(Note: Turn on your computer sound. There are two .mp3 file links in this post.)
This might have been a group photo of the School District 271 Trustees at the 2008 budget hearing held last Monday night. The District’s Chief Financial Officer Steve Briggs seemed very uneasy as he rushed through the budget presentation. (The screaming in the background may be School Board Clerk Lynn Towne trying to keep the minutes.) His unease was unnecessary. The Trustees lobbed only a few NERF ball questions. The budget meeting was recorded for video presentation on Coeur d’Alene cable channel 19.
The important news points from the Monday budget meeting were reported accurately by staff writer Maureen Dolan’s article headlined District: Special ed led to shortage in the Tuesday, June 10, 2008, Coeur d’Alene Press. The $1.075 million deficit occurred because individual principals had been allowed to negotiate the special education contracts with outside contractors. The contracts arrived at District headquarters as purchase orders rather than contracts. One Trustee remarked that now the District will start reading the documents before signing off on them. Good idea.
Then on Tuesday, June 20, recently-appointed Superintendent Hazel Bauman met with approximately 20-30 citizens at the Midtown Meeting Center. The meeting announcements made it very clear that Bauman hoped attendees would include those most vocally and publicly opposed to the levy. Her hope was realized.
Maureen Dolan’s article Forum tackles district woes in the Wednesday, June 11, 2008, Coeur d’Alene Press does a reasonably good job reporting the reasons for opposition and the intensity of those who opposed the levy. Citizen Jim Ballew’s comments regarding the District’s exceedingly generous plans contract with Patano Architects received a round of head nods and some vocal assent from the other citizens. There were also questions and comments relating to curriculum content, the availability of impact fees for District use, suggestions to sell unbuildable land and accumulate the proceeds to purchase land needed to build schools, and the need for the school district administrators to interact with state legislators about school administration, particularly school funding.
At the end of Tuesday’s forum, Bauman noted she would like to meet with the citizens some time to get more positive comment. That surprised many in the audience. Many of us felt the comments had been positive in explaining why the levy failed. That was the stated purpose of the forum.
Jim Ballew and Mary Souza recommended strongly that a certified, independent outside audit of the District’s business records is essential. We don’t know the extent of earlier audits. With the District’s contract administration practices being reasonably questioned, I recommend the audit should also be a forensic audit. While a forensic audit is more costly, it will give Bauman a baseline accounting of the District’s finances and business practices. It will identify existing and latent problem areas that she and the District needs to address. The forensic audit ought to give the District specific guidance when it enters into any land exchange transactions. If the slate Bauman inherited isn’t entirely clean, she deserves to know that and have an opportunity to correct it.
Bauman seems to understand that the District (its administration and trustees) need to work diligently to re-establish a trust relationship with the public. My suggestion to help achieve that end would be to maintain a very arms-length relationship with the City of Coeur d’Alene and both the Lake City Development Corporation and the Hayden Urban Renewal District. Professional interaction is appropriate and desirable; cuddling is not.
We should all hope that if Hazel Bauman could appear on the game show What’s My Line?, the panelists would quickly discern she is a strong and qualified school administrator. As for Steve Briggs, if he ever decides to leave school administration, this could be a promising career.
They failed. Miserably. No controls on millions in contracts. Sad. Waste, fraud or abuse. Heads ought to roll.
Comment by Pariah — June 11, 2008 @ 4:52 pm
A thorough audit completed by other than their regular firm (M-Mc)is mandatory.
Comment by cda_foodies — June 11, 2008 @ 6:37 pm
Pariah and cda_foodies,
Thanks for the comments.
The forensic audit does not presume criminal misconduct. In fact, there really is no one universally accepted definition for forensic accounting. The most reasonable definition is in the link in my post. The objective is to first figure out what happened, by whom, when, and why. Second, Bauman needs to use whatever reliable information she can get to put the District back in order. That benefits the students as well as the taxpayers. The District really needs to be careful of entanglements that may look and be innocent now but turn corrupt once the hook has been set. The District also needs to consider that some of the people it might deal with from the City and the LCDC and the Hayden URA may not necessarily put the quality of education of the students above personal profit.
Bauman and even the School Board to whom she reports deserve a chance to straighten the District out. I hope she heard from the forum yesterday that even the harshest critics of the levy want that outcome and are willing to work with her to help that happen.
Comment by Bill — June 11, 2008 @ 7:08 pm
As for the first public forum meeting yesterday, it went quite well. However, the comment that at the next meeting more positive items should be brought forward and that is fine. But I don’t think enough has been said to Hazel and the Board.
Hazel wants to have more meeting over the summer at different times and at different venues around town, this is great. However, there should be a couple more “What is wrong with the district? Q & A Sessions before the totally positive ideas are batted around. Other people at these different venues need to get involved and probably will have different “What is wrong with the district” Q & As. The hour and half meeting was a great start but the meeting ended with other people wanting to ask questions. That time should be allotted to all people that come to these meetings to voice their concerns. As Hazel stated we went around the district before the levy and told our side of the story –now it is time for the taxpayers to tell their side of the story to the school district.
Not enough was said about Special Ed; the IB program; The Board of Trustees; technology; Medicare billing, there is probably more and Hazel needs to here these concerns. Once all issues and ideas are out on the table then and only then can an effective dialogue truly begin between the school district and the patrons.
Thanks, Hazel for establishing these meetings but you need to hear a little more from the patrons.
Comment by ShyAnn — June 11, 2008 @ 9:53 pm
So did Hazel feel beat up? That’s the way I took her “more positive” comment. I wouldn’t mind holding a “more positive” meeting, but The Powers That Be need to understand that I will always be honest in my opinions. I can promise them no less. 🙂
Comment by Dan — June 11, 2008 @ 10:33 pm
ShyAnn,
At the forum you heard Dan say something that applies here as well as in Boise. Someone commented about the lobbyists’ influences on legislators in Boise. Dan replied that our legislators genuinely want personal input from constituents. If the only voices legislators hear are from lobbyists, then we should not be surprised when the lobbyists’ positions are advocated.
It’s the same in the school district. If the only voices the District administrators and board members hear are from position advocates (e.g., Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Association, Concerned Businesses of North Idaho, the Coeur d’Alene City Council, the LCDC, parents of special needs children, etc.), we shouldn’t be surprised if those positions get the action. The District administrators and board need regular and thoughtful input from the community, including from people who have no children or grandchildren in the school district. People need to attend school board meetings. We need to insist that public policy be made in truly public meetings reasonably accessible to us. We need to make Idaho Public Records Law requests to Lynn Towne if that’s what it takes to get information.
We need to regularly remind all of our elected officials, and that includes school board members, they are the hired help; they are not the government. The government is all of us unless we simply give away our privilege to participate by not participating. My observation is that here in Coeur d’Alene, some dishonest public officials, both elected and appointed, have not stolen government from us; we have willingly given it away by not paying attention to what they’re doing. We trusted them too much more because of their longevity in the community and their “face time” (name and face recognition) than because of their competence. Low voter turnout at elections is an indicator of indifference, not approval or disapproval of candidates or issues.
Comment by Bill — June 12, 2008 @ 7:53 am
Bill, how right you are. It is the apathy of this community that lets these elected and non-elected officials steam roll their agendas through and then their agends become law and we as taxpayers are taxed.
I thought the forum meeting on Tuesday for the school distict was a great beginning to explore problems and find solutions between the school district and the patrons. I feel Hazel needs to hear more ideas from the public before “the more positive” comments are addressed- this was a good start but the discussions aren’t over yet. If these forum meetings are going to be held throughout the district, then there should be other questions from those people in those areas. I still want Hazel and her regime to hear the patrons of this district. Each patron has a right to voice their opinion positive or negative regarding what is happening throughout the school district. If Hazel feels like she was being “beaten up” sorry! We as taxpayers have taken the school district antics on the chin for too long. The forum was good, people spoke up and Hazel listened, as she promised she would do after the defeat of the levy. Waiting for the next forum meeting. Hoping that more patrons attend and voice your concerns. Please get involved and make a difference.
Comment by ShyAnn — June 12, 2008 @ 7:16 pm