Post Dispatch Article Documented in Fox C-6 Legal Bills as "Press Release"

At the August 23, 2012 REACH Open House at Clyde Hamrick, I had a discussion with one of Fox’s former administrators about some of the issues going on in our district.

Our discussion occurred just days after I had received a cease and desist letter from Fox's law firm threatening me with legal action if I didn’t stop talking to administrators and former administrators as well as school board members at Fox about Section 504 issues and other issues such as in person and online bullying.

The former administrator's response really hit a nerve. Especially since I had just received the cease and desist letter days before which I mentioned during our discussion as well.

The discussion also inspired me to write an article about a Dear Colleague letter on Retaliation Law issued by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights in 2013.

The former administrator told me:

"You should pick your battles and I don't think this is one of them you should fight. You've got to think about your parents. This is your home. You don't need to be doing battle here. You should let someone else do it. It's because of who you are and who your family is as to why you shouldn't fight this battle."

I took that as a challenge. The cease and desist letter also fueled my efforts to bring about change in our school district. And, it reminded me of when our former superintendent, Dianne Brown (Critchlow) called my dad into her office to talk about our complaint.

Bullying In the St. Louis Post Dispatch

I was already determined to bring about changes at Fox after Fox and their law firm had an article published in the Post Dispatch in August 2010.

The article's intent was to bully us for filing a complaint with ED OCR. The online title of the article was not the same as the print article. The online article title referenced the 504 Plan as a "Special Status".

The article incited online comments directed at me and my family, including death threats which the Post Dispatch refused to remove from their website. I forwarded the comments to ED OCR and USDA OCR since they were clearly harassing and retaliation for filing complaints with ED OCR and USDA OCR.

The article mentioned the cost of legal fees. The article failed to mention the fact that when the district removes a 504 Plan, your only options, if you disagree with the school's decision are to file for Due Process, file a civil suit against the district in a court of law or file a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights. The article also failed to mention the fact that we were going to withdraw from the Due Process Hearing so Fox's attorneys decided to file Due Process against us so Fox could settle the disagreement.

PD Article Failed To Document District Wide Compliance Review Investigation

The 2010 Post Dispatch article failed to note important information that they showed us during our interview such as their discovery of the March 2010 District Wide Compliance Review investigation of Fox.

Then there was the privacy issue with Missouri DESE

When I was first contacted by the Post Dispatch to interview me for an article, I asked the reporter how she had gotten my name. It immediately threw up red flags considering we were preparing for a Due Process Hearing with Fox. The timing was not a coincidence.

The reporter explained to me that the Post Dispatch made a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request with ED OCR to see if there had been any complaints filed against any school districts in our state for students with life threatening food allergies. I'm sure that's something that reporters do all the time. She told me that our complaint was the only one. First, I told the reporter that any complaint filed by a parent or advocate with ED OCR is redacted and would not have identified us.

I also told the reporter that there were other complaints filed against other districts in our state filed with ED OCR by families with life threatening food allergies. Our complaint was not the only one as the reporter had claimed.

Post Dispatch Sunshine Request Leads To Contact Information

The Post Dispatch reporter went on to explain that they found our name after they made a Sunshine Request with Missouri DESE to find out if there were any emails related to the complaint. The reporter explained that our names were contained in emails between Missouri DESE and Fox but that our daughter’s name had been redacted out of the emails.

Missouri DESE failed to protect our identity. Or, maybe it was just really good investigative reporting by the Post Dispatch. It could also be that this was the fight that I shouldn't fight and that was the reason why.

Fox's Legal Bills Documented the Post Dispatch Article as a "press release"

So when I finally received copies of legal bills from the district in 2014 and I saw the bill from 2010 from the law firm that referenced the “press release”, it confirmed how and why the article was written.

I found other articles over the years about parents who had filed complaints filed with ED OCR in other school districts. The same tactic was used against them by the same law firm in order to bully and retaliate against them as well.

The following article from 2013, was written prior to the tracing of IP addresses to Fox C-6 administrator's homes and cell phones. It covers the Dear Colleague Letter sent out to all school districts in the U.S. in 2013.

For some reason, the Kansas City U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has had a lot of trouble recognizing retaliation against parents in our region. It makes a person wonder just how much documentation is needed before it's considered retaliation. Perhaps online defamatory comments traced to administrator homes and cease and desist letters by the school district's law firm isn't enough documentation.

Or, perhaps the KC ED OCR office just didn't have time to read the Dear Colleague Letter regarding harassment and retaliation due to the backlog of complaints in their office.

Dear Colleague Letter On Retaliation Law To School Districts From ED OCR

Fox's Ongoing District Wide Compliance Review

On July 28, 2015 I received a response from the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (ED OCR) to my June 2, 2015 Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request regarding the status of Fox C-6's March 2010 District Wide Compliance Review.

The response came from Bill Dittmeier, the Director of the the Kansas City ED OCR office.

Bill Dittmeier's response stated that Fox's District Wide Compliance Review is still "an open investigation". It's difficult to believe that Fox is still under "an open investigation" after five and a half years considering that the Memphis City School District in Tennessee underwent the exact same investigation in March 2010 and resulted in the district signing a Resolution Agreement in January 2012.

There seems to be a pattern of compliance reviews remaining open for years that were handled by the Kansas City ED OCR office. An August 22, 2012 FOIA request to ED OCR was responded to on May 3, 2013 which listed 3 open compliance reviews in the Kansas City ED OCR office. Two of the open compliance reviews had been open investigations from 2009. They were for the Bayless and Cape Girardeau school districts. The third compliance review was the Fox C-6 compliance review which was opened in March 2010.

Two years ago at the June 2013 Fox C-6 school board meeting, I asked Fox's school board about the status of Fox's District Wide Compliance Review investigation and the status of the district's Resolution Agreement with ED OCR that Dan Baker signed in May 2009 during Public Comments.

I wrote about these open in issues with ED OCR in a July 6, 2013 article. That article also listed the numerous "monitoring letters" sent to the district over the years following up on the district's May 2009 Resolution Agreement:

Documentation Contradicts Superintendent Dianne Critchlow's Statements

at June 2013 Board Meeting

Using the link below, you can read several years of FOIA request responses from the Kansas City ED OCR office regarding Fox's open compliance review. The July 28, 2015 FOIA response was the first from Bill Dittmeier who succeeded Angela Bennett as the Director of the Kansas CIty ED OCR office in 2014.

Below is an excerpt from Bill Dittmeier's FOIA response:

The compliance review concerning the Fox C-6 School District is an open investigation. OCR has determined that the release of the information you have requested at this time could reasonably be expected to interfere with our enforcement activities. In addition, the information you have requested includes personally identifiable information that, if released, could be unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Therefore, OCR is denying your request.

July 28, 2015 ED OCR FOIA Response Letter

You may be wondering why Fox would still be under investigation after nearly five and a half years.

Is this something that our community should be concerned about?

From a financial point of view, it is a concern because the district has spent tens of thousands of dollars over the past 6 years in legal fees. District attorneys responded to monitoring letters, worked on updating district policies to get the district in compliance with federal law and prepared Dan Baker, school staff and the Fox C-6 school board for interviews in the fall of 2010 according to Fox's legal bills that I received via a Sunshine Law request in August 2014. I didn't receive copies of the legal bills until April 2015. I also didn't receive all of the bills I requested because according to Fox's CFO, bills were destroyed prior to the 2010-2011 school year.

I wondered the same thing considering that Fox was only 1 of 2 school districts out of more than 13,000 school districts in the United States that were chosen to undergo a District Wide Compliance Review for one particular issue in 2010.

It's also interesting that in a 2013 FOIA request to ED OCR made by someone in Kansas City Missouri that it was documented that there were 2 other school districts in our state that had "open compliance reviews" dating back to July 2009. There were for the Bayless School District and the Cape Girardeau School District. So Fox is not alone in this matter. I have also been told that there are open compliance reviews in the Kansas City ED OCR office in Kansas and Oklahoma as well.

Fox's Compliance Review Noted in Report to the President

In 2012, Fox's 2010 compliance review was referenced in ED OCR's FY 2009-2012 Report to the President and Secretary of Education that was issued in 2012 by former Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Russlynn H. Ali. Fox C-6's compliance review is listed on the map on page 5 as FAPE 2010 as a Section 504 compliance review. I'm surprised that Russlyn Ali included Fox's Compliance Review in the report since the investigation hasn't been completed yet.

2009-2012 ED OCR's Report to the President and Secretary of Education

It is interesting to read ED OCR's statements in the 2009-2012 Report to the President about how OCR must vigorously enforce the nations's civil right's laws.

I'm not sure how many people consider an investigation lasting more than 5 years, "vigorously enforcing the nation's civil rights laws".

Randolph Wills the Director of Enforcement over the Kansas City ED OCR office wrote a letter to Fox C-6's former legal counsel on April 7, 2010. He informed Fox that compliance reviews are designed to address systemic issues and to ensure that violations are readily identified and promptly eliminated:

As OCR explained in its notification letter to the District, compliance reviews are designed to address systemic issues and to ensure that violations are readily identified and promptly eliminated. The instant compliance review is consistent with the stated purpose and goals of OCR compliance review activities. Accordingly, I have determined that the compliance review will proceed.

What's even more interesting is the fact that the other school district, Memphis City School District in Tennessee, that was investigated for the same issue was investigated and agreed to sign a Resolution Agreement with ED OCR in January 2012. ED OCR posted a Press Release in April 2012 about the Memphis City School District's Resolution Agreement along with the Resolution Agreement itself.

April 2012 ED OCR Press Release

about Memphis City Schools Compliance Review Agreement 

Memphis City School District Compliance Resolution Letter

Memphis City School District Compliance Resolution Agreement

Atlanta OCR Completes Compliance Review in 2 Years

It is amazing to how quickly the Atlanta ED OCR office was able to conduct and resolve the issues in the Memphis City School District considering the fact that Memphis City SD had 110,361 students and 191 schools in their district compared to Fox having roughly 11,000 students and less than 20 schools. It causes one to question the abilities and/or ethics of the different Regional ED OCR Offices. It's also notable that Cynthia G. Pierre who signed the Memphis City School District Compliance Resolution letter was recently promoted to the Chief Operating Officer of the EEOC.

In 2010, the Kansas City ED OCR office was assigned to conduct Fox's District Wide Compliance Review. I voiced my concerns to the Washington, D.C. ED OCR office back then about assigning the compliance review to the Kansas City ED OCR office based upon the fact that their didn't appear to be much enforcement effort out of the office based upon my conversation with many other advocates and individuals who had been dealing with the KC ED OCR office for years. But, the fact that Fox has been given extension after extension to meet their obligations on the still open May 2009 Resolution Agreement and the fact that Fox's District Wide Compliance Review is still "an open investigation" after nearly five and a half years, I think my concerns have been validated.

According to Fox's legal bills that were finally provided to in April after multiple Sunshine Requests, Dan Baker and some Fox C-6 staff and Fox's school board was interviewed by ED OCR in 2010. Fox's former law firm prepared the district and board prior to the interviews and then represented them during the ED OCR interviews.

Please note that I wasn't provided all of the legal bills that I had requested which dated back to the 2007-2008 school year. Those bills would have covered the time that Fox first started dealing with ED OCR in August 2008 on issues in our district.

Legal Bills Destroyed

According to Fox's CFO, John Brazeal, who fulfilled my Sunshine Request in April 2015, he stated that "after an exhaustive search", it has been determined that all paid invoices from the 2007-2010 school years (including invoices from Fox's former law firm) have been previously destroyed.

Legal Bills for Press Release

Reading through the legal bills has been very interesting and very eye opening. Back in May 2010, when the Post Dispatch contacted us out of the blue to do a story on complaints filed in Missouri with ED OCR, there were charges from Fox's former law firm for conferencing with Dan Baker about interviewing with the Post Dispatch. The legal bills noted it as a "press release". There were similar charges referenced as "press release" in August 2010 when the article was published in the Post Dispatch. Dan Baker was quoted saying that he,

"strongly believes the district has handled the situation appropriately. He said the district had spent a lot in legal fees during the dispute, but he did not know an exact amount."

Legal Bill Entries

I found it interesting that the legal bill charges referred to Dan Baker's interview with the Post Dispatch as a "press release".

5/3/2010 - TBG  - Telephone conference with Mr. Dan Baker regarding telephone call from Post-Dispatch.

5/6/2010 - TBG  - Telephone conference with Mr. Dan Baker regarding media contact; review press release. 

8/19/2010 - TBG  - Telephone conference with Mr. Dan Baker regarding Post-Dispatch interview and press release.

There were many more charges related to the "media contact" regarding Sunshine Law requests, etc. in May 2010. But there's no need to list them all here.

Post Dispatch Article Fails To Mention Compliance Review

I also found it interesting when the Post Dispatch article was published in August 2010 that there was no mention of the May 2009 Resolution Agreement that Dan Baker signed legally binding the district to make corrections agreed to with ED OCR in order to become compliant with Section 504 and the ADA AA. Nor was there any mention in the article about Fox undergoing a District Wide Compliance Review which had been initiated in March 2010. Perhaps those were simple oversights or the information just wasn't deemed that important at the time.

Legal Bills For Reviewing My Blog

Some of the other notable charges in the legal bills were from July and August 2013 after I made public comments about the Compliance Review and the Resolution Agreement at the June 2013 Fox C-6 school board meeting. Fox's former law firm contacted ED OCR to get a status on the Resolution Agreement and Compliance Review and prepare a memorandum regarding the Resolution Agreement with ED OCR and the District Wide Compliance Review.

The law firm also charged the district to "Review media postings regarding status of OCR matters" and "Review patron media blog" perhaps to check my facts about the Compliance Review and the Resolution Agreement.

Education Is Key To Keep From Repeating the Past!

Fox C-6 made it onto the front page of the St. Louis Post Dispatch again yesterday. It is impressive as to the number of times that Fox has been front page news.

The Monday November 10, 2014 issue of the St. Louis Post Dispatch had an article stating that Fox would most likely be announcing a new superintendent for the district at the November 18, 2014 Fox C-6 school board meeting.

The article also covered the invoices that have been sent to Dianne Critchlow for repayment to the district over the last couple of months. Dianne Critchlow has NOT paid any of the invoices because her attorney says that she's done nothing wrong. 

It seems hard to believe that it's OK to use a school district credit card to pay for a traffic ticket. It's also hard to believe that it's OK to entertain administrators after a high school football game and charge it to Professional Development funds. How are doing those types of things not wrong? 

There was a quote in the article from Jamie Critchlow that was sent to John Brazeal in an email that said that Brazeal had "gone way past the point of harassment" in regards to sending invoices to the Critchlows and that Mr. Brazeal should contact their attorney rather than them for any future inquiries. That's certainly an interesting response considering the fact that the majority of defamatory comments posted online were directed at myself and others for voicing our concerns to our school board about what was going on in the district over the last several years.

You can read the Post Dispatch Article on STLTODAY.COM using the following link:

New Fox superintendent to be named, but unfinished business remains

So, if you or your neighbors or friends aren't familiar with what's been finally uncovered and exposed to the public as to what's been happening in the Fox C-6 School District for nearly a decade, it's important that you start educating yourself, friends and neighbors in our community so the community doesn't have to go through this again in the future.

The embarrassment brought to our community by some of our Fox C-6 administrators will linger for decades to come.

So, if you haven't been in the loop, now is a good time to start reading, watching or listening to some of the nearly 100 news stories that have been written or broadcast over the last couple of years about the fraud, theft, nepotism, cyber bullying and more that's occurred in the district. You can read and watch these news stories by clicking on the link below to my Fox C-6 School District is In The News article.

Fox C-6 School District In The News!

You can also read the more than 150 articles that I have published over the last several years on this blog about what's been occurring in the district for more than 6+ years. Most of what I've written has been first hand experience in dealing with Dianne Brown-Critchlow, Dan Baker, Gee Palmer and many former and current Fox C-6 school board members. The experience has been like researching for writing a thesis. It will certainly make for a very intriguing documentary some day.

It's also good to know that sharing this information has been helpful to many people in our district as well as others across the state and the country. Hopefully, the information will help deter others from doing the same thing that several of our administrators and board members did or failed to do in fulfilling their duties to both the students of our district and our community.

Waiting for Documents from Sunshine Requests

In the meantime, I'm still waiting for most of the documents from my September 12, 2014 Sunshine Requests to get fulfilled. I have received and posted the 2012-2013 DISCOVER CARD statements. I am still waiting for the DISCOVER card and AMERICAN EXPRESS card statements. I am also waiting on purchase receipts and invoices from the law firm.

Below is a copy of my September 12, 2014 Sunshine Request to the district:

Mrs. Davis, 

The following email is a Sunshine Request to the Fox C-6 School District for documents for the Public's interest. Therefore, I ask that you waive any fees associated with the production of the documents requested per Missouri Sunshine Law. 

I am making the following request for documents related to purchases and expenses incurred by taxpayers of the Fox C-6 School District since 2005 when Dianne Brown-Critchlow was promoted to the position of the Superintendent of the Fox C-6 School District. 

It has become public knowledge that former Superintendent Dianne Brown-Critchlow exercised very poor judgement during her tenure in the use of credit cards and the use of legal counsel to hide or deter exposure of her actions during that time. Cease and desist letters were sent by the school district's former law firm to individuals such as myself related to exposing issues within the Fox C-6 School District. 

It has also become public knowledge that former Superintendent Dianne Brown-Critchlow used school district credit cards and possibly petty cash to purchase items for personal use rather than school district use. It has also become public knowledge that Dianne Brown-Critchlow borrowed credit cards from others in the district to make some of those purchases as well. 

Documents Requested:

• Electronic copies of all Fox C-6 DISCOVER credit card statements for the 2005-2006 to 2012-2013 school years to present.

• Electronic copies of all Fox C-6 AMERICAN EXPRESS credit card statements for the 2005-2006 to 2012-2013 school years.

• Electronic copies of all Fox C-6 VISA credit card statements for the 2005-2006 to 2008-2009 school years to present.

• Electronic copies of all receipts that were purchased using Petty Cash since the 2005-2006 school year to present for personal related items for Dianne Brown-Critchlow.

• Electronic copies of all invoices from the Mickes Goldman O'Toole law firm for the 2007-2008 school years to present. When redacting the invoices from the law firm please ensure that only names are redacted and that the descriptions or purpose of the legal fees incurred remain on the invoices. I previously made a similar request years ago and was informed that the district did not receive detailed billing.

• Electronic copies of any and all receipts associated with purchases made by former Superintendent Dianne Brown-Critchlow using ANY district credit card since it has been determined that she borrowed or used credit cards assigned to other people within the district.

• Electronic list of all items recovered to date from former Superintendent Dianne Brown-Critchlow.

I realize that the production of the above documents may take some time. Please forward any documents related to the above request as they become available. If any of the documents from my Sunshine Requests have already been made by other patrons or media outlets and fulfilled, please make them available as soon as possible if the entire request cannot be fulfilled at once.

Thank You, 

Rich Simpson

The Bakers NOT Losing Their Jobs at Fox C-6 Was Discussed on Donnybrook Last Night!

What is Donnybrook?

Donnybrook is a weekly discussion / debate program that airs on Thursday night on KETC Channel 9 in St. Louis, MO. It's hosted by 5 journalists that discuss topics of local interest. Past episodes can be viewed online or seen on TV on Sunday evening if you missed Thursday's airing.

This week's discussion on Donnybrook started with the recent announcement of Dan and Angela Baker being allowed to keep their jobs at Fox C-6 after they had been placed on paid administrative leave June 4, 2014.

If you recall, online defamatory comments were traced to the Baker's residence as well as the residence of Superintendent Dianne Critchlow and her husband Jamie Critchlow the former Director of the At Risk program.

It needs to be noted that many comments were linked to the Baker's residence. There may have only been one comment documented in the original lawsuit petition but many more were posted in defense of the school district and our school board that were linked to the Baker's residence.

This is the second time that Fox C-6 has been a topic of discussion on the Donnybrook program. Superintendent Critchlow and the Internet scandal was first discussed on the June 5, 2014 Donnybrook program starting 19:15 in that episode. The prior episode of Donnybrook can be viewed online using the link found at the end of this article.

If you missed last night's episode you can view it online using the link below. It was a great discussion by the Donnybrook panelists regarding Dan and Angela Baker getting to keep their jobs as administrators at Fox C-6.

I believe the Donnybrook panelist's unbiased views believing that the Bakers should have been fired speaks loud and clear to our school board and the community.

Of course, I'm biased because Dan Baker's defamatory comments were directed at me. I pointed that out during my Public Comments at this weeks Fox C-6 school board workshop.

As a Fox C-6 administrator and school district Section 504 Coordinator, Mr. Baker should have been fired immediately once our school board knew that he did in fact post online comments even if they weren't as vile as Troop's comments.

Mr. Baker spent July 2013 through October 2013 in discussions with Missouri DESE and the USDA's Office for Civil Rights attempting to correct issues in our school district and bring the district into compliance with federal law. Fox's school board members were copied on many of the correspondences with the USDA during that time period.

Fox C-6 had been found Non-Compliant by USDA OCR in August 2011. Superintendent Critchlow forwarded that letter of Non-Compliance to the Fox C-6 School Board back then informing the board that she had "received a really long letter from the USDA" but the district attorney found some mistakes in the letter. Dan Baker told me at the December 2011 school board meeting that the district filed an appeal. Mr. Baker said it wasn't fair that the district wasn't offered a chance to file an appeal. That's because it was a Final Agency Decision. In August 2013, the USDA OCR finally took action to enforce the August 2011 non-compliance notification and bring the district into compliance.

It's Not Just Bullying! It's Retaliation!
As an administrator you can't post defamatory comments abut parents that you've been dealing with while being under investigation by federal agencies. It's not just BULLYING! IT IS RETALIATION!

Mr. Baker may not have enjoyed dealing with federal investigations and Section 504 complaints, but that was his job. Mr. Baker was being paid more than $150,000 to ensure that our district followed Civil Rights laws and he failed to do so. That's why Fox C-6 was found Non-Compliant in August 2011. Not only did Dan Baker violate federal law, he violated our district's anti-bullying policy.

The comment from the Bakers house directed towards me were libelous and were meant to discredit me and my efforts towards getting our district to comply with federal law and and for my advocacy efforts on Section 504 issues at Fox C-6.

Since Dan Baker has been handling Section 504 issues for the district for the last 6+ years and working with us directly makes the comments from his residence even more damaging for him because of his position. The board needs to read the 2013 Dear Colleague Letter from ED OCR to understand why Dan Baker's comments were retaliatory.

Even worse was the fact that he was in charge of ensuring that the district properly followed the ADA and Section 504 law. In his anonymous online comment posted under the pseudonym of "Seriously", he called out my "weird eye" which is due to paralysis from a 1978 car accident. I don't think a disability coordinator for a school district should be publicly be making fun of a parent's disability. I doubt Mr. Baker would have posted the comment using his own name. So, I'm betting he never thought that someone could find out that he posted comments online. His comments should have been cause for immediate dismissal once our school board reviewed the current lawsuit petition and knew which post he made.

Retaliation Violates Federal Law

Retaliation in Section 504 Law is a very serious offense as outlined in this 2013 Dear Colleague Letter from ED OCR.  Mr. Baker violated Section 504 Law and should be dismissed. The board cannot be allowed to be "satisfied with the discipline" that the Bakers received knowing that his comments violated Section 504 Law and school board policy. He should have been fired!

KETC's July 24, 2014 Donnybrook Episode 
Below is the link to the July 24, 2014 episode of Donnybrook that aired on KETC Channel 9. The discussion by the Donnybrook panelists about Fox is the very first topic of discussion. Guest host Eric Reid starts off the conversation by saying he asked a Fox High School student purchasing books at a bookstore what she thought about what had been happening lately in the Fox C-6 school district.

Watch the Donnybrook discussion about

the Bakers getting to keep their jobs!

Host Eric Reid started the discussion asking, "Bill, do you think that these two who weren't necessarily vindicated but didn't do as much emailing as the others, do you think they should get to keep their jobs?"

Panelist Bill McClellen of the St. Louis Post Dispatch said, "No I don't. I thought they should be fired. Matter of fact I thought the board members should resign as well. And the other thing that bugged me about this is the discipline they got was being disciplined with pay. I mean, I'd like to be suspended with pay. You know if my boss were to say to me that's enough McClellan we're going to suspend you from pay for a week, I'd say, teach me a real lesson. You know, the idea that somebody does something wrong and you suspend them with pay, is crazy. I don't know what the board is thinking."

Host Eric Reid said, "Well, obviously this has festered for a while. But I guess they figured they came back and said like these two basically weren't as bad as the other players in all this. Now I don't know if that's not enough reason but and as I said, I guess I could see them keeping their job."

Guest panelist Brenda Talent of the Show-Me-Institute said, "And maybe the contract didn't allow them to quite do that. But I would say this, what a statement, what role models are we setting up for our children when this is the kind of conflict resolution they engage in by posting comments, which are rather sophomoric on internet sites. I mean that's what really offends me. These are supposed to be administrators. They're supposed to be mentors to the teachers and they're role models for the entire district. Pretty sad comment on the district."

Host Alvin Reid said, "Well I agree and I would have, I'm one that I would have dismissed them just for being in this conversation with these people in the first place. Never mind that they said some really vile things about people. Just the fact that, you know I agree with you, in that, wait a minute, why are you even involved in this banter?"

Panelist Bill McClellan said, "And not using their names. I mean they had to be found out. It's one thing if a person that works for the district wants to stand up for the district and take on the critics. But to do all of this stuff anonymously, that, that's just wrong on many levels."

Guest panelist D.J. Wilson of KDHX was surprised that an assistant principal at a middle school would be paid over $100,000. (Everyone should now be aware that Fox's administrative salaries have been way out of line for some time.)

Brenda Talent said, "And you're not counting the benefits."

Host Alvin Reid stated that Fox wasn't one of the states lowest performing districts but that it also wasn't one of the highest. D.J. Wilson stated that Fox's Average Composite ACT Score was 23. (NOTE: DESE records for 2013 show Fox's ACT Composite at 22.3).

D.J. Wilson said, "I'd love to be a student in a classroom and someone corrects me about what I said on email. What will they say back to the teacher."

Brenda Talent then said, "Well their comments may not have risen to the level of being libelous, whereas the others might have. But again, it's just sort of, this is how you resolve conflict? We're supposed to be adults here."

Bill McClellan reminded everyone that, "This was the school board that, that one of the board member's daughters-in-law was it, who worked at McDonald's was made dietician over the schools." 

One of the guest hosts said,"I guess they thought she deserved a break today." They all had a pretty good laugh out of that comment and then another person said, "She had it her way!".

Thanks to our soon to be retired Superintendent and former school board members and some current long time board members, our district has made national news and not in a good way.

Watch the June 5, 2014 Episode of Donnybrook on KETC

Superintendent Critchlow has touted our National District of Character award as a way to garner big raises for herself while at the same time bullying parents and critics of the district. The public and the board have been fooled for quite some time and the employees and taxpayers of Fox C-6 are now paying the price.

Donnybrook June 5, 2014 Episode

Fox C-6 Discussion Starts at 19:15