Former Superintendent Critchlow Asked Her Cabinet To Post Positive Comments About the District on TOPIX

Recently, I posted the handwritten notes former Fox C-6 assistant superintendents Tim Crutchley and Todd Scott wrote after their conversation with former Fox C-6 superintendent Dianne Critchlow in which she told them that her husband Jamie Critchlow had been posting comments on the TOPIX.COM website. As I mentioned in that post, getting the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth from some of Fox's former school district administrators had been a huge problem for years.

According to Tim Crutchley's deposition, former superintendent Dianne Critchlow had been concerned with comments that were being posted on TOPIX.COM for quite some time. Mr. Crutchley stated that comments on TOPIX were discussed quite often in their "cabinet" (assistant superintendent) meetings. In fact, she asked her "cabinet" (the assistant superintendents) to post positive comments on TOPIX about the school district in response to the comments that were critical of the district.

Former superintendent Dianne Critchlow's directive lead to some administrators posting comments on TOPIX.COM during the school day as well as at home. Not all of the comments posted were positive as you can see by reading the ones listed in the exhibits in the lawsuit that was filed with Jefferson County courts in November 2014.

Comments Posted On TOPIX from Fox's IP Address Date Back to 2010

Some of the earliest posts made on TOPIX that came from the school district's IP address date back to October 2010. They were made by a user named "Bullwinkle" who responded to a post that I had made on Topix regarding my concerns about the school district's open District Wide Compliance Review.

Former superintendent Dianne Brown was not happy that we had filed an OCR complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights in August 2008. And then in March 2010, Washington D.C. Office of Civil Rights informed superintendent Brown that her school district would be undergoing a District Wide Compliance Review adding insult to injury.

Making the public aware of the District Wide Compliance Review was something that former superintendent Dianne Brown didn't want. When I would ask the school board about it during public comments, Dianne would respond saying that it couldn't be discussed due to litigation. But, there was no litigation related to the Compliance Review. Stating that there was ongoing litigation was a simple way to make everyone believe that it couldn't be discussed. It was simply another tactic used to keep people from questioning things in the district. The District Wide Compliance Review was an investigation of the school district's Section 504 practices.

So, when a comment was posted on TOPIX by Bullwinkle referencing the recent Due Process decision for the OCR complaint, it was very obvious to me as to who would have posted that online comment. I just couldn't prove at the time that the comment came from a school district computer.

Dianne Brown and former assistant superintendent and Section 504 Coordinator, Dan Baker, had both been involved with the OCR complaint and Due Process Hearing as well as the District Wide Compliance Review in 2010 and were aware of the recent ruling.

So, when it was confirmed that Bullwinkle's comment that was posted on TOPIX.COM on November 16, 2010 came from a the school district's IP address, it helped validate my suspicions.

Below is part of Bullwinkle's comment that was posted on TOPIX. The comment seems to have a bit of an attitude resonating from it: 

"Channel person. You must be the disgruntled parents over the OCR case. get over it! you lost."

The Due Process Hearing ruling had made by an attorney who was hired by the school district and who just happened to be a former law associate in two different law firms of the attorney who represented the school district during the Due Process Hearing. The attorney hired by the district to hear the Due Process Hearing was supposed to be "Fair and Impartial" but that was not the case. That's just how the game has been played in our state for a very long time.

Bullwinkle also responded to another comment in which I had talked about speaking to Fox's school board president in 2008 about speaking to the school board and superintendent Brown blocked the school board from speaking to me. When superintendent Brown arrived at the meeting, she told me that the school board had already decided not to speak with me.

However, the board president at the time wasn't aware of this decision as we were already speaking about getting on next months agenda since he had forgotten to put me on the agenda for that evening. Apparently, superintendent Brown forgot to tell him that "he" had already decided not to speak with me. Superintendent Brown seemed to be the only person who knew that the school board had decided not to speak with me.

Bullwinkle didn't catch that my comment was about speaking with the board president in the fall of 2008. I guess being angered by information being posted in a public forum that had been kept quiet for so long was causing unrest in the upper ranks. My comment related to this incident caused Bullwinkle to post the following comment on TOPIX.COM:

11/16/2010 - 08:10AM

"The school board president is a female and has been president since early last spring you dip stick. 

Mr Critchlow, I will call you and we can start our own campaign against these crazy parents.. LOL Perhaps we can find them something to do at your school... hahahaaa"

Bullwinkle posted 5 comments on TOPIX.COM during October and November 2010. Several of Bullwinkle's online posts made "positive" comments about superintendent Brown and the school district. Bullwinkle certainly wanted to make sure that the community was aware of the great job that superintendent Brown was doing for our school district.

What helped confirm my suspicions that Bullwinkle was most likely superintendent Brown, was that the language and writing style used by Bullwinkle was strikingly similar to that found in the Superintendent Messages written by Superintendent Dianne Brown that she posted on the district website and also published in The Rock newspaper.

There was no doubt in my mind as to who Bullwinkle was who was posting on TOPIX defending superintendent Brown and responding to criticisms that were made on the Fox High School Superintendent thread.

Even though Bullwinkle didn't post that many messages, the phrases and keywords used by Bullwinkle gave you the impression that you were reading comments written by superintendent Dianne Brown herself.

Here are some of the phrases and keywords that stood out in Bullwinkle's comments. Compare the phrases to those used in Dianne Brown-Critchlow's Superintendent Messages from 2010 to 2013:

• Kudos to you
• second to none
• I applaud
• I'm proud of
• positive attitude

Below are the comments posted on TOPIX by Bullwinkle in 2010 from the school district's IP address with the dates and local time that they were posted:

10/19/2010 - 9:51AM

This is obsurd. Those of you who are relishing in these rumors are worse than the rumors theirselves. Complete rubbish. I have two kids that graduated from the district. Couldnt be more impressed with their experience and education. I applaud the superintendent and all her efforts. Her personal life is exactly what it is. Hers...not yours! Get a life people!

In 2010 when the message above was posted, Dianne Brown did have two kids that had already graduated from the district.

11/05/2010 - 11:19AM

Who here has been divorced or has had a close friend or relative get divorced? Because your not a public figure does that give all of us the right to judge you/her? Nope dont think so. One thing thats a common factor here is about the kids. Do you think your children would be proud of you guys posting negative remarks about their teachers and administration? Think about that... 

I love humans nowadays. Collectively forming a cyber‐subpar lynch mob with nothing to do other than try to tear people down. 

As you judge others always keep in mind you too will be judged when your time comes. 

Im proud of the school district. Its teachers, faculty, administration and staff are second to none. Kudos to you guys!!! I know your doing everything you can to help our children succeed.

The next comment posted by Bullwinkle was quite intent on defending superintendent Brown who had been getting criticized online about her close relationship with Jamie Critchlow.

11/08/2010 - 10:33AM

"Dear unknowing fellow constituents,... 

I am amazed that any of you morality, podium pounding blabber‐mouths feel you have any right to judge. Do you know the superintendant or any of the people being accused on here? What are your facts? I'm sure you caught wind of a rumor and you took it to the highest level without knowing a damn bit of whats going on. Have you lived in her house? Have you been in her former marriage? Have you had her confide in you why she got a divorce? NO... you have not and don't kid yourself if you think you have a clue. This is where the term "hypocrite" applies. 

I know the parents and board hold her in high regard and have nothing but the utmost respect for her. And my opinion still remains the same. Get a life and find a positive place in your head to venture to. The world is crappy enough without this rubbish and your nonsense. Be a parent with a positive attitude...not a bad one."

11/16/2010 - 8:10AM

The school board president is a female and has been president since early last spring you dip stick. Again...more lies to harm others. 

Mr Critchlow, I will call you and we can start our own campaign against these crazy parents..LOL Perhaps we can find them something to do at your school...hahahaaa

Below is the complete post that was made by Bullwinkle in response to my comment about the District Wide Compliance Review being conducted by OCR. In that same post, Bullwinkle also responded to another person who used the screen name "Please" which was not me:

11/16/2010 - 10:03AM

Channel person. You must be the disgruntled parents over the OCR case. get over it! you lost. 

"Please" You are correct in that affairs in the work place are frowned upon and Im sure Paul would agree with you. However, making accusations without proof is slander and you, my friend, are crossing the line repetitely. You lose. get over it! 

Put your name out there like Mr Critchlow did. Hes being ripped on here too and I applaud him for his righteousness.

Bullwinkle certainly thought highly of former Fox C-6 superintendent Dianne Brown back then and also thought that the school board held "her in high regard". Bullwinkle's comments certainly had a familiar ring to them.

I wrote an article about this in July 2014 titled:

What Got Our Educators Riled Enough To Write Defamatory Comments?

Comments Posted From District and Home Computers and Cell Phones
If you read through the exhibits in the publicly available lawsuit, you will see date / time stamps and an IP address recorded for each post. The school districts IP address was documented by MOREnet. Other IP addresses that were traced back to individual homes and cell phones were verified by the respective Internet Service Providers.

You'll probably notice that not all of the posts made on TOPIX that were traced back to the school district or to the homes or phones of school district administrators were "positive" posts.

The dates and times in the exhibits from TOPIX.COM are in Pacific Standard Time. So, you must to add 2 hours to the times that are documented in military time in the exhibits. The text of the lawsuit didn't properly document the times when they were converted from the exhibits into the lawsuit text.

Did Jamie Critchlow Use a School District Computer to post comments?

In Tim Crutchley's notes of his conversation with Jamie Critchlow, Mr. Crutchley documented that Mr. Critchlow didn't use any district computers when he posted comments on TOPIX.COM, "We asked if he used personal or district computers and he said he used personal computer."

Did Mr. Critchlow tell the truth when he told Mr. Crutchley that he didn't use a district computer?

On November 16, 2010 at 7:49AM, there was a comment posted on TOPIX by someone using the screen name, "Jamie Matthew Critchlow". The online post was removed from TOPIX long ago but was provided by TOPIX when subpoenaed since it originated from the school district's IP address.

The original comment posted by the screen name, Jamie Matthew Critchlow was as follows except that I redacted part of the phone number that was made in the original online post and in the lawsuit exhibits:

Public...let me introduce myself. I am Jamie Critchlow. Principal of the Bridges program at Fox C‐6. I have been made aware of this website and rumors as of late. I am on here to speak to you as a concerned parent. I am truly apathetic for anyone who finds comfort in these negative words. Dr Brown and I are great friends who have found solitude in each others friendship through difficult times. The light in which both she and i have been shed on this website is at best ridiculous. If you have any questions you would like to ask please call my personal cell at 314‐775‐XXXX.

Read through the TOPIX.COM posts that are documented in the lawsuit that was filed electronically in the Jefferson County courts in November 2014. You can see just how many comments were made on TOPIX from the school district's IP address. The district said they were unable to trace which specific computers the posts came from when asked to do so. However, there's a definite pattern in the content that goes along with certain screen names in many of the online comments.

Hopefully reading through the online comments will give everyone a little more perspective as to why I've put so much time and effort into documenting what was going on in our school district. It's important to get the facts and the truth to the public so this type of behavior never happens again in our school district.

Fox's former superintendent, Dianne Brown/Critchlow invested a lot of time and effort into hiding information from the public for years. That allowed her to get away with a lot of things that never should have happened. It's very well documented in my emails to board members and administrators as well as audio recordings that I made when I attended school board meetings as to what was going on.

It's extremely hard for anyone to even imagine that this sort of harassment could or would occur especially since it was being done by some of the top administrators in our school district.

It's even harder to imagine that our Fox C-6 school board members did nothing to stop it. I repeatedly spoke to them and emailed them about this harassment for years.

In 2014 after obtaining IP addresses, we provided the lawsuit information to the Office of Civil Rights since this sort of behavior would surely be considered retaliation under Section 504 Law. However, the Office for Civil Rights told us they couldn't do anything until there was a court ruling. We also spoke to the Department of Justice as well.

There's a huge problem with the system and the people involved when this type of harassment cannot be stopped. Perhaps this will be a lesson that everyone will learn from.

The following document contains all of the online posts that were submitted in the original lawsuit along with the locations that the online posts were made from. Reading through the online comments that were posted and from where shows is a very sad example of how desperate people were to keep their jobs as I brought my concerns to our school board that our superintendent did not appreciate.

Lawsuit With Exhibits Electronically Filed in Jefferson County Court in 2014 over TOPIX.COM Posts

Trust Me... I'm A School Administrator!

I recently received an email from the Trial Tips Newsletter titled, "Trust Me... I'm a Lawyer!" The title of the article piqued my interest after dealing with school district attorneys and administrators who didn't always tell the truth over the years regarding Section 504 issues and other issues at Fox C-6.

I started writing this blog to document the lies and deception employed by lawyers, administrators and staff that were used to get around federal law for years as well as giving the public the impression that everything was being done above board. Now that the state audit report has been released, the Fox C-6 community finally gets a more factual picture of what can happen when board members fail to respond to citizen's concerns.

When it takes the U.S. Department of Educations's Office for Civil Rights (ED OCR) who is in charge of enforcing Civil Rights law, including Section 504, doesn't actually enforce the law but turns a blind eye, it's very easy for the public to get the impression or illusion that school districts are properly following the law.

ED OCR Turns a Blind Eye

The question is, Why did the ED OCR Office in Kansas City turn a blind eye for years rather than enforce the law?

ED OCR has a Case Processing Manual and it defines the steps that they are supposed to follow when processing complaints. However, they didn't explain why they weren't following the Case Processing Manual when asked why certain steps hadn't been taken over the years as outlined in the manual. There were always plenty of excuses such as being short staffed or that there had been a lot of changeover in staff to the usual of stating that they hoped to get things done in the next 2 to 3 months which went on for years.

The current OCR Enforcement Director recently told me there were "scores of reasons" as to why Fox's District Wide Compliance Review hadn't been completed for more than 6+ years. She told me that she wasn't able to discuss personnel issues with me. I voiced my concern with the fact that the Director of the Kansas City ED OCR Office and former Chief Attorney was legal counsel for the Kansas City School District prior to working for ED OCR. The Chief Attorney is responsible for signing off on Non-compliant findings.

The Kansas City Office for Civil Rights has allowed a Resolution Agreement between Fox C-6 and the Office for Civil Rights to remain open for more than 7 years. The Resolution Agreement spelled out what the district was to do in order to meet federal law. Fox's former law firm argued with ED OCR over some of the items that the district originally agreed to do which was negotiated by Fox's former law firm in the first place.

And, the Kansas City Office for Civil Rights has not completed the District Wide Compliance Review which was initiated in March 2010 which was investigating the practices of the Fox School District as to whether it was writing Individualized Health Plans for students instead of Section 504 Plans where students were qualified for Section 504. For those reasons, it's very easy to get the impression that school districts have been following federal law for years when in fact they have not.

A good example is when your school district is required to reinstate a Section 504 Plan that had been taken away 6 years earlier by the district's former assistant superintendent and Section 504 Coordinator. Fox's former Section 504 Coordinator was demoted after derogatory comments were traced to his home and the home of Fox's former superintendent who "retired" and who's husband was fired in 2014.

Advocating for what is right can be a very tedious and time consuming effort.

Educating parents, school board members and educators along the way will hopefully make it easier for anyone who has to navigate the 504 or IEP process or is put into the same situation. I quickly discovered that some lawyers will improperly train or mislead educators and school board members in order to support their agenda. 

You can certainly learn a lot about how to keep a watchful eye on your school district, MO DESE and the Office for Civil Rights when it takes years to get things corrected. Hopefully you won't have to.

Moving Forward with New Administration
Fox has many new administrators since the "retirement" of Fox's former superintendent in 2014 and the retirement incentive program ended in 2015. I think the district is headed in the right direction but it's going to take some time to rebuild that trust with the community. Only time will tell and having more watchful and aware citizens should help keep the district moving in a positive direction.

The Trial Tips Newsletter is a free weekly e-zine for trial lawyers published by Elliott Wilcox. I stumbled upon the Trial Tips Newsletter while preparing for a Due Process Hearing related to Section 504 issues with the Fox C-6 School District back in 2010 since we couldn't afford to pay $35,000 to $70,000 to hire a lawyer to represent us during a Due Process Hearing.

Early Complaint Resolution (2014)
After reading the recent Trial Tips article, "Trust Me... I'm a Lawyer!", the first thing that popped into my head was a comment made by the Lone Dell Elementary principal at the start of our Early Complaint Resolution (ECR) meeting with attorneys from the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (ED OCR) and a few Fox C-6 administrators and an attorney from the district's new law firm in August 2014.

ED OCR came to Fox to mediate the reinstatement of the Section 504 Plan that had been removed by Dan Baker, Fox's former Section 504 Coordinator, in September 2008. Yes, it really took 6 years to reinstate a Section 504 plan. It was helped by the fact that Fox had hired a new law firm and our former superintendent had "retired" and the fact that Fox's former Section 504 Coordinator had been demoted to a principal position in the district.

You may want to read the newsletter article prior to reading the next paragraph using the link below:

"Trust Me... I'm A Lawyer!"

Trial Tips Newsletter Article

The comment made by the Lone Dell Elementary principal in 2014 was, "And you all know, if anything, I'm honest to a fault." right before explaining why a document sent to us was different than the original document that was sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office for Civil Rights (USDA OCR) in 2013. The document sent to USDA OCR was used to close a complaint with USDA OCR that had been open since 2009. The comment made by the administrator above was similar to what was explained in the article, "Trust Me... I'm A Lawyer!".

That comment really stood out as the she continued to explain how there were multiple drafts of the same document and that the wrong one had been sent, etc., etc. We had seen plenty of "mistakes" over the years of final copies of documents that did not match the draft copies or not accurately reflecting what occurred during meetings. It was the same old stuff just a different day. It doesn't take too many of those occurrences for you to not believe what you are being told by school district attorneys, administrators and even people in the Kansas City ED OCR office. KC ED OCR responded for years with nonsense as to why this or that was never done or how they were still working on things, etc., etc..

That little mistake in sending the wrong document to the USDA OCR was well noted by the National Director of USDA OCR. Just a couple of months after USDA OCR closed the complaint in 2013 based upon the letter that Dan Baker sent acknowledging a disability, Dan Baker convened a 504 Team meeting under ED OCR rules and denied 504 eligibility again. We called and spoke with the Director of the USDA OCR in Washington, D.C about what was done. He told me that, "they lied to my face" when they sent out the letter that closed the complaint. He explained how he had phone calls with Dan Baker and Ernie Trakas regarding their acknowledgement. The Director of USDA OCR informed the district in a letter that by acknowledging a disability to one federal agency meant that person would be eligible under a different agency such as ED OCR since it was the same law.

Trust
is a fragile thing.
Easy to break, Easy to lose
and one of the hardest things
to ever get back.

When a "Plan" isn't a 504 Plan
The newsletter article reminded me of another statement made by the same administrator who said, "And you all know, if anything, I'm honest to a fault.". 

During a 504 meeting in 2008 when the district was working to remove the Section 504 plan she said, "Those were just my notes. Those weren't actionable items." when referencing "the plan" that she emailed to us documenting what the district planned to do prior to the start of the 2007-2008 school year.

We understood "the plan" that was emailed to us to be "actionable items". Especially, since many of the things on "the plan" had been implemented as listed. However, some of the items on the plan weren't implemented. Being told that the items on "the plan" were "just my notes" and "weren't actionable items" after the fact causes distrust. It also makes you question other things you're told by district officials.

The original "plan" that was emailed to us wasn't designated as a Section 504 Plan. That was the crux of the matter since the list of accommodations on "the plan" looked like and smelled like a 504 plan.

It certainly seemed reasonable to think that the items on "the plan" were actionable items. But, when I asked during that 504 meeting in 2008 why some of the things listed on "the plan" weren't followed, the district attorney attending that meeting, asked Dan Baker, if that was the "bulleted list" that I was referring to. It was easy to see that the attorney was already aware of that "bulleted list" aka "the plan".

When things aren't done properly in the first place, the attorney's work to rewrite history and give the appearance that things were done properly despite the facts.

Due Process Hearings are supposed to be "Fair and Impartial"
I had never been through a Due Process Hearing before so I started reading articles and books on the subject since we couldn't afford to spend $35,000 to $70,000 to hire a lawyer to represent us in a Due Process Hearing. That was the amounts quoted to us by several lawyers. So, it was a matter of getting up to speed quickly on Due Process Hearings. I found several articles on the Trial Tips Newsletter that were very helpful.

Another reason for not hiring a lawyer and representing ourselves, was the fact that the lawyers that we spoke with told us that the decision had already been made and that hiring them would be a waste of money. We were told that after we told them who was representing the district and the name of the attorney who was chosen by the district as the Due Process Hearing Officer. A Google search quickly revealed that the Due Process Hearing Officer chosen by the district just happened to be a former law associate of the attorney representing the district. What are the chances of that ever happening?

People are very quick at pointing out that it didn't seem like we would be getting a "Fair and Impartial" Due Process Hearing after finding out that the district had chosen a former law associate of the attorney representing the district. That's why we decided to drop the Due Process Hearing. We filed a complaint with ED OCR regarding the choice of the Due Process Hearing Officer. ED OCR said that the hearing officer responded to the complaint and said that he would be "fair and impartial". Not a trustworthy response given all of the deception and tactics used to get around Section 504.

We knew there was no chance of winning based upon attorneys comments and other cases I had researched. That's when Mr. Dan Baker stepped in and thought it would be good to go ahead and file a Due Process Hearing against us so the district could get some closure on the issue.

Why Fox Initiated Due Process Against Us

Below is a portion of the transcript of testimony given under oath by Dan Baker during our Due Process Hearing in May-June 2010.

Mr. Baker was questioned by the district's attorney as to why the school district decided to initiate Due Process against us.

Question (attorney): Now, recently did the district initiate its own due process against the Simpsons in relationship to the same issue that we're here for? 

Answer (Dan Baker): Yes, we did. 

Question (attorney): And can you explain to me why the district decided to initiate due process. 

Answer (Dan Baker): Yes. My thought was that there might be a chance that the parents, in my words, back out of the hearing that we're having now; and I just felt that getting some sort of resolution to this, some sort of legal vacuum to this other than going through the Office for Civil Rights, was definitely needed in this case. 

Question (attorney): And on what basis did you believe that the Simpsons might be canceling the hearing that was scheduled for this week? 

Answer (Dan Baker): Through correspondence that I had seen through the Office of Civil Rights asking about availability of dates.

You may be wondering why the district would want to spend tax payer dollars on legal fees to initiate Due Process against us since we were dropping our Due Process Hearing. We were too. But, after seeing our Due Process Hearing decision touted around the state by the former law firm as another case they had won in some of their seminars, we knew why. It was all about giving the illusion that the district was properly following the law.

Testifying in Jefferson City for SB 365

In May 2015, I was invited to testify in Jefferson City in front of the Elementary and Secondary Education Committee on a senate bill SB 365 sponsored by Missouri State Senator Eric Schmitt. The senate bill was proposed because lawmakers in our state were very aware of the amount of tax dollars being spent on legal fees to deny or remove IEP's and/or Section 504 plans from students in our state. I shared some of our story with the Senate Education Committee.

The Missouri School Boards Association (MSBA) and the School Administrators Coalition testified against SB 365.

It's well known that some attorneys are denying or removing IEP's or Section 504 plans from students on the front end and then litigating the matter on the back end when parents work to restore what was taken away. You only have the choice of filing for Due Process or filing a lawsuit in Civil Court after a Section 504 Plan has been removed and you disagree with the District's decision. It's a win-win for attorneys.

The District had no reason to initiate Due Process against us. However, it worked out well for the attorneys in legal fees. It should be noted that the same law firm initiated Due Process against a family in the Wentzville School District a few years ago even after the family had pulled their child from the school district and no longer attended school in the district. Wentzville wanted to get "closure" on the matter just like Fox wanted to in our case. That law firm no longer represents Fox C-6 or Wentzville.

Hopefully School Board Members Will Question More as Well
It's important to understand some of the tactics used by some administrators and attorneys representing school districts in our state so you know what you may be up against.

I spoke with several school board members over the years on the subject of honesty and integrity. One former school board member who was on the school board prior to 2008, told me that we would never get a Section 504 Plan after the school removed it. Another former board member told me that if the board didn't think they should have to do something (provide a Section 504 Plan), they were going to fight it. I guess that's why it was OK to keep approving all of those legal fees over the years.

Whose to blame? Attorneys from Fox's former law firm had been telling educators not to give students 504 Plans for food allergies even if they were eligible for one since at least 2005. I found a  a video presentation with a power point presentation that was posted on a law firm's website stating that position. The video had been recorded at the 2005 Annual School Law Seminar. There were also many students in our district who had been denied Section 504 Accommodation Plans for other medical disabilities as well. That's why the District has been undergoing a District Wide Compliance Review investigation since March 2010.

Great Book to Read

In 2010 while preparing for our Due Process Hearing, I also read a book that I found extremely helpful. It was titled, "Disability Deception: Lies Disability Educators Tell And How Parents Can Beat Them At Their Own Game".

The title of the book turned out to be very true after dealing with some of our district's administrators and attorneys representing the district back then. I spoke with the author for quite some time and shared some of our experiences with her. We also talked about the lack of enforcement by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (ED OCR). She was very aware of that problem as well.

The book Disability Deception is intended for parents and advocates who have students who need or require an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). But, much of that information can be applied to dealing with educators/administrators related to Section 504 law.

If you have a child with special needs or a child who has an IEP and you are having troubles dealing with your school district, I highly recommend reading the book which was published back in 2007. I have loaned out my paperback copy to several parents over the past several years. You can find the Kindle edition of "Disability Deception" on Amazon using the link below:

Disability Deception:

Lies Disability Educators Tell and How Parents Can Beat Them At Their Own Game 

JoAnn Collins published another book in 2014 which I have not read, titled: "Slaying Special Education Dragons".

Hopefully a few people will find this article educational about some of the tactics used to get around federal laws like Section 504. It's simply amazing the amount of time and money that was spent trying to get around the law over the years.

Reports to the President and Secretary of Education
ED OCR has a new policy in that they post Resolution Agreements and District Wide Compliance Reviews on their website now so the public and other school districts can learn from their findings. Hopefully, Fox's District Wide Compliance Review that has been open for the past 6+ years will be available on their website in the next several months.

You can read about the new policy at ED OCR in the recently released report by the Office for Civil Rights to the President and Secretary of Education using the link below:

2015 Office for Civil Rights Report to the President and Secretary of Education

Tracking Down TROOP From TOPIX.COM! - (Reposted)

The following article that's posted below was originally written and posted on the FoxC6Watchdogs blog on Saturday March 15, 2014. However, I pulled it down on Monday March 17 at the request of our attorney because he didn't want to "let the cat out of the bag" just yet. However, as you read about the timing of my article and the timing of former Fox C-6 superintendent Dianne Critchlow's FMLA leave, there's good reason to believe that my article did "let the cat out of the bag" so to speak back then.

My original article was written the day after I learned that our attorney had been able to obtain the IP addresses from the TOPIX.COM website for many of the defamatory and libelous posts that had been made about me and others. It may be difficult for others to understand the adrenaline rush of knowing that after several years of online bullying that the person or persons responsible for making the defamatory posts would finally be known.

My original article contained a "how to" for using Google to quickly search for posts made on specific TOPIX threads using their unique thread ID and specific keywords. I recommend reading that section because you can apply the same technique for finding things that are much more productive than trying to track down libelous posts.

My original article was written in order to teach others how to quickly and easily do their own digital archaeological digging into the TOPIX.COM website. Knowing how to locate specific posts by keyword and unique thread ID that were written over the last several years can save you a lot of time in reading since there were numerous TOPIX threads related to the Fox C-6 School District on TOPIX. So it's good to know how to narrow your search to a specific thread. It appeared that many of the defamatory posts had been made by only a few individuals based on their language and keywords used.

When I originally wrote the article in March 2014, I didn't have any solid evidence as to where the defamatory comments were coming from but I had a very good idea. It wasn't until May 2014 that it was finally revealed to the public via the news that my suspicions were proven correct. That's also when everyone learned that there were several individuals involved in making defamatory comments.

What A Coincidence!
One of the really interesting things that I thought was such a coincidence back in March 2014 was the fact that Dianne Critchlow took Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave right around the same time that my article was published. In fact, there was a school board meeting on Tuesday March 18, 2014 right after my article was posted and former Fox C-6 superintendent Dianne Critchlow was suspiciously absent from that board meeting because she was on FMLA leave.

Critchlow had posted on her Twitter account that she would be taking FMLA leave. She has since deleted her Twitter account so I can't provide a link to her original post.

It certainly made me think that perhaps my article may have lead to Critchlow needing to take FMLA leave knowing that whoever had been posting on TOPIX as TROOP was going to eventually be discovered.

So, was it just a coincidence that former Fox C-6 superintendent Dianne Critchlow decided to take FMLA leave right around the time that this article was first published?

It definitely makes you wonder, doesn't it?

On March 20, 2014, I wrote an article documenting the fact that Fox C-6 Assistant Superintendent Tim Crutchley filled in for then Superintendent Dianne Critchlow because she was out on FMLA leave. Tim Crutchley thanked outgoing school board members Linda Nash and Dan Smith at that meeting and presented them with small thank you gifts for their service to the Fox C-6 School District.

Since March of 2014 we've learned a lot about who was behind the posts. It's been documented via a subpoena to TOPIX that the IP address for the very first post made by someone calling themselves TROOP 5 OR 6 was traced back to the home of Dianne and Jamie Critchlow. It's good to know and be able to document that my suspicions were correct all along.

Our lawsuit against "John Doe" has finally named names and has been served to all of those named in the suit. It has certainly took a lot longer than I ever thought it would to get to this point. It's even more understandable now as to why there was so much effort to silence any critics of our district.

Anyway, this was one of my favorite articles to date that I had written back then because I knew that the information needed to track down the person or persons responsible for making defamatory comments about me and others would finally be known. So I was definitely disappointed in having to remove it from my blog back then.

Hopefully republishing this article will help educate others as to why you should always choose your words carefully and thoughtfully before making disparaging remarks in online forums. You're not as anonymous as you may think you are!

I only made a couple of typographical and grammatical corrections to the article before republishing it. Otherwise, the article is being reposted as it was originally written and posted on the FoxC6Watchdogs blog on March 15, 2014. I also changed the color of the hyperlinks to red to make them stand out more. The title of this article is also the original title of the article with the exception of the "(Reposted)".

Below is the article that I originally posted on Saturday March 15, 2014 on the FoxC6Watchdogs blog.


Tracking Down TROOP From TOPIX.COM!
It doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes to have a pretty good idea who the person might be that was calling himself TROOP on the TOPIX.COM forum last year. Now, that a subpoena has been filed with TOPIX to obtain IP addresses for TROOP's posts or "TROOP like" posts, it will be interesting to see if my assumptions and the assumptions of many others turns out to be true.

If my assumptions are accurate, it will be interesting to see how things turn out for TROOP and those who have been protecting TROOP. TROOP 18 stated that he was an employee of the Fox C-6 School District on March 23, 2013 when he wrote:

Dear quintet of opponents... the threat of physical violence isn't tolerated nor even funny.. The fact that you are now all clearly visable and completely exposed does not favor you. The employees of this district have had enough and will faithfully defend their administration and board.(employed and loyal). If you want to go redneck Hoosier on this...all loyal employees will gladly find a place and time. Trust me, there are hundreds of us. Talk is cheap. As is your posts

TROOP attacked just about anyone who criticized Superintendent Critchlow or the school board and even threatened those who dared to speak at school board meetings.

TROOP Was Very Emotionally Connected to Superintendent Critchlow

For those who don't know, TROOP (5 or 6, 11 or 18) was an anonymous poster on the TOPIX.COM forum who appeared last year after learning that signs had been posted around the Fox C-6 School District about Superintendent Dianne Critchlow. I think that someone would have to be very emotionally attached to Superintendent Critchlow in order to write the things that TROOP wrote on TOPIX over the course of a couple of months last year. He was apparently very attached to Superintendent Critchlow's husband's ex-wife as well based upon his many attacks on her as well.

I never saw any of the signs, but since I've been considered a long time critic of Superintendent Critchlow and some of our school board members who have taken advantage of their position, I was immediately and falsely targeted by the person calling himself TROOP 5 or 6 as the person who had posted the signs.

I was definitely confused when I read TROOP 5 or 6's first post on January 24, 2013 because I didn't know anything about any signs that had been posted in the district. I go to school board meetings and email our school board members. I document school district issues on this blog and on Twitter. I don't hang signs!

However, it's good to know that others in our district have strong opinions about the problems caused by Superintendent Critchlow.

I always take the the high road when it comes to accomplishing my goals of cleaning up our school district. I've been providing facts and documentation for years to our school board about problems in the district but they've done nothing.

I've shared my information with others in our school district and for that Superintendent Critchlow sent me a Cease and Desist letter. I guess that's what superintendents do when they don't want the community to know the truth about what's been going on behind the scenes in their school district.

TROOP's assumptions that I was involved in posting signs was incorrect. The person who was posting signs and driving around the school district with them in the back of his truck was eventually discovered and he was sent a Cease and Desist letter as well for his efforts.

TROOP stepped way over the line with his very first post when he falsely accused me of being the person making and hanging the signs in our school district and posted that information online. TROOP also blamed another person that had spoken at a school board meeting and criticized our school district leadership.

The really sad thing is that TROOP made his accusations based upon information that could only have come from a school teacher at Lone Dell Elementary School. The comments that TROOP made in his first post came from a teacher wondering why a student appeared tired that day. The teacher apparently found out about the signs and made a very incorrect assumption that I was behind the signs and then told her principal or Superintendent Critchlow. That teacher's incorrect assumption somehow made it to TROOP.

It's quite easy to see that there are a few people in our school district who don't like me for documenting facts and asking questions about what's been going on in our school district over the last several years. That causes them to make incorrect assumptions about my character and how I work to resolve issues. 

It certainly leaves a lot of doubt about some of the people running our school district when they tout everywhere that Fox C-6 is a National District of Character when some of it's school leaders and staff act the way they do because they don't like people pointing out issues and concerns within our district.

I certainly had no idea what TROOP was talking about when I read his first post as TROOP 5 or 6 while at a basketball practice. But, I knew right away that TROOP had made assumptions that were wrong and he was making libelous comments that stepped way over the line. I had a pretty good guess as to who TROOP might be right away based on his language.

As TROOP continued to post comment after comment, he was making it easier and easier to narrow down the possibilities of who he might be. Very few people had access to the information that TROOP was posting online and knew the people to whom he was directing his comments.

Only a few people in the Fox C-6 Central Office could have known the information that TROOP was posting. So how did TROOP get his information? Did TROOP work in the Central Office or was he the spouse of someone who worked in the Central Office?

It didn't take too long for people who read and posted on TOPIX to start guessing who TROOP might be. Once they started to put two and two together and making suggestions as to who TROOP might be, TROOP went silent. TROOP didn't post for quite a while as TROOP after he posted on March 23, 2013 when he claimed to be a Fox C-6 employee.

TROOP made a revealing post on February 7, 2013 when he wrote, "Now, I will say this. From what I have heard there will be some sparks flying very soon for a few of you. Cue evil monster laugh...". 

TROOP's comment was made just a few days before a couple of other citizens in the district were sent Cease and Desist letters from the school district attorney for Superintendent Critchlow. Superintendent Critchlow or someone close to Superintendent Critchlow provided information to TROOP about the Cease and Desist letters. The school board members weren't aware that Cease and Desist letters had been sent out. TROOP must have a very close relationship with Superintendent Critchlow if he knew about the Cease and Desist letters before they were received by the individuals.

TROOP's comments focused on only a few people that he felt was criticizing Superintendent Dianne Critchlow and the school board. He focused on me and 2 others who had spoken at school board meetings; the person that was posting signs in the district; and Superintendent Critchlow's husband's ex-wife.

Who in the general public would care about Superintendent Critchlow's husband's ex-wife and make derogatory comments about her while making derogatory comments about people who spoke at board meetings?

Eventually, TROOP knew that I wasn't involved with the making of the signs after the person that was making them was sent a Cease and Desist letter. But, he was mad enough about the signs to blame them on me because he knew who I was.

TROOP went way too far with many of his comments and people called him out for doing so. Three of us that were bullied online and maliciously attacked by TROOP for bringing problems in the district to the attention of the school board filed a "John Doe" lawsuit last year against the person calling himself TROOP. The lawsuit has been filed and subpoenas were recently sent to TOPIX to obtain the IP addresses. 

Everyone should know by now that they aren't truly anonymous when they post online. I posted 18 comments on the TOPIX website between October 2010 and January 2011. I posted facts about issues going on in the Fox C-6 School District after finding the Fox High School Superintendent thread on TOPIX while doing a search for information about our district.

I was falsely blamed many times for posting comments on TOPIX over the last 3 years under different names. Superintendent Critchlow would like to think that I stooped to TROOP's level. I post facts and documents. TROOP attacked people for what they looked like and made defamatory and derogatory comments about people that warrants an immediate dismissal as an educator and a revoking of their teaching certificate.

If Superintendent Critchlow has been protecting TROOP as some have posted online, then the school board should have good cause for termination. Once all of this comes to light, our school board will have even more Public Relations problems to deal with.

The last post I made on TOPIX was a link to Mr. Critchlow's resume that he had posted on his LinkedIn account while looking for a coaching job in Texas. Mr. Critchlow removed his LinkedIn account shortly after I posted the link to his resume. My post asked why his resume didn't show any previous teaching experience. My post on TOPIX to his LinkedIn resume was deleted sometime after his LinkedIn account was deleted.

Supporters of Superintendent Critchlow and the board have been attacking me online for more than 3 years because I've been vocal about the problems in our school district.

Since people know who I am, they have a name to attack or bully me online because they can. I guess they think that they can say whatever they want anonymously and not get caught. But, it's just a matter of time.

One thing you'll notice is the language that TROOP uses over and over. He's so consistent that it also makes it very likely that TROOP was the same person that posted on TOPIX in December 2010 just one week after I first spoke at a school board meeting. TROOP may have also been the same person who was criticizing parents of Seckman High School students and defending the football coach at Seckman High School on another thread. You should search for and read some of the posts.

It's easy to find TROOP's posts because of the language he uses. He uses the word "inbred" quite often in his posts along with other words that I won't mention here. The word "inbred" was also used in the December 20, 2010 post that appeared after I spoke at the December 2010 board meeting.

At the 2010 board meeting, I asked our school board questions about their hiring practices. I asked them how they could have hired and promoted a person to a Director position who had only worked for the district for a couple of months and had been fired from a previous job for a DWI. I received no response from the school board in December 2010 but my questions provoked a response on TOPIX.

In December 2010 I found it strange that someone would post libelous comments on TOPIX.COM about me and my parents by naming me by my first name and inferring my last name by using TV character names for my parents first names. I guess that made the person making the comments feel pretty smart about themselves and think that their comments wouldn't be libelous if they didn't name me directly.

The post made on TOPIX on December 20, 2010 was made just two days before an article was published in the Arnold-Imperial Leader newspaper by Kim Robertson who had interviewed Mr. Jamie Critchlow. Jamie Critchlow is Fox C-6 Superintendent Dianne Critchlow's husband. The article discussed Mr. Critchlow's DWI arrest in Tyler, Texas and his being fired from Tyler Community College where he was the head football coach. The article also mentioned that I was at the school board meeting asking the school board questions about a person who had been hired by the district and promoted to a job paying $98,859 after only a couple of months working for the district.

Board member Cheryl Herman told me at the meeting to call the Central Office so I could be put in touch with someone who would be able to answer my questions. She obviously didn't understand that my question was meant for the school board. They were the ones who had approved the hiring of the individual. My questions were not intended for our school district administrators. The school board approved the hiring. That's why I was asking the board.

I asked the board at the time how they could promote someone to a position if they didn't have the certifications required for the position. I wanted to know how the school board could justify paying someone a salary of $98,859 to someone who had only worked for the district for 2 months after being hired as a Behavior Intervention Support Teacher and an assistant football coach.

I never received a response from our school board to my Public Comment questions after the December 2010 school board meeting. My comments were documented in the December 2010 board meeting minutes as "Concerns with the district". I don't believe Superintendent Critchlow wanted the public to know what my "concerns" were in the board meeting minutes. That's how Superintendent Critchlow can keep the public in the dark.

I received an email response in May 2011 from Superintendent Brown (now Critchlow) informing me that Mr. Critchlow was certified by MO DESE. She said that he didn't make the $98,859 that I claimed that he made, even though MO DESE records from data supplied by Fox C-6 documented his salary as $98,859 in their Core data. It also seemed as if Superintendent Brown took offense to my questions about Mr. Critchlow at the time. I don't know if her being offended had anything to do with the fact that she's now married to Jamie Critchlow or not.

It just seemed odd that someone out of the blue would post derogatory and libelous comments about me on TOPIX just prior to an article being written in the Leader newspaper about Jamie Critchlow. It was also odd that since there were only 8 people in attendance at the December 2010 school board meeting besides the Board of Education and Central Office administrators that anyone in the general public would even known that I had spoken at the board meeting besides those in attendance. People certainly didn't find out what I talked about from board meeting minutes. Back then, board meeting minutes weren't posted until after the next board meeting plus they only documented that I had "Concerns with the district".

So who could have been that upset to post the comments like those posted TOPIX on December 20, 2010?

It's definitely going to be interesting to see what turns up for the IP Addresses from the subpoena to TOPIX.COM. The findings may wake up the Fox C-6 community a bit more as to what's been going on in our school district for at least the last 5 or 6 years.

So how can you find some of the things that were posted on TOPIX.COM?

The easiest and quickest way is to use some of TROOP 5 or 6 or TROOP 11 or one of his other aliases favorite words in a Google search string like I've shown below. Using the Google search keyword site: allows you to restrict the domain name to TOPIX.COM (ie. site:TOPIX.COM).

Next you can add in the unique TOPIX thread identifier like the ones shown below to restrict the searches to a specific thread such as the Nepotism on Fox School Board thread or the Fox High School Superintendent thread or the Why Can't Fox and Seckman High Schools Win Football Games? thread as shown below:

TP57P8GF2PEQBL909 - Nepotism on Fox School Board

TUT6OGLPV1RMEEEO2 - Fox High School Superintendent

TG61O48KVPSPHOPUG‎ - Why Can't Fox and Seckman High Schools Win Football Games?

Next add in one of TROOP's favorite words that he used quite often such as "inbred", "dumba$$", "fat", "$hit", "nimrod", "a$$es", "disgruntled", "hags", "rejects", "tards", "demented", etc. to find some of the posts made by TROOP or those that used similar language.

TROOP also liked to make direct attacks towards me quite often so you can always use Simpson as another search word to see what a Fox C-6 employee who has adopted the Character Education Program thinks about people who bring concerns to our school board.

Here are some example google searches that you can use to find specific posts on TOPIX.COM:

Nepotism on Fox School Board

site:TOPIX.COM TP57P8GF2PEQBL909 inbred

site:TOPIX.COM TP57P8GF2PEQBL909 dumba$$

site:TOPIX.COM TP57P8GF2PEQBL909 fat

site:TOPIX.COM TP57P8GF2PEQBL909 disgruntled
site:TOPIX.COM TP57P8GF2PEQBL909 hags

site:TOPIX.COM TP57P8GF2PEQBL909 nimrod

site:TOPIX.COM TP57P8GF2PEQBL909 rejects

site:TOPIX.COM TP57P8GF2PEQBL909 tards
site:TOPIX.COM TP57P8GF2PEQBL909 demented

site:TOPIX.COM TP57P8GF2PEQBL909 $hit

Fox High School Superintendent

site:TOPIX.COM TUT6OGLPV1RMEEEO2 redneckery

site:TOPIX.COM TUT6OGLPV1RMEEEO2 inbred

site:TOPIX.COM TUT6OGLPV1RMEEEO2 dumba$$

site:TOPIX.COM TUT6OGLPV1RMEEEO2 fat

site:TOPIX.COM TUT6OGLPV1RMEEEO2 a$$es

Why Can't Fox and Seckman High Schools Win Football Games?

site:TOPIX.COM TG61O48KVPSPHOPUG inbred

Take note of the Locations listed on a lot of the posts that were made by TROOP and others using similar language. They typically came from Columbia, MO, Arnold, MO and United States (school possibly based on other posts). It's interesting to analyze the data when your tracking down those people who are anonymously attacking you and making false statements about you and others.

The post made by "redneckery" on December 20, 2010 a week after I spoke at the December 2010 school board meeting uses two of TROOP's favorite words, "inbred" and "dumba$$".

I wonder if it was just a coincidence or were they posted by the same person?

The original post from "redneckery" in December 2010 was deleted after I requested the IP information from TOPIX for the post.  I specifically asked TOPIX NOT to delete the post. Luckily, someone quoted the post on December 21, 2010 prior to the original post being deleted so it can still be found online.

TROOP and whoever else uses the same words as TROOP left a very nice trail of evidence for the Fox C-6 community to get a good idea of who TROOP might be.

Just recently, TROOP or someone using the same language as TROOP posted anonymously using the pseudonym of Nope and Milk sprayed from nose on January 28, 2014 on the Nepotism on Fox School Board thread using one of TROOP's favorite words, "inbred".

The comments made by TROOP and other pseudonyms over the last several years certainly demonstrate to the Fox C-6 community the incredible lack of commitment that some of our district employees have made to the Character Education Program as a National District of Character that's documented in our school district's Policies and Regulations.

A Look At Similar Problems Across the Country!

I thought it might be interesting to do some research to see if I could find any other school districts across the country that have had similar problems like we've been experiencing here in the Fox C-6 School District.

It turns out that there are quite a few school districts that have had the same if not similar problems with their administration and school boards. Many of them tend to have very similar themes. Also, many times the abuse of power and wrongdoing had been occurring for many years before the problems were discovered or brought to light.

Reviewing some of these cases will give you an idea of what they looked for and what they uncovered during state audits. It also gives you an idea as to how long it took before they filed charges if they found wrongdoing as well as what the charges were.

For several of the cases, it took between 6 months to a year before an indictment was issued after the findings of the state audit were released. That seems like an eternity knowing that the state audit of the Fox C-6 school district could take up to a year to complete.

One of the best reports I found was a March 2013 video and written audit report posted by the Kentucky state auditor's office of the Dayton Independent School District. The press conference video is an excellent presentation. The case bears many similarities to what's been uncovered so far in our district. I highly recommend watching the entire video. 

The Kentucky state auditor did an excellent job describing what they uncovered during their audit of the Dayton school district. The Dayton superintendent who had been in charge for nearly 15 years bullied and intimidated staff members responsible for issuing checks and reimbursements if they questioned him. The Kentucky state auditor noted during the press conference that there was culture of deceit and entitlement and a lack of transparency and disclosure to both the public and the board.

Listen to the March 7, 2013 Kentucky State Auditor's Report

of the Dayton Independent School District

Watch the March 7, 2013 Kentucky State Auditor's Report
of the Dayton Independent School District 

I certainly hope that Missouri State Auditor Tom Schweich and his audit team watch the press conference as well. Kentucky State Auditor Adam Edelen did an excellent job of informing the taxpayers of what he planned to recover and why it was so important to recover the funds. He stated that they worked with the FBI and forwarded their findings to the Kentucky State Teacher's Retirement System.

The Kentucky state auditor mentions the Hobbs Act which is a U.S. Federal Law enacted in 1946 and is frequently used in cases of public corruption. It's codified in 18 U.S.C. § 1951.

There had only been 139 views of the press conference when I found the video. The number of views will most likely increase as more people learn about it. 

Further down in this article I provide links to more news stories related to the Dayton Independent School District audit and the resulting indictment of the school Superintendent. I also posted links to a couple more cases from other school districts.

Some Common Problems Found In State Audits

Below is a list of some of the problems often discovered during state audits. Fairly often superintendents were found double dipping on mileage and filing false reimbursement requests. They were also found using district credit cards for personal purchases. Do any of those problems sound familiar?

• Lack of transparency and disclosure to both the public and the board
• Salary compensations not matching board approved contracts
• Sometimes there were cultures of deception that misled board and or finance department
• Intimidation or bullying staff members responsible for issuing checks and reimbursements
• Lack of oversight by the school board or finance departments
• District credit cards were used to purchase meals and items for personal use
• Lavish "Professional Development" trips
• Use of school funds / public money for personal use
• Fraudulent reimbursement requests made for purchases or expenses
• Requesting reimbursements for mileage and gas or double dipping
• School boards "rubber stamping" expenses and payments

Example Cases From Across the Country

Below are a few examples of cases found across the country using Google searching with the following keywords: superintendent indictment

Dayton Independent School District

A small school district in Kentucky near Cincinnati was audited and found to have problems. The results of the audit were turned over to the FBI as well as the Kentucky State Teachers Retirement System. It was the school district's new superintendent that appears to have reported the problem after finding financial irregularities when he took over after the former superintendent retired.

Kentucky State Auditor Adam Edelen said that the abuse was personally offensive to him and would offend every Kentuckian. He stated that there was a culture of deceit and entitlement. He said the rank and file staff at Dayton were frightened to do the right thing. It was a culture in which you could be punished for doing the right thing. (23:30)

The former Dayton superintendent received $224,000 in benefits and payments over an eight-year period that was not authorized by the school board or obtained from false reimbursements or fraud.

Plans To Recoup Taxpayer Dollars
Listen to what the Dayton school district plans to do to recoup taxpayer dollars at 27:15 in the video. Below is the 3 fold method that the Dayton school district planned to follow in order to recover their funds:

• Pursue a claim directly against the former superintendent.
• Pursue a claim against the independent auditor under their professional negligence.
• Pursue claims against the insurance company who insures the district against employee theft.

Listen to the last 10 seconds of the press conference to hear what the Kentucky State Auditor says about being a "taxpayer watchdog".

Listen to the March 7, 2013 Kentucky State Auditor's Report

of the Dayton Independent School District

Watch the March 7, 2013 Kentucky State Auditor's Report
of the Dayton Independent School District 

The state auditor commented that the former superintendent intimidated staff members responsible for issuing checks if they questioned him. The auditor stated that you cannot police power when you are subservient to those who have the power. The auditor stated that they never had a chance of meaningful oversight of the superintendent who was committed to enriching himself at public expense.

March 2013 Kentucky State Auditor's Written Report

In November 2013, a press release was issued for the Dayton Independent School District stating that $511,000 in taxpayer dollars would be recovered by the school district.

November 21, 2013 - WKRC News Report

Former School Superintendent Steals Hundreds of Thousands from District

November 21, 2013 - KY State Auditor's Press Release
announcing recovery of funds for
Dayton Independent School District

In December 2013, the former Dayton superintendent of schools pleaded guilty to embezzlement. on May 14, 2014 the former Dayton superintendent was sentenced to 2 years in federal prison.

December 2, 2013 - WCPO News Report

Former Superintendent of Dayton

Admits to Embezzlement

April 22, 2014 - WCPO News Report

Former Dayton Superintendent sentenced to two years

in Federal Prison for embezzlement

April 7, 2014 - Letter to Judge Bunning

from former Dayton Superintendent Jack Moreland

regarding indicted former Superintendent Gary Rye

May 14, 2014 - WKRC News Report

Former Dayton Superintendent sentenced

to two years for embezzlement

Mason County Kentucky

In Mason County Kentucky, their superintendent of schools was indicted following the release of an October 2012 state audit report of the school district. The findings released in the report resulted in the superintendent's retirement in October 2012. He had served the school district since 1997. The news story below reports that the abuse of the public trust in Kentucky is a class C felony, punishable by 5-10 years imprisonment if convicted.

The Mason County report found nearly $200,000 in expenditures made by the superintendent, six district employees and five board members that appeared to be excessive, lacked supporting documentation or had no clear business purpose or did not go through the district's approval process.

May 2013 - Former Mason County Superintendent Indicted

Cincinnati Superintendent and Treasurer Indicted

The Ohio state auditor started investigating the superintendent after an anonymous tip was sent to the state auditor's office in 2006 about credit card abuse. The tip lead to an investigation regarding non-school related expenses and employee compensations to see if they matched board approved amounts.

March 2013 Ohio State Auditor Press Release
of Cincinnati Charter School Investigation

The Paper Trail Keeps Growing!

It's evident from the small amount of information that's been uncovered so far that every single credit card purchase made by several of Fox C-6's administrators on their district credit cards will have to be reviewed and scrutinized. The charges placed on the Discover card of other district employees will have to be reviewed as well. It's well documented that Dianne Critchlow used other district cards for purchase as well.

It's not just enough to look at a single charge from a hotel. Each of the charges on the hotel bill itself must be scrutinized as well. The Hard Rock Hotel invoices have charges for restaurants, ice cream, hot dogs and parking charged to their rooms.

You can review the charges from the Hard Rock Hotel invoices from the June 2013 Marzano Conference in Orlando using the link below. None of the meal charges and parking fees were documented in the Leader or on the recent You Paid For It! news story:

June 2013 Hard Rock Hotel Receipts

Federal Dollars For Professional Development
Title II Professional Development Funds can be used as "incentives" to train and recruit high quality teachers and principals. Fox used the "incentive" funds for fun getaways and everyday meals. Those seem like great incentives.

Professional development is how many of the charges were explained and we've been told there are explanations for every charge!

Just because there are explanations doesn't necessarily make them valid. I've been searching and reading documents concerning allowable and unallowable uses of Title II Professional Development funds. Food could be an incentive. But, I'm not sure that it truly qualifies as Professional Development when eating at McDonald's.

You can read more about Title II and Professional Development subgrants from the U.S Department of Education here:

Title II: Preparing Training and Recruiting High Quality Teachers and Principals 

More Demands for Repayment
Last Friday I was emailed a copies of more Demand for Repayment letters that were sent to former Fox C-6 superintendent Dianne Critchlow. One of them had a copy of a receipt from McDonald's for lunch that was purchased on Saturday April 5, 2014 while she was on Family Medical Leave. The McDonald's receipt was documented as Professional Development.

The demand letter from Fox's CFO had the following comment regarding the McDonald's receipt:

District records indicate that you were on FMLA during that timeframe. So, on a Saturday while you were on FMLA you supposedly engaged in a professional development activity that justified the purchase of food from McDonald's at District expense. Frankly, there is nothing believable about that scenario.

The above comment sums up a lot of what's been done and said by Dianne Critchlow while she was superintendent of Fox C-6. Many things were not believable. There is plenty of documentation to back that up.

September 30, 2014 Demand for Repayment Letter to Dianne Critchlow for Golf Tournament and McDonald's Professional Development Lunch

Every Credit Card Charge Must Be Reviewed

Because Critchlow shattered the trust of the taxpayers, we must look at each and every purchase to determine how much taxpayer dollars were used for her own personal use. Just looking at the April 2014 VISA statement included in the demand letter above, there are multiple charges that are questionable.

Why would Critchlow be shopping at Hobby Lobby with her District credit card while on FMLA?

I don't have the exact dates for her FMLA but it was only 2 days before the McDonald's meal which was documented as being purchased while she was on FMLA.

Critchlow went shopping at the South County Wireless Freedom store the day before she ate at McDonald's. What did she purchase there? Was it more cellular phone cases or spare batteries? We'll need to see that receipt as well.

Then you have to wonder what she purchased at Hobby Lobby and Walmart for more than $240+ dollars that were used for school. What are on those receipts?

Those purchases are similar to the ones at Target in December 2011 when she purchased the Nikon 1 digital camera, spare lens, battery and memory cards right before her daughter's wedding. There's really no telling as to how much taxpayer dollars were spent on personal use items.

The charges listed below are the charges that were listed on Dianne Critchlow's April 21, 2014 VISA card statement:

• 04/03/2014 - Hobby Lobby        - $89.14 (For what?)
• 04/04/2014 - Wireless Freedom - $79.19 (cell phone cases/batteries?)
• 04/05/2014 - Shell Oil                - $85.06  (Yukon has a 31 gallontank)
• 04/05/2014 - McDonald's           - $11.79 (Professional Development?)
• 04/11/2014 - Walmart                - $152.00 (Gift cards?)
• 04/14/2014 - Panera Bread        - $31.19 (More PDC?)
• 04/17/2014 - Shell Oil               - $45.37

Critchlow didn't make that many purchases on her district VISA card in April 2014 compared to other months. But, every receipt must be reviewed and scrutinized because trust has been lost and everything must be questioned.

Critchlow was quoted as saying that she welcomed an audit. Perhaps she thought a State Audit would be similar to a Dan Jones & Associates audit which just samples some data to see if things look OK. This State Audit report should be an eye opener compared to the 2002 audit.

Critchlow had already been informed by her Internet Service Provider in April 2014 that her name and address was being provided due to a law suit for libelous and derogatory comments that had been linked to computers in her home.

Everyone seems to be amazed as to how bold Critchlow was in her spending of taxpayer dollars for personal use. You get the impression that she thought that no one would ever see or review the credit card statements. She certainly wasn't supplying the credit card statements to the school board as required by District policy. She tried to charge me $170 to get copies of them per my April 2014 Sunshine Request knowing that I wouldn't pay for data that should have already been provided to the school board for free.

Have you found yourself shaking your head side to side lately in disbelief?

I think almost everyone has. Just watch someone when they start reading an article in the paper or on this blog or on the news to see if they do what so many have been doing lately of shaking their head in disbelief.

For more unbelievable information, check out Dianne Critchlow's Amazon.com orders that she had shipped directly to her house. The receipts are listed in the demand letter below:

October 3, 2014 Demand for Repayment Letter for Amazon.com Purchases

Below is a copy of the Demand for Repayment Letter sent to Dianne Critchlow for the After Football Game Party she threw for Administrators and charged to Professional Development:

October 2, 2014 Demand for Repayment Letter for Qdoba Mexican Grill Party Food!

It's going to take a long time to go through all of the receipts and recoup taxpayer money. What a waste of time!