OK, folks, it is way past time for y'all to get schooled.
Please spare us the silent treatment, the rolled eyes and the huffing and puffing displays of umbrage. You are not teenagers anymore, nor are we. Spare us also the baseless accusations that some School Board members and concerned citizens have "agendas" just because we might disagree with you or your board's leadership. You are dealing with our children, our tax dollars and our jobs. It doesn't get any more personal than this.
Just fold your hands and try to listen up. You were elected to do a job. This means you are supposed to work for "We, the People" who elected you, "We the People" who pay the tax dollars that you throw around like monopoly money. If you are unclear on your duties, click HERE. And yes, there will be a final exam next Election Day. Think of it as a high-stakes test.
More's the pity that prior to The Baltimore Sun's report Friday that the Maryland State Prosecutor’s Office launched a criminal investigation of S. Dallas Dance, former Superintendent of Baltimore County Schools, and inside favorite to become Richmond's next superintendent, we had trouble right here in RVA. And at least two of you -- the chair, Dawn Page and vice-chair, Patrick Sapini, 5th District -- knew that interim Superintendent Thomas (Tommy) Kranz had signed a month-to-month agreement in July to pay Dance $12,500 per month to serve as a consultant to RPS. And your lawyers knew.
When I saw Page at a candidate's forum at Trinity Baptist Church Tuesday (9/26/17) night, I asked her when she knew that Dance had been given a contract. She responded: "You already know the answer to that question." I said that I did not know the answer, "if I did, I would not need to ask it." She responded: You already know the answer." Again, I said I that I did not know: "I know you knew, I just don't know when you knew." She then turned her back to me and started to talking to someone else. I waited. When she finished, I asked my question again and three times in a row her answer remained the same: "You already know the answer."
And yet, neither your board leadership, Kranz nor your lawyers brought this information to you as a full board in a timely manner -- as is required by RPS' own purchasing and procurement procedures. Moreover, this agreement to pay Dance was never put out for bid nor competitively negotiated as the Code of Virginia, specifically the Virginia Public Procurement Act (VPPA), requires.
§ 2.2-4303. Methods of procurement.
A. All public contracts with nongovernmental contractors for the purchase or lease of goods, or for the purchase of services, insurance, or construction, shall be awarded after competitive sealed bidding, or competitive negotiation as provided in this section, unless otherwise authorized by law.
B. Professional services shall be procured by competitive negotiation.
C. Goods, services other than professional services, and insurance may be procured by competitive sealed bidding or competitive negotiation.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch quotes Cindy Menz-Erb, the representative your board appointed to the 3rd District seat after former 3rd District member and former chair, Jeffrey Bourne, won election to the Virginia General Assembly House of Delegates. For reasons no one in the 3rd District truly understands, you chose her even though she had only been living in Virginia, and in the Third District, for six months. Six months.
Her calls for "legislation that increases transparency" reveal a fundamental ignorance of the laws and procedures already in place. Here's the real deal -- you don't need to *find* legislation that speaks to the hiring of consultants or increases transparency.
You already have what you need, you just need to enforce the laws and policies you already have. Check out the Virginia Code (Duties of School Board members), the Virginia Public Procurement Act (VPPA) and RPS' own policies. Those purchasing procedures already require the Superintendent to inform the Board of the full details of contracts signed at the very next meeting of your board.
Maybe you need to stay late after the next School Board meeting and take turns reading your duties and the laws aloud to one another. Slowly. One of the SB's constitutionally vested duties, in fact the very first duty you swore oaths to uphold, is to make sure the laws and procedures are enforced.
Thank goodness, Kenya Gibson, Erb's opponent for the 3rd District seat understands that what is at stake here goes beyond enacting new laws. "The stakes here are clear: Richmonders deserve transparency in governance, and they deserve democratic control of the resources that are invested in our schools. School investment should be publicly governed and it should always put the needs of the students first."
Just make sure the laws are enforced. Your high-priced lawyers need to remember that you are the client. If anyone is to share responsibility, be held accountable and/or blamed here for this mess, it is your board and your lawyers. Take a look at the contracts and agreements I received in response to my latest FOIA from your office. CLICK HERE to view the employment agreements and compensation of each.
Victoria Oakley: $142,576.38 (PART-TIME)
Mieko Timmons: $85,708.62 Senior Advisor
Cozette McIntyre: NO SALARY LISTED
Valarie Dupree: $72,862 duties not listed
Nelson Colbert: $24,064 duties not listed
Bernette Johnson: $50 PER HOUR Temporary Talent Coordinator
Mark Pasier: $140,014 Interim Human resources director
Thomas Kranz: $166,903.80 (FULL-TIME Interim Superintendent)To describe the agreements/contracts as sloppy, nonsensical and of dubious legal value is kind.
Granted, you are all new to the RPS School Board, except Page. You barely had time to warm up your seats and figure out how your microphones worked when you decided to fire the current Supt. Dana Bedden. Only Scott Barlow from the 2nd District had the backbone and brains to stand alone on this vote. Menz-Erb, who could have reasonably abstained from that vote since she had only been on the board for a few days, chose instead to go along with the "group-think" and vote to get rid of Bedden.
Never mind that your board did this without giving Bedden the courtesy of a job review (something you are required to do by your own policies), never mind that you did it in the middle of SOL testing and budget negotiations. And never mind that you have still not answered any of our questions.
Little wonder then that the way your board dealt with this left many parents, teachers, education activists and community leaders, insulted and angry. People were truly shocked with the high-handed-behind closed-doors way you fired Bedden and then paid out more than $300,000 STFU money to him with nary a word of explanation.
And then you hired a head-hunter firm for $50,000 to find out what "We, the People" want in a superintendent and to find suitable candidates. Click HERE to see what that $50,000 bought us.
It should be no surprise to anyone that your disrespect and addiction to secrecy ignited unprecedented levels of distrust and suspicion. The days of telling teachers, parents and activists not to worry about what is going on and to trust that you have our best interests at heart are long gone. Long. Gone.
You appointed a "Superintendent Search Committee" comprised of many of the same people who routinely are called upon to weigh in on a variety of issues. Click HERE to see the list. Many thanks to RVA.Dirt and Jessee & Melissa who researched each of your appointees.
Suffice to say, we are all shocked, saddened and sickened by the utter lack of transparency and disregard for RPS purchasing procedures and the VPPA that your board repeatedly demonstrates. Your individual and collective ignorance is no excuse for failing to uphold your oaths of office in which you promised to be wise fiscal stewards and to uphold all federal, state and City of Richmond laws and policies.
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