Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Fox C-6 Announces New Superintendent Dr. James Wipke

Dr. James Wipke was announced as the next superintendent of the Fox C-6 School District at last night's board of education meeting. Dr. Wipke will officially start on July 1, 2015. Dr. Wipke is currently working in the Rockwood School District.

I have received emails and messages from friends and family that are either friends with Dr. Wipke or have had children in school where he was principal. They all spoke very highly of him.

The committee members and Fox C-6 board of education made an excellent choice in choosing Dr. James Wipke.

I introduced myself to Dr. Wipke after the meeting and told him that I had received an email from a mutual friend that spoke very highly of him and that I look forward to working with him. I mentioned that I had been working for many years to improve the transparency in our district and that things had improved.

Dr. Wipke spoke about fear in his presentation. I told him that some of the fear in our district was due to the lack of transparency and not knowing what was going on in the district.

Dr. Wipke also stated during his presentation that he wants the community to hold him accountable.

Everyone in the Fox C-6 community should listen to his presentation that I have posted below:





Below is a copy of the email that was sent to all of the parents and staff in the Fox C-6 School District announcing Dr. Wipke's selection.

Dear Parents and Families:

The Fox C-6 School District Board of Education is pleased to announce that Dr. James Wipke has been hired as Superintendent for the 2015-2016 school year.  Dr. Wipke currently serves as Executive Director of Secondary Education for Rockwood School District, a position he has held since 2011.

“We are excited to fill the superintendent’s post with a person of Dr. Wipke’s caliber,” stated Board President John Laughlin.  “Our board was favorably impressed with all the candidates we considered, and highly impressed with the candidates we interviewed.  Dr. Wipke’s accomplishments and educational achievements make him the perfect candidate for the job.”

Dr. Wipke received his BS degree from Harris-Stowe State College.  He has a MA degree in Education, and a MA degree in Administration.  His doctorate degree from Maryville University is in Educational Leadership.

During his 22 years in education, Dr. Wipke has served as an elementary and middle school teacher in the Rockwood School District, a middle school assistant principal in the Parkway School District, a middle and high school principal and Executive Director of Secondary Education in the Rockwood School District.

“Dr. Wipke has the education, experience, strength of character, and vision to lead the Fox School District into the future,” said John Laughlin.  “We look forward to a smooth transition and are anxious for Dr. Wipke to meet the students, teachers, parents, staff and the entire Fox Schools community.”

Dr. Wipke will be introduced at the Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, November 18, 2014.  Please join in welcoming Dr. Wipke to Fox C-6 School District.

John Laughlin,
President, Fox School District Board of Education
 
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Costly Lessons Learned on Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Program

Last night's Fox C-6 school board agenda was changed after the board learned that they did not have to vote on approving Early Retirement or Early Separation agreements with employees. Per the district attorney, once the offer is made to an employee and the offer is accepted the district has a contract with the employee. This was explained in CFO John Brazeal's Voluntary Separation Incentive Program response that he sent me on Monday November 17, 2014 which I posted in yesterday's article.

It wasn't until after I had written about the changes made at the November 3, 2014 workshop to the VSIP program that Mr. Brazeal began looking into how the changes came about to the policy since my information appeared inaccurate. That's because Mr. Brazeal had been provided with the most recent version of the plan which hadn't been updated on the website. My research into the issue was based on what was currently known to the public. That's how the VSIP response came about that I wrote about yesterday and linked to below.

That being said, the changes to remove the 10 Years of Service requirement to the Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Program were made in February 2014. The 10 Years of Service requirement language had been removed at the same time that the upper limit was removed when former superintendent Dianne Critchlow presented the changes to the board. Fox's former legal counsel had informed the board that the upper limit was discriminatory and that it needed to be removed.

This is another example of how lack of transparency makes it very easy for the administration to manipulate the board and the public. The board nor the public were provided proper time to review the changes made to policies prior to the board meeting or workshop.

By not providing documents to board members days in advance for review made it very easy for former Fox C-6 superintendent Dianne Critchlow to get changes approved with little to no review.

That's why the board is "taking a serious look" at it's options as quoted in today's Post Dispatch article posted below. This should not have taken place but it did. It occurred on numerous occasions over the years and that's why I was continually pressing to make the board packets available to the public prior to the board meetings. It should have been much easier to hold the district accountable. But, as everyone has learned, hiding things from the public makes it easy to get away with a lot of things before people begin catching on to what's been going on.

As far as transparency goes, you know you've made a little progress when you see people at Fox C-6 school board meetings now following along on their tablet computer or phone reading the board meeting packet!

Hopefully the Fox school board will be able to correct the changes that were made to the Voluntary Early Retirement Program and restore the 10 Years of Service requirement prior to paying out taxpayer money to those that would not have been eligible prior to February 2014.


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Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Say NO to the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program Payout!

Monday morning November 17, 2014, I sent an email to the Fox C-6 School Board, CFO John Brazeal and board secretary Debby Davis regarding the proposed Voluntary Separation Incentive Program (VSIP) payment to Assistant Superintendent Andy Arbeitman. I stated my concerns regarding the removal of the 10 Years of Service with the Fox C-6 School District that just somehow happened to no longer apply even though it's in our current school district policies, including the most recent version that was posted for review on the district in March 2014.

Later that morning I received an email from Fox's CFO John Brazeal with a PDF attachment explaining the history of the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program explaining what changes were made and when over the past 9 years. I have included the district's response below. Much of the language in the response appears to be responding to my concerns in recent articles regarding the issue.

On Tuesday November 11, 2014 I wrote an article about this issue after reviewing the Tuesday November 18, 2014 Fox C-6 board meeting packet. In that board packet, there was a request to approve paying Andy Arbeitman a $67,747.50 for voluntarily departing from the district early.

My article spurred a news story on KMOV Channel 4 by Russell Kinsaul due to the fact that after only 2 years of service at Fox C-6, the taxpayers are being asked to approve paying $66,747.50 for Mr. Arbeitman for leaving early. Not so fast!

For years, Fox C-6's policies/regulations have required a minimum of 10 Years of Service in the Fox C-6 School District as explained in the district's response.

It's pretty apparent that many taxpayers and school employees are not happy about the decision to offer this early payout after only two years of service. Fox's board approved new changes to the VSIP at the November 3, 2014 school board meeting that required employees to sign an agreement stating that they would not sue the school district if they took the Early Incentive Pay.

Vested in the Public School Retirement System
It's Fox C-6 taxpayer dollars that are being used to buy out anyone that wants to take the early out. It's not Public School Retirement System (PSRS) money. The rules requirements have been changed so that an employee simply had to be vested in the PSRS in order to receive the Early Incentive Pay. You must read the response from Fox to see how this has all come about.

Board Minutes and Packets Void of Changes
Over the weekend I reviewed board meeting minutes and school board meeting packets looking for the changes that had been made over the years in regards to the Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Program. Neither the board meeting minutes nor the board packets had any documentation pertaining to the removal of the 10 Years of Service requirement.

The response from the district states that "a vote that should have been taken in open session was taken in closed session" with regards to the changes that were made.

Not voting or discussing this issue during the Public Session or even providing documentation to the board in their board packets is a serious problem. It warrants being reviewed by the State Auditor as well as the Attorney General.

You must question why these changes weren't discussed during Public Session. The public should have been made aware of the changes. It's somewhat explained in the district's response below.

There is a Fox C-6 school board meeting this evening Tuesday November 18, 2014 at 7PM at the Fox C-6 Service Center. I encourage everyone to attend and voice your concerns to the Fox C-6 school board regarding this issue prior to them giving another hand out of cash.

According to both the current school district policy and the newly revised version posted March 2014 version "For Review", Mr. Arbeitman is not eligible for the incentive which requires 10 years of service with the Fox C-6 School District. Mr. Arbeitman began working for the district on July 1, 2013.

Below is a copy of the response I received from Fox's Chief Financial Officer (CFO) John Brazeal on this issue. It's imperative that you share this explanation with your friends and neighbors in the Fox C-6 School District. After all, it's your money that the district keeps handing out!

You can also download a copy of the original PDF version of the document I received from here:


DATE: November 17, 2014
TO: To Whom It May Concern
FROM: John Brazeal, CFO
RE: Recent history of Voluntary Separation Incentive Program
 
This is a review of the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program, also known as the Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Program, or the Voluntary Leave Program, or the Voluntary Incentive Program. 
Policy vs. Regulation/Procedure
Generally, policy setting is the purview of the board. Policies must conform to law. Generally, establishing regulations/procedures is the responsibility of administration. Regulation/procedure must conform to policy, and therefore also to law. Anytime a regulation/procedure spends money, that regulation/procedure should be board approved rather than approved administratively. 
History
Regulation 4740.1 titled Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Program was initially adopted in November 1998, with subsequent re-adoptions in April 2000, July 2000, July 2003, September 2004 and July 2005. As of the date of this report, this Regulation was still posted on the District website. 
The last re-adoption of Regulation 4740.1 in July 2005 coincides with the start of Dianne Brown/Critchlow’s tenure as District superintendent. Since that time, the incentive program has operated with a variety of modifications as described herein. Also since that time, policy and regulations/procedures generally have not been kept current.
Program Eligibility
The incentive program set forth in Regulation 4740.1 defines program eligibility to include: 
     1. Minimum of 10 years full-time service as a District employee; and
     2. Minimum of 20 years of service credit in the pension system (PSRS or PEERS), but not more than 31 years of service credit. 
For many years, courts have held that the upper eligibility limit of “not more than 31 years of service credit” to be discriminatory. 
In an email dated February 17, 2009, Dianne Brown announced changes to program eligibility for the 2008-2009 year to be as follows: 
     1. Qualify under current policy/regulation 4740.1; or
     2. Have more than 31 years of service credit in the pension system; or
     3. Have 20 years service credit in the pension system and minimum of 6 years employment with the district; or 
     4. Have meet Rule of 80 provisions with the pension system; or
     5. Be age 60 or greater with a minimum of 6 years employment with the district. 
If these changes were board approved, that fact has not been confirmed. 
In an email dated January 13, 2010, Todd Scott announced that for the 2009-2010 year, program eligibility would be as stated in Regulation 4740.1. 
In email dated February 15, 2011, Todd Scott announced program eligibility for the 2010-2011 year as: 
     1. Minimum of 10 years of full-time employment with the district; and
     2. Minimum of 15 years service credit with the pension system. 
The discriminatory upper limit was removed. If these changes were board approved, that fact has not been confirmed. 
In an email dated February 14, 2012, Todd Scott announced program eligibility would remain the same for 2011-2012 as the prior year of 2010-2011. Again, if this variance from the regulation was board approved, that fact has not been confirmed. 
In an email dated January 7, 2013, Todd Scott announced program eligibility would remain the same for 2012-2013 as the two previous years. Again, if this variance from the regulation was board approved, that fact has not been confirmed. 
In an email dated January 23, 2014, Todd Scott announced program eligibility for the 2013-2014 would match the eligibility requirements of the regulation as: 
     1. Minimum of 10 years full-time service as a District employee; and
     2. Minimum of 20 years of service credit in the pension system (PSRS or PEERS), but not more than 31 years of service credit. 
That action did not stand long. On February 19, 2014, an email was distributed announcing program eligibility for both the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 years to be: 
1. Employee must be vested (5 years service credit) in the pension system.
The announcement of this change indicated “at the February 18th Board of Education meeting the BOE made changes to the Voluntary Early Retirement Program.” 
Program Benefits
Regulation 4740.1 indicates that eligible program participants will: 
     1. Receive a payment equal to 50% of the applicant’s final year’s salary; and
     2. Be required to provide 35 hours of service to the District during the year following the end of District employment. 
Fewer changes were applied to these provisions, however, there were a couple changes through time. 
In an email dated November 30, 2012, Dianne Critchlow wrote: “I am excited to announce that the district is offering, A ONE TIME ONLY, addition to our early retirement incentive. For the first time in Fox C-6 history, we are not only offering to pay half of you highest year’s salary, we are offering 2 years of Board paid health insurance.” 
In an email dated January 7, 2013, Todd Scott announced “employees will no longer have to put in time of service after they retire.” 
February 2014 Events
On February 3, 2014, the Board met to discuss budgetary issues and also entered closed session to discuss “negotiations.” 
In closed session, the presentation to the board showed a history of the declining fund balances, and an action plan that stated: 
     1. Limit or greatly reduce spending
     2. Offer Voluntary Incentive Program
     3. Limit/freeze hiring
     4. Freeze salary schedules 
In regards to the voluntary separation incentive program, and under the heading “Things We Have Discovered,” the following statements were displayed: 
     1. We can no longer use the term “Early Retirement Incentive”
     2. The VIP (Voluntary Incentive Program) is due to PSRS by April 1
     3. Can no longer put a cap on number of years – discriminatory 
Two options were suggested by the superintendent to the board: 
Option A: Increase the incentive to 65% of final salary to employees separating in 2013-2014; 60% of final salary to employees separating in 2014-2015; and 55% of salary to employees separating in 2015-2016. 
Option B: Keep the incentive at 50% of final salary, but add 2 years of district paid health insurance to employees separating in 2013-2014; add 1 year of district paid health insurance to employees separating in 2014-2015; and no health insurance to employees separating in 2015-2016. 
The proposal stated “employees must be vested in the retirement system to be eligible,” but made no mention of minimum employment with the district or any other minimum amounts of service credit with the pension system. 
On February 18, 2014, the Board held its regular meeting and also entered closed session to discuss “negotiations.” 
The minutes of the close session state: “After discussion Mrs. Hermann made a motion and was seconded to approve the recommendation from the committee to continue the Voluntary Leave Program for the 2013-2014 and the 2014-2015 school year as presented. After the 2014-2015 school year the District will no longer offer the Voluntary Leave Program.” The motion was approved 6-1. 
Directors voting in favor of the motion: Palmer, Hermann, Laughlin, Nash, Holloway and Smith. Directors voting against the motion: Kroupa. 
Motive And Intent
It is impossible to fully assess motives and intentions, but here are a few observations. 
The concept of incentivizing higher cost staff to separate employment as a method for lowering payroll costs can have merit. However, by offering an incentive every year, the program had become more of a retirement bonus with major cost to the District rather than an incentive with cost savings to the District. 
As the District’s financial condition deteriorated, Dianne Critchlow sought to boost the incentive, while members of the Board sought to end the costly program. Some back and forth pushing on the issue exposed some motives. 
When Board members attempted to end the program sooner than later, Dianne Critchlow vehemently objected, potentially due to her own pending retirement date. With her retirement date already announced, she pushed for boosting the program benefits and pushed for expanded eligibility. 
The push for expanded eligibility coincides with the planned separation for Jamie Critchlow. The push for increased benefits coincides with the planned separations for both Jamie and Dianne Critchlow. 
November 2014 Events
I joined the Fox District in July 2014. As the program parameters had been set in February 2014 and announced to staff, I did not attempt to modify the either the eligibility criteria or the program benefits. However, upon noticing that the district was not receiving any benefit from the employee in return for the incentive payment, I did propose there be a separation agreement wherein the separating employee would waive any and all claims that person might have against the District. In this way, the District gains protection from potential employment related liabilities. 
Due to the fact the plan would be ending after the 2014-2015 school year, the program was finally an incentive. In an effort to boost participation and enable employees to leave before they otherwise might, I did propose paying the incentive payment before employment ended so that this payment could be used to purchase service credit in the pension system. 
At the November 3, 2014 board meeting, the program was modified to include payment of the incentive at an earlier date and require a waiver of claims in exchange for the incentive payment. No proposal was made regarding eligibility since that had already been announced to staff as being applicable for the current school year. 
Open Session vs. Closed Session
The discussion and action related to the incentive program took place in closed session during February 2014. The closed session topic was listed as “negotiations.” It is acceptable for the Board to enter into closed session to discuss negotiations in relation to negotiating with employee groups. Normally, the negotiation matters discussed by the Board in closed session proceed to the negotiating table with employee representatives. Later when agreement has been reached between the parties, the resulting agreement is presented to the Board in open session for approval. 
During February 2014, the Board was within its rights to take up the topic for discussion in closed session. Dianne Critchlow contended that a decision was required prior to April 1, 2014. Thus, a vote that should have been taken in open session was taken in closed session. Additionally, the topic was never taken to the negotiating table, which eventually convened in May 2014. 
Policy/Regulations/Procedures on Website
Obviously the objective of posting policy/regulations/procedures on the website is to provide a public resource and public notice of District policies and procedures. Naturally, when a policy is revised, there can be a delay between Board adoption of new policy and posting of the revised policy on the website. This delay should be minimized. 
According to Debby Davis, Custodian of Records for the District, she was instructed to leave the unrevised version of Regulation 4740.1 on the website, despite its revision in February 2014. Please note, the incentive program had been revised almost annually, without revised posting to the website. That should not have been the case. If things have been handled correctly, the revised program would have been posted promptly after each revision. 
As pointed out early in this memo, this matter and many other policy matters appear to be out of date. Policy requires almost constant attention and revision in order to avoid obsolesce. Dianne Critchlow allowed many policy matters to go stale. 
Status
The incentive program exists in its current form until it is changed or ended. The incentive program is an offer from the District to employees. Eligible employees are entitled to accept the offer as it exists or is modified from time to time. The Board should be the only entity with authority to authorize the incentive program and/or modification to an existing incentive program.
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Saturday, November 15, 2014

When Was Fox C-6's Early Retirement Incentive Program Officially Changed?

Comments have been made that Fox C-6's Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Program was changed and sent out to all of the teachers in February 2013 . They may have removed the requirement that an employee must work for the district for 10 years prior to being eligible for the Early Retirement Incentive Program in February 2013, but those changes WERE NOT reflected in the March 2014 updated version of the Fox C-6 Board Policies and Regulations nor were the changes posted in the current version of the Fox C-6 Board Polices and Regulations. Therefore my analysis of the current board policies were correct.

If changes had been made to the Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Program, then they should have been posted in the Draft version of the March 2014 Board Policies and Regulations posted on the district's website by the school board and school district for public review earlier this year. The Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Program Regulation number was changed in the March 2014 version of the regulation and the reference to NTRS was changed to PEERS. However, nothing was changed regarding the requirement that an employee was only eligible if they had served 10 years of service in the Fox C-6 School District.

There was nothing recorded in the December 2012 through March 2013 Fox C-6 school board meeting minutes regarding changes made to the Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Program policy or regulation. There was a mention in the board reports that Rusty Wallace had been inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in the February 2013 board meeting minutes.

UPDATED 11/16/2014:
Someone commented that the changes were made to the Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Program and sent out to teachers in February 2014 instead of February 2013. However, there is NOT a single reference to any changes made to the Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Program when searching the entire 2013-2014 school year's Fox C-6 School Board Meeting minutes. There weren't any copies provided to the school board members in their monthly board meeting packets as well.

It's very difficult to approve changes to a school board policy or regulation if the changes weren't provided to our school board members in their board packets. It would also be impossible to make changes to the board policy unless the changes were voted on during the Public Session of a Fox C-6 school board meeting. If the changes were voted on during closed session, then our school board would have violated Missouri Sunshine Law.

 According to the district's school board meeting minutes, there weren't any votes pertaining to changes of the Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Program during the 2013-2014 school year.

The word "retire" cannot be found in the 2013-2014 school year Fox C-6 board meeting minutes. The only references to the word "incentive" found in the minutes for the year are related to the Employee Attendance Incentive and the Ameren Incentive for the solar panels. You can check for yourself by downloading the 2013-2014 Fox C-6 School Board Meeting Minutes compiled into a single PDF document using the link below.


This is simply another example of either backpedaling or simply not doing their job in properly updating the district Policies and Regulations. The updates to the Board Policies and Regulations have been in work since 2009 and still haven't been completed and approved by the board. They were originally posted in March 2012 for review and nothing happened for 2 years. Then they were posted again in March 2014. The Policies and Regulations still haven't been reviewed and approved by the board.

I'm glad that I didn't have to wait for the school board to approve the changes before I could review them as Dianne Critchlow informed me I would have to do in an email in March 2012. Critchlow ended up posting the draft copy of the board policies on the district website in March 2012 as she said she would do at the board meeting once I emailed her a transcript of what she told the public at the board meeting. I've written about this incident before as well.


It makes you wonder why we have been paying some of our top administrators such a high salary for so many years doesn't it?

Please read my previous article using the link below for more information about acting superintendent Tim Crutchley and assistant superintendent Todd Scott asking the board to approve paying Andy Arbeitman $66,647.50 to depart the district early at next Tuesday's Fox C-6 School Board Meeting!

Please contact your Fox C-6 School Board members and voice your concerns about paying out an Incentive Payment of $66,647 to an administrator who has been working for the district for a little over a year before the board approves it at the Tuesday November 18, 2014 Fox C-6 School Board meeting.


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Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Arbeitman Departing Fox on June 30, 2015 - He'll Get $66,647 Voluntary Incentive Separation Program Payout

The November 18, 2014 Fox C-6 board meeting packet was posted today. Below are a few key points from the board packet.

This article was updated at 7:45PM on Wednesday November 12, 2014 to include the KMOV News Channel 4 story from Russell Kinsaul at the bottom of the article. I also corrected the article to state that it is Dan Kroupa's sister-in-law that owns the Jewel Box Florist. It is NOT his sister. My apologies for the mistake.
Changes Made To VSIP at 11/03/2014 Board Meeting
Second Update at 11:30PM on Wednesday November 12, 2014. After watching the video from KMOV Channel 4 News, Mr. Brazeal stated that this program was for employees vested into the Public School Retirement System. However, that WAS NOT true prior to the November 3, 2014 Fox C-6 board workshop.

 Fox's CURRENT board policies that are posted on the district website HAVE NOT BEEN UPDATED to reflect the changes made to the Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Program which became the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program.

 What's Been Removed
In reviewing the changes made to the Voluntary Incentive Separation Program (VSIP) and just published for the first time yesterday in the November 18, 2014 Board Packet, the Requirement that a an employee must have completed a minimum of ten years of full-time service in the Fox C-6 School District in order to be eligible for the VSIP program HAS BEEN REMOVED!

 Prior to November 3, 2014, Andy Arbeitman WOULD NOT have been eligible for the VSIP program.

 I have assembled the November 3, 2014 Fox C-6 board meeting minutes from the November 18, 2014 board meeting packet as well as the new VSIP agreement and current board Policy 4740.1 to compare the old language to the new language for the Incentive Program.

If you read the board meeting minutes about the VSIP program, you'll notice that there was NO MENTION about the removal of the requirement to complete a minimum of ten years of full-time service in the Fox C-6 School District. It also wasn't mentioned during the board workshop that the 10 year requirement was being removed when the changes were presented to the board.

The new VSIP agreement refers to board policy GBN which DOES NOT EXIST. Board policy GBN is a Missouri School Board Association policy designation which Fox does not use. Fox uses school board policies created by our former law firm.

The new VSIP agreement also contains language that states that any employee accepting the new VSIP agreement "agrees to release any and all claims that the employee may have against the district, including the District's affiliates and subsidiaries, together with their respective members, directors, officers, agents and employees, and their attorneys, including but not limited to, claims for compensatory damages, emotional distress, loss of reputation, humiliation, embarrassment, costs, expenses and attorney's fees."

It goes on to state that, "Employee hereby waives, releases, remises, and forever discharges the School District, Board of Education, and their affiliates and subsidiaries, together with their respective members, directors, officers, agents, and employees, including their attorneys, whether in their respective individual of (typo) or official capacities, from any and all claims or other causes of action he or she may have against them, including, but not limited to, any alleged rights or claims arising under the Americans with Disabilities Act..."

There is a lot more release language contained in the new VSIP agreement. Basically, the updated VSIP has been written as a way for the district to do some CYA for any and all wrong doing of current and former employees and board members. It is a MUST READ document!

The new VSIP gives the appearance that the Incentive Program is now being used as "hush money". It's also giving away taxpayer money to those who would not have qualified before. The board needs to be questioned about this change. It is unacceptable!

Click on the link below to read the new VSIP agreement, the current Early Retirement Incentive policy and the November 3, 2014 board workshop minutes.



 Below is what the current Fox C-6 Board Polices and Regulations state as requirements for the Voluntary Early Retirement Incentive Program:

Regulation 4740.1 (Current Version)  /  4750 (2014 Draft Version)
Full-time staff members who meet all of the following conditions are eligible for early retirement pay upon leaving the employ of the Fox C-6 School District: 
1. Have completed a minimum of ten years of full-time service as an employee in the Fox C-6 School District 
2. Will have obtained a minimum of twenty years and no more than 31 years of credit in the Missouri Teacher Retirement System (as verified by the PSRS) or the Non-Teacher Retirement System (as verified by the NTRS (PEERS)) in the employee’s final contract year. The 20- 31 years of retirement system credit would include all out-of-state, in-state, or military credit purchased by the individual. This program will not be extended to individuals with more than 31 years of credit in the PSRS or NTRS (PEERS) or to those individuals with fewer than 20 years of credit in the PSRS or NTRS (PEERS).


The newer DRAFT version of the above Regulation is 4750. The newer DRAFT version of Fox's policies posted earlier this year have not yet been approved by the school board. It has the same language as Regulation 4740.1 with the exception that NTRS has been changed to PEERS.


Some Highlights from the November 18, 2014 Fox C-6 School Board Meeting Packet

  • Assistant Superintendent Andy Arbeitman will be leaving the district June 30, 2015.
  • Mr. Arbeitman will be paid $66,647.50 taking the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program.
    (See more below)
  • Two IT 3 employees are receiving $10,000+ raises according to the Contract Modifications section of the board packet. The salary raises are as follows:
  • Board being asked to approve the updated Code of Ethics / Nepotism Policy as presented in the board packet.
    View the changes!
  • Fox changed their Professional Development Plan to a Professional Learning Plan. The changes include updated amounts and approvals for travel and hotel stays as well as reimbursement requirements.
    View Professional Learning Plan Update
  • Checks for Seckman Athletic Director Brad Duncan were printed as a separate report for easy abstention when approving checks. Brad Duncan is Fox C-6 board member Vern Sullivan's son.
  • View Checks to Brad Duncan
  • Checks for the Jewel Box Florist were printed on a separate report for easy abstention. The Jewel Box Florist is owned by the sister in-law of Fox C-6 board member Dan Kroupa.
    (NOTE: This post was corrected to properly reflect "sister in-law". My original post stated "sister" instead of "sister in-law". My apologies for the mistake.)
    View Checks to Jewel Box Florist
  • Payment of Bills report as posted in the November 18, 2014 board packet.
    View Bill Payments Report
  • A bridges teacher separated from the district on November 7, 2014. (NOTE: This information was in the Late Materials at the October 2014 board meeting but was never updated in the Public October 2014 board meeting packet.)

Mr. Arbeitman Departing from Fox
Mr. Arbeitman has only been working for the Fox C-6 district for a little over a year. He officially started working for the district on July 1, 2013. However, he was invited to and attended the MarzanoGate Conference in June 2013 by former superintendent Dianne Critchlow prior to officially worked for the district.

Mr. Arbeitman will be getting a very sweet deal from the Fox C-6 taxpayers if the school board approves the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program list on page 329 of the board meeting packet. Acting superintendent Tim Crutchley is asking the school board to "Approve, as presented, participants in the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program." at the November 18, 2014 Fox C-6 school board meeting.

If the board approves the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program list, Mr. Arbeitman will receive a payment of $66,647.50 for leaving the district at the end of the 2014-2015 school year.


Would you approve this payment of $66,647.50 if you were on the Fox C-6 school board?

What are the requirements for being able to receive the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program?

UPDATED @ 7:45PM on 11/12/2014!

Russell Kinsaul of KMOV News Channel 4 sent me a text earlier today after reading this article. He wanted to do a news story about the large payout to Assistant Superintendent Andy Arbeitman after working for Fox C-6 for only two years by the time he leaves in June 2015. Russell's news story is already online at KMOV.COM. It was explained to Mr. Kinsaul by Fox CFO John Brazeal that the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program was for anyone vested in the Public School Retirement System.

You can watch the KMOV News story using the link below:



Arbeitman's Desoto School District Settlement
Mr. Arbeitman received a $208,000 settlement from the Desoto School District in 2012 after being put on paid leave in May 2012 and eventually resigning from the district.

You can read more about Mr. Arbeitman's departure from the Desoto School District and his subsequent hire at Fox in the following March 2013 news story:



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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:


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.


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

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Friday, November 7, 2014

State Auditor Tom Schweich's Victory Speech Talks About School District Corruption!

State Auditor Tom Schweich was just re-elected on Tuesday November 4, 2014 to serve the state of Missouri for another 4 years as state auditor.

Mr. Schweich gave an excellent victory speech. I found his speech on his Twitter account @AuditorSchweich. He is the taxpayer watchdog for the state of Missouri.

Mr. Schweich's office is currently auditing the Fox C-6 School District. His staff has their work cut out for them. You can read articles on this blog documenting some of what's been exposed and uncovered in the Fox C-6 School District so far in just the last several months.

Mr. Schweich's commitment towards uncovering and reporting on fraud, waste, abuse and corruption should be very encouraging to the taxpayers of the Fox C-6 School District.

Hopefully Mr. Schweich will be able to build an airtight case that documents all of the problems that have been occurring in the Fox C-6 School District during former superintendent Dianne Critchlow's tenure.

The Fox C-6 taxpayers deserve to recover every penny that was improperly spent on personal items and food by school district officials over the last 9+ years rather that should have been spent on educating our students and our teachers.

Mr. Schweich talks about his office being sued by special interest groups who don't want him to accurately report what's been going on in the state. This tactic sounds very similar to the Cease and Desist letters that were sent to myself and others in our district who were trying to expose the problems in our district for years.


Quotes from Tom Schweich's Victory Speech
"Let's remember we live in the greatest state in the union, the state of Missouri, and I'm so proud to represent the people of this state. But, even in that context of greatness there are challenges and I wanted to talk a little bit about that and what I plan to do about it going forward. 
I recently saw a survey that had us 45th in education across the state, Elementary and Secondary Education. We need some work there. I've audited a lot of schools. I've audited the 4 largest school districts in Missouri and many of the rural ones as well and there are significant challenges... I audited Rockwood School District, not too far from here and found conflicts of interest and double dealing. We've got problems with our education system and we need to work on it... 
First, I think there's a lack of leadership at the top. Second, I think there's political corruption plane and simple. Remember my job is to root out fraud, waste and abuse and corruption in state and local government..."

"This is what I see everyday because of the nature of my job. Because I see corruption at all levels state, county, local. People who are serving themselves at the expense of the people...
I've audited School Officials and exposed massive conflicts of interest in Rockwood here and Hickman Mills School District near Kansas City, the Grandview School District. People getting free tickets. People getting paid off. I mean it does happen. These people are then serving themselves and not serving you."

"I want you to know that as I take over in my second term as your state auditor, I am committed more than ever before to fighting all aspects of corruption in all aspects of state, local government in Jefferson City, in the counties, in the cities and in the school districts. I will continue to be your taxpayer Watchdog and I will never be bought by anyone. You have my word!"


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Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Recap of the November 3, 2014 Fox C-6 Board Meeting Workshop with Audio

Fox C-6 held a Special Board Meeting Workshop on Monday November 3, 2014. It began with a Closed Session meeting at 5:30PM followed by a Public Session meeting at 7PM.

Mr. Underwood from the Missouri School Board Association met with the Board of Education (BOE) and presented information about the 7 Superintendent candidates during Closed Session.

No time was scheduled for Public Comments at the Special Meeting / Workshop.


A Few Important Points From the Meeting

4 - Hodge Mascot Change  (1min 40s)
Hodge Elementary's new mascot will be the Hawks.


5 - Discussion on Nepotism Policy and Whistleblower Policy  (2min 44s)
There was discussion about the updated Nepotism Policy which is much stricter than before. It will be brought to the board at the November 18th board meeting for a vote.

Current Fox C-6 school board vice president Dave Palmer has been richly rewarded for serving on the school board over the past 8+ years. His wife was promoted to the Director of Nursing in June 2006 while Mr. Palmer was serving as the school board president. Gee Palmer was also given a 75% pay increase with her promotion.

The community should be requesting that Mr. Palmer resign his position on the school board and that his wife resign her position as well.

It would be very nice if they repaid the taxpayers for taking advantage of the community. Gee Palmer earned a total of nearly $250,000 more in salary than the highest paid nurse earned in the district during the same period of time. Several nurses in the district had nearly double the number of years of service in the district that Gee did.

Mr. Palmer doesn't give the impression that he was representing the taxpayer for the students as much as it does that he was able to get his wife a high paid promotion in the district. It seems very similar to the Linda Nash / Kelly Nash issue which stirred things up the community nearly 2 years ago.

The Whistleblower Policy was discussed as well to protect anyone working for the district from retaliation for someone coming forward about someone who is not following school district policy. This would have allowed people to speak to a school board member as well who might want to report a problem but were afraid to report it to their direct supervisor. Mr. Kroupa asked for additional time to discuss and improve the Whistleblower Policy.


6 - Board Vacancy  (14min 50s)
Mr. Laughlin told audience that it was the opinion of the district attorney that the Board of Education should appoint a replacement for former board member Cheryl Hermann. Mr. Laughlin is forming a committee and they will be seeking a replacement for Cheryl Hermann.


7 - Voluntary Separation Incentive Program  (16min 10s)
CFO John Brazeal presented some possible changes to the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program.
  • Changes extended the deadline to January 16, 2015 to file for the VSIP.
  • Payments would be made prior to the end of their employment so they could use the incentive money to purchase service credit to enable the retirement.
  • In turn the staff would waive their claims to a variety of issues such as age discrimination or ADA discrimination. It would not include any open claims.
The board approved the changes to the VSIP.


8 - Employment of Certified Staff  (21min 19s)
Todd Scott presented two retired counselors were approved to work 1 day a week to help in the school district.

Approved by the board.


9 - Employment Modifications  (22min 20s)
Todd Scott presented Employment Modifications to the board asking them to approve modifications for 6 administrators to increase their pay by roughly $640 since they had earned their advanced degrees. There was quite a bit of discussion on this topic. In the end, the board voted NOT to approve the modifications.

The vote was 4-NO / 2-YES.


You can listen to the public session of the board meeting by clicking on the link at the bottom of this article.

Below is the agenda for the Special Meeting/Workshop from Fox's website:

Special Meeting/Workshop
for the Fox C-6 Board of Education

Monday, November 3, 2014
5:30 p.m. Closed Session
7:00 p.m. Board Meeting

Notice is hereby given that there will be a Special Meeting/Workshop of the Fox C-6 Board of Education, on Monday, November 3, 2014 and will begin with Closed Session at 5:30 p.m. The Board meeting will occur at 7:00 p.m. at the Fox C-6 Service Center, Roy Wilde Conference Room, 849 Jeffco Boulevard, Arnold, Missouri.

The agenda for the meeting is as follows: 

1. Call Meeting to Order/Pledge of Allegiance/Roll Call 
2. Adjournment to Closed Session: 
       610.021.3 Personnel
       610.021.13 Personnel Records
3. Building Improvement Plans
4. Hodge Elementary Mascot change
5. Discussion - Form #0342.1 Code of Ethics/Nepotism and Whistle Blower Policy
6. Board Vacancy
7. Voluntary Separation Incentive Program
8. Employment of Certified Staff
9. Employment Modifications - Advanced Degree Work
10. Adjournment 


The Public Session of the meeting started at 7PM. It began with 10 minute presentations from each of the building principals that had not yet presented their building improvement plans to the board members and the public.

After the presentation time was over for all of the principals the Open Session portion of the meeting continued. Below is a link to the original agenda that was posted on the district website:


Below is my audio recording of the Open Session portion of the board meeting.


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Sunday, November 2, 2014

Critchlow Mentioned Amazon Charges at the May 2014 Fox C-6 BOE Meeting! Hiding Facts!

It's definitely not funny that former Fox C-6 superintendent Dianne Critchlow was using her district credit card and other district employee credit cards to make purchases for personal use. But I did find it funny that she mentioned the Amazon charges at the May 2014 Fox C-6 Board of Education meeting when she responded to my Public Comments.

I was reviewing my audio recordings from Fox C-6 school board meetings looking for examples of when Critchlow would tell everyone at the board meeting that now was a good time to leave. She would say it right before Public Comments started when I made Public Comments.

May 20, 2014 was the last Fox C-6 Board of Education (BOE) meeting that Dianne Critchlow attended. Right before I spoke at that meeting, Critchlow told the parents and students in attendance for recognition that now was a good time to leave as happened many times before right before the start of Public Comments.

The May 20th meeting was also the last meeting before the media announced that defamatory comments posted on the TOPIX website were linked to her home and the home of assistant superintendent Dan Baker.

At the May BOE meeting, Dianne Critchlow and Dan Baker were both already aware of the fact that their homes had been linked to defamatory posts made on Topix. Their Internet Service Providers (ISP) had already contacted them in March or April asking them if they could give out their information because of a subpoena. So they both knew at that meeting and even at the workshop before that they had been linked to posts on TOPIX. That may be why they were fairly friendly at the meeting.

At the May meeting, I still didn't have credit card statements because Critchlow wanted me to pay $170 to get copies of them. I refused to pay because the board should have already had copies of them and they were public records and Sunshine Law allows them to waive the fees when the documents are for public interest.

Even though I didn't have the credit card statements, the May 2014 board packets had the newly updated Bill Payments Report that included individual credit card charges. That's one of the topics that I came to speak about that night.

The Bill Payments report changes came about after I put pressure on the board in February 2014 to include the credit card statements in the board packets. However, the first pass of the Bill Payments Report didn't help much as I mentioned in my Public Comments. But the late materials copy of the board packet had an improved version which I linked to later in this article.

We all now know why Critchlow was so reluctant to include the credit card statements in the board packets. It also made her response to me at the May 2014 board meeting somewhat foretelling of what may have been weighing on her mind at the time.

During my Public Comments at the May 2014 board meeting, I repeated my concerns to the board about the bill payments reports, the credit card purchases, transparency issues and lack of response from the board via email. When I finished speaking, Critchlow responded to my comments about the updated Bill Payments Report and the credit card charges listed in the updated report.

(NOTE: The district had already spent more than $2+ million dollars on district credit cards for the 2013-2014 school year by February 2014.)

I laughed when I heard Critchlow's response when reviewing my audio recording because of the fact that she used AMAZON as an example of a credit card charge that might be listed on the newest version of the bill payments report. Because that's where she purchased the logging tongs, tow chains and blinged out cell phone cases from on April 2, 2014.


It's funny that Critchlow mentioned AMAZON! It must have been fresh on her mind since she just purchased those items the month before and they were on the May 2014 updated Bill Payments Report in the May board packet. Up until May 2014, credit card payments were listed as a single line item payment for each of the credit card vendors each month, SAMS CLUB DISCOVER, VISA CARD SERVICES and AMERICAN EXPRESS.

Not only did Critchlow place her order during the work day for those items on April 2, 2014 but she used Debbie Davis's school district DISCOVER CARD to pay for them rather than her own district credit card!

Critchlow also had the order shipped directly to her home rather than the school.

It's hard to believe that the items she ordered weren't going to be used for personal use since she had them shipped directly to her home. You can find the purchases on the 04/23/2014 Discover card statement. I've written about some of this before in the article below which has a link to the October 3, 2014 demand for repayment letter sent to Critchlow from Fox CFO John Brazeal.


It's easy to say that the board was approving credit card payments. But you can't say that they were approving the individual credit card charges because Dianne Critchlow wasn't giving them to the board or the public. That had been my point for a long time. Without being able to review the individual charges on the statements, no one knew what was being purchased and how our tax dollars were being spent. Even with individual charges listed in the bill payments report, there was no way to know what was being purchased until the receipts for the charges were reviewed.

Plus, Critchlow used her secretary's Discover card to make purchases for her own personal use. Using someone else's credit card to make purchases would be very misleading to the board even if they did see the charges.

I had been asking the board to update the 2013-2014 Bill Payments report since August or September 2013 after the transaction description and account description columns were removed from the report when Fox switched to new software. It wasn't until later that I found in the district policies that the transaction description and funding account columns are REQUIRED to be on the report for the board to approve per district policy. So when Critchlow wrote me an email refusing to update the Bill Payments Report to add those columns back on the report she was violating board policy. Her email to me is very important evidence as to how she was keeping information from the board and the public.

Matching Up Credit Card Charges To Fund Accounts
I extracted the Bill Payment report pages from the May and June 2014 board meeting packets into a document that you can review to see what account funds the credit card charges were being posted to. You'll see what I was talking about in my Public Comments in the very first section of credit card charges from the May 2014 board packet. That section lists CARD SERVICES for both the TRANSACTION DESCRIPTION and the VENDOR NAME. That's not helpful at all in knowing what was purchased with the credit card.

What you can see is that the ACCOUNT DESCRIPTION column shows what fund account the charges were posted to. I included both the DISCOVER CARD and VISA CARD statements with the May and June Bill Payments reports so you can attempt to reconcile the line items on the Bill Payments report with the individual charges on the credit card statements. I've already highlighted the charges for Dianne Critchlow on the reports including the ones that she charged to Debbie Davis's DISCOVER CARD. Take note of what Accounts the charges were posted to. There are probably many more charges posted on other employee credit cards that we don't know about yet.

You'll notice that the first line item on the Bill Payments report for CARD SERVICES or SAMS CLUB DISCOVER has a total amount in the CHECK AMOUNT column. You can use that amount to match up the credit card statement with the check amount to know what charges on the statement match up with the entries on the Bill Payments report. This might make a fun game for a FACS class, business class or a journalism class.

Intent to Hide Facts
Note the use of PROF DEV MEAL ALLOWANCE VENDOR in the VENDOR NAME column on page 6 of the Bill Payments Report instead of using the actual name of the restaurants where Critchlow, McCutchen, Scott and others purchased food. Listing so many different fast food restaurants and other eateries would have thrown up a Red Flag as it did when the public saw the credit card statements for the first time.

Using PROF DEV MEAL ALLOWANCE VENDOR for restaurants gives the impression that someone wanted to hide the fact that administrators were eating quite often using Professional Development funds. In fact, the $11.79 charge was for the McDonald's meal that Dianne Critchlow charged to the district on a Saturday April 5, 2014 while she was on Family Medical Leave. This tactic demonstrates a great lack of integrity for a National District of Character.

 Who's idea was it to enter PROF DEV MEAL ALLOWANCE VENDOR into the payment system rather than the actual restaurant names such as BurgerKing, Drunken Noodles, McDonalds, Panera Bread, Lodge Food and Beverage Lake Ozark MO and Holiday Inn Columbia?


To learn more about the funding accounts download and read the 2014-2015 Fox School District Budget from the district's website. Look in section 4 for the Revenue Accounts to see the list of revenue accounts and their prior year actuals and budget amount. You'll notice that the Critchlow charged the cell phone cases to the ADMIN OTHER EXPENSE account and the logging tongs to the STUDENT ACTIVITIES (S/A) BRIDGES REVOLVING account and other charges were posted to the S/A FOX DISTRICT REVOLVING account.

Critchlow refused to post the School Budget documents on the district website when I asked for them 3 years ago and numerous times since then. You can find them using the link below:



Prior Audits by Dan Jones & Associates
You may also want to review the audits that have been done each year by Dan Jones and Associates from the district website as well. It's odd that the yearly audits don't mention anything about the district credit cards considering millions of dollars in payments were made using credit cards.

There are disclaimers in the independent audit reports as well as to what their audits may or may not uncover related to the district's internal controls. According to the audits, it appears that they no issues were found to report to the board. You can download and read the audits here:



More Info On Twitter
Yesterday, after I extracted that audio I quickly posted a Twitter link to the audio on twitter so everyone could listen to her response. Posting on Twitter is quick and easy. That's why it's a good idea to follow my Twitter account as well:


You don't have to have a Twitter account to view my posts on Twitter. At anytime you can browse to the link above to read my Twitter posts. Dianne Critchlow used to have a Twitter account. I used to reference her posts and account quite often. However, she deleted her account when the internet scandal broke which also deleted the posts that she made including the one that said she was going on Family Medical Leave (FMLA).

So, if you haven't seen a post on this blog for several days or more you may want to check my Twitter page. I post a lot more quick comments or links to news articles, audio recordings or videos on Twitter because it doesn't take several hours or more to write and edit a whole article like it does when I write a blog post.

So I encourage you to follow or check in on my Twitter page quite regularly. I'm sure it won't grab national headlines like the #callitoffdianne tweets that were made by students in the district wanting to get off of school for a snow day earlier this year. But, you may find some news or information there that might be of interest.
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Friday, October 31, 2014

Would You Revoke Your Consent if Your School District Wanted To Hang Your Child Upside Down?

As a parent, would you revoke your consent to an independent evaluation if a district doctor wanted to hang your child upside down by their ankles for 3 weeks?

That's what a former Fox C-6 School District attorney stated during a Section 504 meeting in May 2009 as an example as to why you may wish to revoke your consent to an independent evaluation for Section 504 eligibility.

How would you react as a parent if you had been told that during a meeting?

As the district attorney also explained during the meeting, if you choose to revoke your consent the meeting's over!

Wow! That sounds like an ultimatum to me. But, that's just the way things have been handled in the Fox C-6 school district for years. It's been a very easy way to make parents choose as to whether or not they really want to pursue having a Section 504 plan written for their child.

Luckily the majority of parents never have to go through all of the nonsense that a school district will put you through to write up a Section 504 plan. But, it's one of those memories that will last a lifetime if you had to go through it.

In the end, we were forced to go to Due Process in May 2010 as I predicted at the May 2009 meeting. It was quite easy to see that coming after having nearly a year to learn about the law before the May 2009 meeting and after talking to the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (ED OCR) attorneys many times between July 2008 and May 2009.

I brought this to the attention of several of Fox C-6 school board members back in 2009 but none of them were interested in what was really going on in the district. Perhaps hearing what goes on in Section 504 meetings will be very educational for the board, the community as well as other parents across the country. That's also why it's very important that parents document everything including recording their Section 504 meetings because sometimes you just can't believe what will be said during those meetings to get around the law.

Fox's school board policies did not prevent the recording of Section 504 meetings. However, the district's policies stated that you could not record IDEA meetings without prior approval. I just wanted to make sure everyone knows what the policies state.

Filling out Section 504 paperwork is quite easy. However, many districts have been taught that having Section 504's in their district is a bad thing. School districts will go to great lengths to make sure that they don't have to do that "additional paperwork". Because, "It's a slippery slope. Once you give it to one child, you'll have to give it to all children." that are eligible. It's that sort of mentality that causes people to do and say really stupid things. It's also what makes administrators really upset when you persist in making sure that your school district properly follows the law.

So as a parent, would it concern you if a school district doctor wished to hang your child upside down by their ankles for 3 weeks as part of an independent evaluation by your school district?


Would you consider that to be an inappropriate statement to make to a parent during a Section 504 meeting?

I was infuriated by the fact that the district attorney made that remark during our meeting. When I asked former Fox C-6 Section 504 Coordinator Dan Baker about the attorney's statement while I questioned him under oath during our 2010 Due Process Hearing, Mr. Baker stated that the attorney "did not mean those words to come across as intimidation".

It was good that Mr. Baker remembered the district attorney's remarks from our May 2009 meeting because the attorneys comment have bothered me for years. It bothered me even more to learn 5 years later that derogatory and libelous comments directed at me were posted from Dan Baker's home.

Mr. Baker has very little regard for parents concerns when he dismisses a comment such as that and then posted defamatory comments online directed at the parents who he directly worked with at school.

Would Mr. Baker be bothered at all if the school district his children attend wanted to hang his kids upside down to see if they qualified for a Section 504 plan?

Since Mr. Baker was the Section 504 Coordinator for the Fox C-6 School District at the time that defamatory posts were made from his home about me, our school board should be asking to have his teaching certificate revoked by the state of Missouri for conduct unbecoming of an educator. Most parents and taxpayers have been appalled by the fact that the Bakers are still working for the district. At least they removed him from his position as the Section 504 Coordinator for the district.

Why the Bakers weren't fired from the district was even discussed on Donnybrook on KETC Channel 9. I wrote an article about that on July 25, 2014. Here is a link to the article below:

Additionally, everyone including our Fox C-6 school board members should read the article I wrote on March 9, 2013 about having teaching certificates revoked for conduct unbecoming of an educator for bullying and retaliation. Reading that article would be a good refresher on this topic as well. Below is a link to that article:

Back to the attorneys comments made during the May 2009 Section 504 meeting, the attorney emphasized over and over the fact that as parents, we could always revoke our consent if the district decided to perform a test that we didn't want them to do. He also wanted us to know that if we revoked our consent, the 504 meeting would be over and that the 504 process would end here and now. That was his way of threatening us into doing what the school wanted or you lost your rights to a Section 504 plan.

So, if you had to choose between hanging your child upside down by their ankles for 3 weeks or getting a 504 plan, what would you choose?

Yes, it's one of those decisions that you as a parent have to decide when dealing with the Fox C-6 School District as to whether or not you really want to pursue getting that Section 504 plan filled out for your child in the district.

Just in case you ever wish to request a Section 504 plan for your child, you can listen to how it was put to us at the May 2009 Section 504 meeting so you can be better prepared. There's also a little learning about the ADA Amendment Act and Section 504 law at the beginning of this audio clip that's important to hear. I contacted the ED OCR attorney in Kansas City after the meeting about the comments the district attorney made in the meeting that day because his comments about the law were incorrect. When the ED OCR attorney contacted the attorney about his comments, he told the ED OCR attorney that he didn't make those comments during the meeting. That's why you should always record your meetings. I emailed the OCR attorney my audio recording of the district attorney's comments.


Something else that you may take away from the audio above is the attorney's comment about "that's not the way Fox works" in reference to my comments about how other school districts in the area handle things differently than Fox. As the community has now learned, Fox definitely does things differently as we continue to uncover numerous misdeeds in the district.

Fox probably hasn't hung any kids upside down by their ankles for 3 weeks in order to perform independent evaluations to see if children are eligible for Section 504. But, it might be a good idea to go ahead and ask the state auditors to look into that just to be sure.

Apparently, attorneys will sometimes use some bullying tactics to deter parents from signing consent forms for an independent evaluation. It's just a game that they play to intimidate and/or drag things out in hopes that you will give up and go away.

Hanging kids upside down by their ankles for 3 weeks for independent evaluations would be quite a sight to see at your school. It would be something that you will always remember.

What would it be like to show up to school one day to see students hanging upside down by their ankles with a sign that read, "Fox C-6 Independent Evaluations in progress for the next 3 weeks!"?

For me, the former Fox C-6 School District attorney's comments at our August 2008 meeting were the catalyst that got me looking into the things going on in our district and making sure that what was going on got straightened out. Most parents probably don't want to have their children hung upside down by their ankles for 3 weeks for an independent evaluation. The thought of doing so can get your adrenaline flowing.

Comments made by the district attorney and Fox administrators were also enough motivation for me to run 90 miles on the Katy Trail to the state capitol in Jefferson City, MO in May 2009. I ran there to meet with state legislators and to raise awareness and ensure that the Allergy Prevention and Response Bill HB 922 would pass and get signed into law. Plus I needed to burn off a little energy because of the comments being made in our meetings, which I believe would make any parent mad.

It's ironic that "acting" superintendent Tim Crutchley announced at the October 21, 2014 Fox C-6 school board meeting that Fox had just hosted a Cyber Bullying summit for area schools the day before the board meeting. It's even more ironic when you've been one of the people cyber bullied by district personnel. I've been getting attacked for the last 4+ years because we asked for a Section 504 plan from our school district.

I can certainly tell you that comments like some of those made during Section 504 meetings by attorneys, administrators, nurses and staff will stick with you for a lifetime! That's why it's so important to audio record your meetings so you can preserve the nonsense that occurs in those meetings. Without documenting what really goes on in those meetings, it's just your word against theirs especially when Fox C-6 school board members don't want to believe that type of behavior is happening in their district.

It only took 6 years for the Fox C-6 district to fire the former law firm and properly provide Section 504 plans for students in the district with medical disabilities.

You have to wonder how many parents were put through this type of behavior over the years from a "National District of Character".

There's plenty of proof that it was happening and hearing is believing!
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