced their artificial turf after only 8 years.  You the taxpayer are being asked to extend the current Bond for another 10 years.  The bond will not be retired until 2032 and the school district will have to replace the artificial turf again half way into the bond.  Maybe the extra $2.5 Million dollars of buffer in the bond issue can be used to defray the replacement cost.
• Did the school board ask what the cost of maintenance was for an Artificial Turf Field verses the Natural Grass Field?  There were no budget documents in the Board of Education (BOE) packets for the Bond Issue Budget or for Cost Comparisons.  I suggest that you ask your board members if they performed any cost analysis.  I have asked but have not received a response.
• The BOE has been asked repeatedly to publish the monthly board information packets on the district website so the community and district patrons and parents can be more informed about what is happening in the district as well as issues being considered. This would also allow others to review the expenditures and decisions being made by the school board. However, to date the District has refused to publish this information. When I gave Wentzville school district as an example of one of many school districts that publishes this information on their websites PRIOR to BOE meetings as it is public record, I was told by our superintendent that our district does not have a full time person maintaining our website like they do in other districts and that we put our money into the classroom.  However, her statement regarding our district not having a Full Time person to maintain the district website appears to be FALSE.  The 2011-2012 school year Classified Central Office Staff listed in the August 30, 2011 BOE information packets lists a Full Time Web Designer making $44,731 who has been working for the district for 7 years.  It is responses like that from school leaders that causes concerns about the honesty and integrity of our school leadership?  The staff roster included the Full Time Web Designer, four system support specialists, a PC Tech as well as a Systems Support Supervisor that makes $66,434.  So, it does appear that we have several IT staff working for our district now as well.
• The BOE and the superintendent do not want you to be informed citizens and will either ignore your questions or have our superintendent respond which may be riddled with misleading or false information in an attempt to keep you from obtaining the information you are seeking. For example, at the March 2012 BOE meeting, our superintendent stated that our school district's Board Policies, Regulations and Forms had been completely overhauled and would be posted on the district website for both staff and the public to review and make recommendations to before the school board adopts the new documents. One week after the BOE meeting, I emailed the current board president and the board secretary asking where I could download the Policies, Regulations and Forms from the website.  I received a response from our superintendent informing me that, "Drafts of Board meeting minutes are not for public view (policy 0405).  Only board minutes that have been approved by the board are made public, which you can obtain on the website. You can view the March 20 meeting minutes upon approval of the April board meeting.  It usually takes a week or two, so please be patient."  I also made a request for a Draft copy of the March 20, 2012 school board meeting minutes to see what was documented regarding the posting of the board policies and regulations.  I responded to our superintendent with her exact words from my audio recording of the BOE meeting in which she stated, "We are finally ready for the forms and manuals and policies to be reviewed.  This would be an overhaul of all of the school district policies. They will be placed, I believe tomorrow night, Debby, on the website? And, sent out to staff or we will have a place that staff can log into. We’re not sure if we can send that big of documents for download. And we’re going to leave them up until June so that staff can make recommendations and the public can make recommendations.  Then we’ll bring those recommendations back and my guess is....”  My email response to the superintendent that included her quote from the BOE meeting was followed by another email from our superintendent informing me that, "Hello Rich! Debby will gather all of this information and shoot it to you electronically today. Please let us know if it all doesn't transmit."  I received a draft copy of the updated board policies and regulations, a "draft" copy of the March 20, 2012 BOE meeting minutes as well as copies of the BOE meeting information packets dating back to April 2010. My request for the BOE meeting information packets was finally being fulfilled FREE of charge because the school district purchased tablet computers for all of the administrators and board members to use during BOE meetings to read and review the information packets starting at the December 2011 meeting. This meant that our district documents were definitely available in electronic form. My previous requests have always resulted in the district informing me that there would be a $0.10 per page fee for the documents I requested.  Missouri Sunshine Law requires that electronic documents be made available to the public for free if they exist in electronic format and the state of Missouri encourages government entities to keep documents in electronic format.
• BUS MAINTENANCE EXPENSES - This is an issue that perplexes me after reviewing the check registers contained in the board packets.  Each month, the district pays somewhere between $40,000 and $57,000 for what is documented as bus maintenance and supplies.  On average it works out to about $50,000 per month for bus maintenance and supplies.  This figure seems high and many people that I have spoken with have also considered that to be a pretty expensive maintenance cost.  The cost of a new 71 passenger bus was recently quoted for around $73,000 and a 26 passenger bus at around $43,000 to the district.  Our district has around 100 school buses and from board meeting minutes our school buses log around 1.2 to 1.3 million miles per year which would work out to around 12,000 to 13,000 miles per year on each bus.  I'm still doing more research on this expense as it just seems a bit out of the ordinary. At first I thought that this monthly expense might include fuel, but then I found line items in our check register for fuel costs which typically has entries for $24,000 and $10,000 per month from two different suppliers.

I will add more information over the next several days regarding reasons why you should be questioning both your superintendent and your board of education members over the happenings in our school district.  It is not always the picture perfect school of excellence that is being portrayed. It's just good to know that you CAN do something about it and work to make improvements in your community. When you elect your board members to the school board, you are asking them to represent you, the citizens of our community. That is what "local control" is all about. However, if board members ignore your questions or defer them to your superintendent, you are not being represented very well and it would appear that it is time for some new leadership and oversight for our school district.

I am encouraging you to VOTE NO on the upcoming Bond Issue on August 7, 2012. The proposed $18.5 Million dollar Bond Issue might have been something to consider had it ONLY been slated for upkeep and repairs of buildings and technology and DID NOT include $1.5 Million Dollars in artificial turf and another $1 Million Dollars in track replacement costs. The Middle Schools could use bleachers for their outside fields. However, with the highest amount of estimated expenses going towards improvements of the football fields and replacement of the tracks that are not that old and are much better than the straight blacktop that I ran on, I am suggesting that you VOTE NO ON THE BOND ISSUE.

Please visit the school district website at:www.fox.k12.mo.us and look for the Bond Issue Budget on the on the right hand side of the home page listed under (Bond Issue Capital Projects (with Estimated Costs)). I would post a link to the PDF document, but our district still insists on using SessionID values which are unique to your web browser session to generate links to documents posted on the district website, therefore you cannot email a direct link to a document to another person or even open the same link in a different flavor browser on your same computer. I have asked to have this changed as well. Generating links dynamically documents keeps the documents from being found by search engines as well as making it impossible to directly share information with others.

Email Your School Board Members
Please contact your board members to see what they have to say about things. You won't be able to find their individual email addresses on the district website. I have requested several times that board members have individual email addresses or phone numbers listed on the website as they do in other school districts and have been told that they are not on the district website.

I have a feeling that our superintendent does not want the public speaking with our school board members outside of the 3 minutes of Public Comment time at the beginning of BOE meetings. You can always try sending an email to the generic schoolboard@fox.k12.mo.us, but it goes directly to the board secretary and not the school board. The board secretary is also the superintendent's secretary, so you can probably guess where your email will end up going even if it is a school board matter.