Shining A Light

Amherst Regional School Committee "retreat" 8/14/14

So yes, I probably should have been a jerk and required the Amherst Pelham Regional School Committee to hold a special meeting just for me -- after all, fulfilling your duties to the Open Meeting Law is important no matter how trivial the detail.

Perhaps why a legal friend of mine describes me as a "strict constructionist" (well, at least most of the time).  It would also have drawn more attention to the issue so that maybe even my friends in the diffident mainstream media would cover it.

The Regional School Committee went into Executive Session at their 8/26 meeting to rubber stamp generous raises for School Superintendent Maria Geryk and her new Assistant Superintendent Mike Morris.

It will be interesting to see the "discussion" minutes.  I honestly wonder if any of them considered the not overly melodious message these generous raises send to the rank and file, who grudgingly get sometimes less than the rate of inflation.

Ready...Aim...

I think perhaps my daughter Kira will start backing up my Public Documents requests from now on.

What price public documents?

Shawn Williams, Assistant Director
Public Records Division
McCormack Building, Room 1719
One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108

8/22/2011

Dear Mr. Williams,

First off, my sincere condolences on the loss of Director Alan Cote. He was a true champion of keeping records open and available to the general public, a thankless and--unfortunately in Massachusetts--never ending job.

I'm aware your office seldom refers matters to the Attorney General for further action these days, but I'm requesting you do exactly that with the case of the Amherst Schools obstinately defying your order to produce 13 settlement agreements with public employees costing Amherst taxpayers $200,000 over the past five years.

As I understand it only two options now exist for overcoming this willful roadblock: referring the matter to the AG by your office for enforcement of your original order, or I can bring the matter to Superior Court such as the Boston Globe has done with an almost identical case.

Unfortunately option #2 will cost me $275 plus the additional cost as an Amherst taxpayer when the schools use attorney Regina Tate at $220/hour to defend their case.

It seems the Amherst Schools are using South Hadley as an example for doing the public's business: as secretly as possible. Please, do not allow them to be rewarded for this unethical pattern of behavior.

Sincerely Yours,

Larry Kelley
596 South Pleasant St
Amherst, Ma 01002
413 256-0491

Call in the Cavalry

Alan Cote, Supervisor of Records
Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth
McCormack Building, Room 1719
One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108
8/15/2011

Dear Mr. Cote,

I am requesting further assistance from the Public Records Division concerning my previous public documents request of the Amherst Schools for employee settlement agreements over the past five years with a value greater than $5,000.

In a 7/20/2011 letter to the Amherst schools your office, responding to my 4/7/11 appeal request, found in my favor saying, "The school has failed to show that the responsive separation agreements include personal information sufficient enough to withhold the agreements in their entirety under Exemption (C)."

On 8/2/2011 I met with Amherst School Superintendent Maria Geryk and Human Resources Director Kathy Mazur to pick up the documents. The Amherst officials, however, refused to provide any of the 13 settlement agreements, offering instead a "summary" with no names, job titles, dates or any other information besides the total amount of each individual settlement (document attached).

Could your office please issue another administrative order clarifying for the schools how to properly comply with your original order to provide the settlement agreements in question? As always, thank you for working to maintain transparency within our government.

Larry Kelley
596 South Pleasant St.
Amherst, Ma 01002

Settlement Agreement Summary

My Meet-and-Greet with Maria

So no, Attorney Regina Tate was not present for our mid-afternoon pow-wow yesterday in the Superintendent's office...well, at least not in a physical sense. But her spiritual presence was overpowering.

Under additional $220/hour advice from Attorney Tate, the schools defied the official ruling of the state Public Records Division by continuing to withhold the (13) employee settlement agreements.

What little they did give me indicates payouts of almost $200,000 over the past five years.

Settlement Agreement Summary Click link

Detention?

From: Kathy Mazur
To: amherstac@aol.com
Sent: Fri, Jul 29, 2011 2:07 pm
Subject: Tuesday

Hi Larry - Can you please meet with Maria and me at 3 pm next Tuesday? I expect to have the settlement information ready at that time, and Maria and I would like to be able to answer any questions you might have, as well as have an opportunity for us to provide some context for the settlements. Thanks, Kathy
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I feel a bit like the petulant school child sent to the principal's office for discipline, or what the Chinese government refers to as "retraining." Stimulates not-so-fond memories from St. Michael's Catholic school in Northampton, where the first line of offense was a brief stay in the cramped cloakroom.

Of course the ironic thing about the Amherst Schools trying to keep these settlement agreements with public employees secret is that by taking flawed legal advice from Attorney Tate and resisting my initial public documents request they have only attracted additional attention to the matter.

Furthermore, had I not published the formal finding from the Public Documents Division spelling out the Schools' mistake, a reader would not have seen the opportunity to forward me documentation regarding the other recent incident where the Schools, acting on bad legal advice, withheld the resume of the "interim" Director of Special Education, thereby earning yet another reprimand from state officials.

Rather than spend taxpayer money on bad legal advice, perhaps the Schools--a $50 million enterprise--should hire an entry level Public Relations advisor to spin positive stories and prevent recurrence of these embarrassing faux pas.

Just say NO

I'm not the only one Attorney Regina Tate advises her client--the Amherst Schools--to deny access to public documents.

Back in March parents with a vested interest in Special Education requested the credentials and certifications of the "interim" (going on two years now) Director of Special Education JoAnn Smith, a $99,612 salaried public employee very much in the "public eye".

Under advice of Nancy Reagan--I mean-- Attorney Regina Tate, the Amherst schools refused to comply by invoking "exception C", the privacy exemption.The petitioner appealed to the Public Records Division and received a telling response earlier this month from staff attorney Lori Sullivan:

I have received your inquiry on the status of your public records appeal. A review of the matter reveals that the Amherst Pelham School District (School District) is withholding teacher and staff credentials/certifications. Our office will have to send an administrative order to the School District to try to get them to comply with the request. Once it is drafted and reviewed by the Assistant Director, it will be mailed to both the School District and to you.

According to easily accessed public records information available online: "Specifically, any relevant degrees and certifications listed on an employee’s resume may be subject to disclosure upon request. Public employees have a diminished expectation of privacy in matters relating to their public employment and the public has a legitimate interest in knowing whether public employees possess the qualifications necessary to perform their jobs."

Seems pretty simply to me. But then, I'm not an expensive Big City lawyer.

"A paramount and prevailing right to know"

Click photos to enlarge/read

Let's hope Amherst Schools' attorney Regina Tate is embarrassed enough by the Public Records Division's official ruling to perhaps feel guilty about billing the client--'We the People'--for such bad advice.

After all, town attorney Joel Bard, a principal with Boston law firm Kopelman and Paige, perused my duplicate request to Town Hall a few months before the Schools and correctly advised Town Manager John Musante to turn over all the requested documents.

I especially like the Public Documents pros addressing the issue of municipal employees outside the "public eye". Attorney Tate seems to think that anything happening beyond the "public eye"--i.e. under cover of darkness--should stay forever buried.

All of those secret deals are now in the realm of the undead.

Behold the power (and treat it with respect)

Secretary of the Commonwealth William Francis Galvin
Public Records Division
McCormack Building, Room 1719
One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108
9/4/09

I wish to file a complaint and request a formal ruling over Amherst Town Manager Larry Shaffer deleting/destroying my electronic comment to his blog, hosted on the official Amherst town taxpayer funded website (http://www.amherstma.gov/), concerning a controversial town owned golf course and the economic impact of recent operations.

‘A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law’ clearly states: “The statutory definition of “public records” does not distinguish between traditional paper records and records stored in the computer medium. Rather, it provides that all information made or received by a public entity, regardless of the manner in which it exists, constitutes “public records.”

My (attempted) Comment to Mr. Shaffer’s blog post was neither obscene nor factually incorrect; therefore he as a "custodian of a public record" had no right to delete/destroy it to prevent public disclosure.

Town Manager Shaffer's disingenuous closing paragraph declared:

“Cherry Hill Golf Course financial report for Fiscal Year 2009 is complete. Cherry Hill revenue for the period is $253, 725. and expenses for the same period are $210,611. Cherry Hill's operation has generated a surplus of close to $100,000. over the last two years. Much credit goes to Linda Chalfant and Barb Bilz for their work at Cherry Hill.”

My attempted response/rebuttal (automatically time/date stamped by Blogger software):

Blogger LarryK4 said...

“Yes Larry, but the purported "profit" does not include hidden costs like employee benefits, insurance, and capital improvements (underground storage tank, security fencing and greens mower) which combined come to over $100-K.”
August 27, 2009 9:46 PM

And while LarryK4 could appear to be an Anonymous source, if you click on the nickname/hotlink it brings you to my blogger Profile Page that clearly spells out my identity. Besides, Mr. Shaffer has previously published comments from me (under the nickname LarryK4) on his blog.

Mr. Shaffer did upload another post on August 29 and at that time would have discovered my Comment concerning his August 7 upload. His blog has “Moderation enabled” so that the blog owner gets to approve comments before publication. In this case he did not.

Since my tax dollars are involved I find that exceedingly unfair.

Over the past ten years the Internet has evolved from the Wild Wild West to standard operating procedure. Blogs are perhaps the most powerful tool for communication/activism spawned by this 21’st Century medium. And for the Town Manager (a public official) to abuse the town website for unfair advantage in Public Relations/Spin is blatantly unfair.

Larry Kelley (AKA: LarryK4)
Amherst Town Meeting Member
Amherst Redevelopment Authority
5th Generation Amherst resident
http://www.onlyintherepublicofamherst.blogspot.com/

The other Larry's Blog (note frequent updates and comments...not!)

I've got a secret

Click to enlarge/read

UPDATE: Friday afternoon
So the Gazette, finally, caught up with this fascinating behind-the-scenes soap opera on the hiring of the new Super. And they even allowed me attribution for breaking the story but describe me as a "town meeting member."

But today's Amherst Bulletin has a mention of my 'Trespass Order' getting lifted (on highly read page 3) where I'm described as a "town meeting member and local blogger." Out of those two, I of course prefer the latter.
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UPDATE Thurdsay: 1:45 PM
So I had to change a stinky diaper and other daddy duties thus did not add any comments. I wanted to get this up fast (not that I was worried about the Gazette getting around to it) and I think the document and vote speaks volumes.

But you gotta wonder...on this most important symbolic issue (and politically savvy PR folks know well it is the little things that matter to voters)one-third of the Regional School Committee could not be bothered to show up and vote? Yikes! But hey that's what you get with unpaid volunteers.
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ORIGINAL POST: 12:30 PM Picture only (15 minutes after receiving the document)