They have secrets (and want to keep them)

Supervisor of Records
Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth
McCormack Building, Room 1719
One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108
5/9/2011

Dear Mr. Cote,
I wish to appeal the recent decision by the Amherst public Schools denying my documents request for separation agreements with (now former) employees that cost local taxpayers tens (possibly hundreds) of thousands of dollars.

Months earlier I made the same request of the Town Manager and Amherst Select Board (town employees are legally separate from school employees) which town officials initially balked at providing, but town attorney Joel Bard ruled the request fell within the parameters of public documents law and I was reluctantly provided the material--some of it potentially embarrassing.

I also find it odd that the schools would turn over the settlement agreement of former Superintendent Alberto Rodriguez but none of the others (and at this point I have no idea how many others exist.) It only takes one white crow to disprove the theory all crows are black.

And if all of the other settlements agreements are the result of internal discipline regarding the performance of a school teacher and as such is "personnel . . . information" within the meaning of G. L. c. 4, s. 7, Twenty-sixth (c) [797-799], therefor exempt from disclosure under the public records law, G. L. c. 66, s. 10 [799-800] then why did the those employees receive hefty settlements paid for with tax dollars?

Larry Kelley


To: Gerykm@arps.org, mazurk@arps.org
Sent: Thu, Apr 7, 2011 12:15 pm
Subject: Public Documents Request

Could I please get any and all separation, severance, transition, or settlement agreements made since January 1, 2005 between the Schools (both Amherst elementary and Regional HS) employees that include compensation, benefits, or other payments worth more than $5,000.

Thanks.
LK


Sent: Thu, Apr 28, 2011 2:36 pm
Subject: Re: Public Documents Request
Dear Larry,

Based on advice by our school attorney and the districts' contact with the Massachusetts Office of Public Records, we are enclosing a copy of the Settlement Agreement of Alberto Rodriguez. However, as to the other documents you are seeking, it is the position of the districts that these documents are not public record per the Wakefield decision and the districts do not feel they can be released.

Sincerely,

Kath

Kathryn Mazur
Director of Human Resources
Amherst-Pelham Regional
School District

Now that's more like it

So apparently the Schools attorney had second thoughts after firing off the previous letter to Regional Chair Farshid Hajir and sent a kinder, gentler note not too long after:


From: Gini Tate
Date: Fri, Dec 18, 2009 at 7:43 AM
Subject: Our conversation
To: Farshid Hajir
Cc: Kathy Mazur, Maria Geryk

Hello Farshid,

Thank you for the frank and open discussion the other night; I think it was very helpful.

The purpose of this email is to confirm our discussion of Wednesday, December 16th. During that discussion, I indicated that if the Committee were to review the firm, its services, costs and accessibility in good faith with an open mind, and if the Committee felt that despite everything that has transpired, it could have and/or develop trust with my firm, such that it would be a viable attorney-client relationship, then the firm would be willing and interested in being one of the firms reviewed by the legal services subcommittee.

Gini

Regina Williams Tate
Murphy, Hesse, Toomey and Lehane, LLP

Yet another shake up in the schools?

So our School Committees are rethinking expensive legal services for the four-town Regional High School (Amherst, Pelham, Leverett and Shutesbury) and Amherst Schools (comprising over 75% of the Regional) and, you know, wish to seek proposals for their lucrative "business" which state law requires for any supplies or service over $5,000--except of course for attorneys or superintendents who coincidentally all seem to cost taxpayers well over $100,000 annually.

The current firm, who has been handling legal advice forever, balked at the idea of entering a competition to maintain their lucrative contract; attorney Regina Tate sent (12/4/09) an "I object!" insubordinate letter to at the time newbie Region Chair Farshid Hajir, who apparently rolled over like a beaten puppy.

"I received your emails dated November 19,2009 in which you indicated that the school Committees are engaged in the periodic review of the services and costs of legal counsel, and you asked for the submission of materials. In view of the fact that none of the School Committees has ever engaged in a "periodic review" of legal counsel services and costs during the entire time this firm has represented the school districts, I have assumed that the School Committees are actually searching for new counsel.

On behalf of Murphy, Hesse, Toomey and Lehane, I wish to inform the School Committees that the firm will not be applying to continue as counsel."

She goes on (and you gotta hope she did not bill us for her time producing this insubordinate missive): "It is clear to me that the positive relationship which I have enjoyed in the past, and which enabled me to produce excellent results for the Committees, is probably not possible."

A small business owner would not have gotten beyond the first paragraph before picking up the phone and bellowing Donald Trump's patented line, "You're fired!"