Second Appointment to View I-SS Records

After communicating with Mr. Neal Ramee, the I-SS attorney whose office is in Raleigh, I was granted an appointment to view some more I-SS records. The appointment was this past Wednesday (7/1/09). The records were in the conference room and I-SS had an observer in the room with me. Actually there were several observers as each one would stay for about a half an hour and then be relieved by the next person. I guess they wanted me to feel like I was in after-school detention. In reality, it did not bother me and I could see some reasoning for it since I did have access to some original school documents.

I just hope that Dr. Holliday doesn’t chastise me at the next School Board, as he did at the last Board meeting. As I mentioned in a previous post, Dr. Holliday accused me of forcing I-SS to spend $5,000.00 in attorney fees and staff time to respond to my requests for public records. Of course he failed to mention that federal law, state law, and even school policy gives me the right to ask for access to school records. This time he will probably state how much it cost to have school staff observe me while I examined the records.

Again, not all the records I requested were made available. They are still collecting some of the records. Also, I did not have time to look at all the records provided so I have already asked Mr. Ramee for another appointment.

The first documents I looked at were the I-SS Organizational charts. I had asked to see the I-SS Administrative Organizational Charts from 2001 to the present. Mr. Ramee had told me that they would be available but the charts for several school years were missing. There was one from May 2001 but the next one was dated March 2005. I don’t know if the ones from 2002, 2003, and 2004 no longer exist or if someone just did not want me to see them. I was hoping to see how quickly the number of Central Office Administrators increased over the years that Dr. Holliday was superintendent. I have asked Mr. Ramee to have I-SS produce all the charts that I requested.

I spent most of my time looking at the invoices from Jim Shipley and Associates (JSA) dated from August 2003 up to June 2005. In that two-year period, I-SS paid JSA $90,739.97 for Baldrige materials and training. Included in that amount was payment to JSA to have Brenda Clark provide training and consulting for a total of 10 days at $1,800.00 per day and a total of 10 more days at $2,050.00 per day. Also included was payment to JSA to have Marty Moore provide training and consulting for a total of 9 days at $1,800.00 per day. This also meant that I-SS had to pay all the travel expenses for Ms. Clark to make 7 trips to Iredell County and for Ms. Clark to make 2 trips to Iredell County. (Of course, I-SS is now paying Ms. Clark $129,900.00 a year and Ms. Moore $105,000.00 a year as employees.) There was also a registration payment of $495.00 to JSA in April 2004 for five I-SS administrators (Holliday, Lane, Hill, Dorton, and Allred) to attend a Baldrige seminar that was held in Florida. Since the travel expenses were not paid to JSA there was no invoice for the cost to send 5 administrators to Florida for the seminar. Even at 2004 prices it was probably no small amount.

While other school systems are spending their funds to make sure students have the supplies and technology needed for learning in the twenty-first century, I-SS spends hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even more, to adapt a twentieth century business model to education.

Second Letter from Mr. Ramee

I mentioned in a previous post that the letter I sent to Mr. Neal Ramee had crossed in the mail with the letter that Mr. Ramee had sent to me. Mr. Ramee is the I-SS attorney in Raleigh that Dr. Holliday has directed me to contact in place of any I-SS administrator. Earlier this week I received a letter from Mr. Ramee in response to my letter to him. He started off by reiterating the things he mentioned in his previous letter and then went on to respond to my additional requests.

One of my requests was for I-SS to provide documentation that would show that the administration was following School policy that states that a designated electronics officer was ensuring that the computer databases were being indexed as required by law. Mr. Ramee responded by saying that I-SS does not have to prove or disprove an assertion and unless I am able to ask for a specific document I-SS is not under any obligation to respond.

I had also asked to see all requisitions for supplies and services from Jim Shipley & Associates (JSA). After seeing some of the invoices from JSA I figured that there must have been requisitions corresponding to those invoices. Mr. Ramee told me that no such 'requisitions' exist. I have since learned that I-SS does not use a form called a 'Requisition Form' but rather use an 'Authorization Order Form.' Thus I did not ask for the correct forms. I will now have to ask to see those 'Authorization' forms.

Another request I had was to see invoices from Mr. William McMillan and his law firm. Mr. Ramee told me that he would have to talk to Mr. McMillan and to I-SS officials before responding to my request.

I had also asked Mr. Ramee to have I-SS inform me how they determined that the charge for copies of public records would be 25 cents a page. He responded that the I-SS had determined that 25 cents per page is a reasonable charge that reflects the actual costs to the school system of providing such copies. The Iredell public library charges 10 cents a page for copies. I don't see how I-SS can justify 25 cents a page but I guess I just have to accept it.

In a previous post I mentioned that Dr. Holliday had directed me to leave the Central Office when I went there to pick up copies of public records. I asked Mr. Ramee to direct I-SS officials that if someone is at a school building for a legal and rightful purpose, that that person cannot be told to leave the building. Mr. Ramee responded that I could rest assured that I will be granted such access so long as I have an appointment for a specific time, date and place confirmed in advance through him.

I am now going to ask for an appointment to view the records I have requested as well as ask to see additional records.

Letters To and From Mr. Ramee

As I mentioned in a previous post, I-SS administration has told me that if in the future, I would like additional information or have further questions, I am to contact Mr. Neal Ramee of Tharrington Smith, LLP, Attorneys at Law, whose office is in Raleigh. I mailed a letter to Neal Ramee yesterday morning. In my letter I outlined some of my previous requests for I-SS records, and I included a couple of new requests. As it turns out, I received a letter from Mr. Ramee yesterday afternoon. Obviously, someone at I-SS had contacted Mr. Ramee to ask about some of my requests for public records. In his letter to me, Mr. Ramee stated that the invoices from Shipley & Associates to I-SS between January 2002 and September 2007 have been compiled and are ready for me to inspect. I am to contact him to make an appointment to review them. In my letter to Mr. Ramee I stated that I had asked to see the invoices and the corresponding requisitions. So, I am going to wait until he gets my letter before I ask for an appointment. Mr. Ramee also stated that the school system is working diligently to compile the remaining consulting contracts that I had ask to inspect. Lastly, Mr. Ramee advised me that a comprehensive database index is in development. Apparently he told the school system they had to comply with my requests to see school records. This could have been much simpler for all, and cheaper for the school system, if they had just followed the public record laws and I-SS policy to begin with.

Banished From the Central Office

I spoke during the public comment section of this evening's Board Meeting. I am inserting the text of what I said.

My name is Paul Klaene. Thank you for allowing me to speak this evening.

Last Thursday, I had an appointment to view certain school records. I was instructed to mark any pages I wanted copied and that those copies would be available to pick up today. I did mark a number of pages to be copied. Today, when I went to the Central Office to pick up the copies, I was told that there would be a cost of $18.00. I tried to explain to Dawn Creason that there should be no charge since I-SS policy states that when a person first requests copies of school records, he will be told the cost for copies. When I first asked for copies of school records in January, Mr. Ellis told me that there would be no charge for copies. As I was trying to explain this to Ms. Creason, Dr. Holliday walked up to me and very gruffly told to leave the building. When I calmly tried to explain myself, he again directed me to leave the building. He did allow me to pay for my copies before leaving. Attached to the copies there was a note stating that if, in the future, I would like additional information or have further questions, I am to contact the school attorney, Mr. Neal Ramee whose office is in Raleigh.

One of the records I wanted to see last Thursday was the I-SS computer database indexes. I was told that the indexes were not available. As you know, NC state law and I-SS Policy requires that all computer database indexes should be made available to individuals requesting public records. I first requested public records in January of this year, and I specifically asked for a copy of the database indexes two months ago but I have not yet received them. As I stated last month, I am asking the Board to direct the school administration to expedite my request for these indexes as well as my other requests for public records to which the administration has not yet responded.

Last Friday, I sent an e-mail to Mrs. Wike asking for an appointment to examine additional school records on Thursday of this week. I have not heard back from Mrs. Wike. Will I be allowed to view those records at that time?

NC state law and school policy give me a right to examine school records. No school employee should be allowed to impede that right.

Let me also add that my grandson was with me today when I went to pick up those copies. When we got back to the car my grandson asked: who was that mean man? My grandson is a first grader at Third Creek elementary and that is now his impression of the Superintendent.

During Dr. Holliday's time to comment at the end of the meeting he stated that he had directed all of his staff not to have any contact with me and that he had told me to direct my requests through the attorney, Mr. Ramee, so that they could make sure that they comply with the Freedom of Information Act. Dr. Holliday also stated that my request for information had cost I-SS $5,000.00 in staff time and attorney's fees.

If the administration had just complied with my requests for public records as required under the Freedom of Information act and NC state law they could have saved a lot of money. I-SS has been retaining the services of Mr. McMillan here in Statesville and now they are going to hire an attorney in Raleigh. Dr. Holliday is the one causing the system to spend all of this money, not me.

Viewing Documents

The I-SS administration is up to its same old tricks. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Janey Munday and I had made an appointment with Mrs. Wike, I-SS Financial Officer, to view a number of the School’s financial documents. Janey and I went to the Central Office yesterday (Thursday) to see the documents. The first item we saw was a note that was presumably from Mrs. Wike. The note was to inform us that not all of the requested documents would be available for viewing. The 2007-08 audit report and the invoices from Jim Shipley and Associates were provided. However, only some of the consulting contracts were made available. In the note it was relayed that the staff pulled all the contracts they could during the time they had to work on this task.

The database indexes that I have been requesting were unavailable. We were informed in the note that the index is currently incomplete and that after consulting with 25 other school districts and municipalities the Central Office could find no other entity that has the index completed and available. In addition it was stated that the district is currently working with legal council and NC Dept. of Cultural Resources, Archives and Records division to complete the work necessary to fulfill the legal requirements of the database index. I asked for a copy of the database indexes two months ago. State law and I-SS policy both state that the indexes are to be available to anyone requesting public records. Why is the administration just now starting to work on getting this information together?

In viewing the audit report I could find nothing out of the ordinary. Of course, I am not a CPA. I was hoping to find some indication as to how much I-SS spends on central office administrative costs but it seemed like that information was comingled with all the other budgetary data. I did request that they provide copies of some of the pages so I could look over the information again. The consulting contracts that were available were mostly architectural contracts. The few other contracts seemed relatively minor.

The most interesting information was what Janey found contained in the invoices from Jim Shipley and Associates (JSA). JSA is a big supplier of Baldrige information, supplies, and services. In the last two years I-SS has spent some $20,000.00 with JSA. Some of it was for supplies, but I-SS also arranged for JSA to have Brenda Clark provide consulting services for 2 days at $1000.00 per day and to have Marty Moore provide consulting service for several days at $1800.00 per day. I-SS also paid for their travel expenses. Since that time Brenda Clark and Marty Moore have been hired as I-SS Central Office administrators. Dr. Holliday does like to hire his Baldrige cronies even if he has to create a new administrative position to do so.

Janey and I plan to go back to the Central Office next Thursday to view the documents that were not available yesterday as well as some additional invoices from JSA. I wonder what excuses the administration will have at that time.

This post was written by Paul Klaene.

Appointment to Examine Records

Renee Dulin, Janey Munday, and I have been making plans to go to the Central Office and view some of the I-SS financial documents. Renee and I were planning to go Thursday of this week and Janey and I were going to go next Thursday. Renee called and tried to schedule for this Thursday but she received word that Mrs. Wike, I-SS Financial Officer, would be busy this week as she was preparing for the annual audit. Since we could not go in and examine the documents this week, Renee and I decided to meet at the Statesville Library and share the information that we each had been accumulating. It was interesting to see that we each had several letters from the I-SS attorney, Mr. William McMillan, with regard to information we had requested. Who knows how much money the administration could have saved if they had simply provided the information requested.

I called Mrs. Wike this morning (Friday) to schedule an appointment for Janey and me to examine documents. As Mrs. Wike was in a meeting, I left a message saying that Janey and I would like to examine the following documents next Thursday: the 2008 audit report, all invoices from Jim Shipley and Associates for the last two years, all I-SS database indexes, and all consulting contracts between I-SS and any business, organization, individual, or group of individuals from January 2002 until the present. Renee wants us to look at the audit report, Janey wants to look at the invoices, and I want to look at the indexes and contracts. This afternoon, I received a call from Dawn Creason, I-SS Public Relations Director, and she told me they would have the documents ready for us to examine next Thursday.

An interesting note is that, not only are they going to have the database indexes that I have been requesting for some time, they are also going to have the consulting contracts available for inspection. Just a couple of weeks ago I received a letter from the I-SS attorney telling me that I would have to pay $2,000.00 for the staff to research and accumulate the consulting contracts. That was based on 40 hours of staff time at $50.00 per hour. I had responded to Mr. McMillan that I should not have to pay for those contracts since they were existing records and NC State law states that agencies must provide copies of existing public records at a minimal cost, which is defined as the actual cost of reproducing the public record. I have not yet heard back from Mr. McMillan.

In order to try to get the administration to follow state law I also sent an e-mail yesterday to the Board members, several administrators, and the school attorney. The text of the e-mail is inserted below.

Since many of you don't seem to be aware of the NC State law with regard to accessing public records I am providing a web address that will take you to the relevant section of NC State Law. When someone asks for access to public records you cannot deny access, or charge a fee, because that information is hard to find, or it is stored off site, or you have to redact confidential information. I ask that all of you carefully study the law so that, when in the future, someone asks for access to, or copies of, public records, he or she will not get the run around as I have been getting for the last several months.

Web address for access to section of NC law regarding public records.

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/ByChapter/Chapter_132.html

I don’t know if my response to Mr. McMillan or if my e-mail made a difference. I am just glad that the administration is finally allowing access to the requested information. There is other information I have asked for and not yet received but hopefully this will get Renee, Janey, and I some of the information we are looking for. I will write a post next week and let every one know what we find out.

Computer Database Indexes

As I have mentioned in a previous entry, I have been trying for some time to have I-SS provide me with copies of all computer database indexes. Both I-SS policy and NC State law state that these indexes should be made available to anyone asking for public records. The following is the relevant section of the NC State law.

The index shall be a public record and shall include, at a minimum, the following information with respect to each database listed therein: a list of the data fields; a description of the format or record layout; information as to the frequency with which the database is updated; a list of any data fields to which public access is restricted; a description of each form in which the database can be copied or reproduced using the agency's computer facilities; and a schedule of fees for the production of copies in each available form.

Today, Wednesday, I received a letter from Dawn Creason, I-SS Public Information Officer, stating that I could stop by the Central Office and pick up a copy of all I-SS database indexes. Of course I went right over to the office to pick up the copies. What I received was not the indexes but rather a list of 12 database names and a brief description of each database. I then called Dawn and stated that what I received was not acceptable. She said that she would look into the matter and get back to me. I have not yet heard back from her. I also sent an e-mail to Dawn, Dr. Holliday, the Board members, and the school attorney in which I outlined the situation and included the State law section I have inserted above. Once again, the I-SS administration continues stonewalling my requests for public records.

This post was written by Paul Klaene.