It’s Still Broken…
And you are still paying daily to cover the incompetence. Click the link below to view the BOE legal bills from Shipman & Goodwin- May through September 2009.
Some of the lowlights:
Some of the lowlights:
- Thousands to cover the mismanagement of the School Readiness grant.
- Thousands to review the referendum question which had already been vetted by the town attorney.
- Thousands to extricate themselves from Election Commission complaints (two more still pending) and to cover PTO involvement.
- One on-going SPED case (other than ours) and two new ones including another unilateral outplacement by a parent.
Can someone please explain why we pay Frank Baran ~$128,000.00 + Benefits +Gas + Annuity + Staff and Benefits to "manage" our K-8 system? This is utter madness in a town of this size and makeup, yet here we are doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result…see for yourself...
BOE Legal Bills May- September 2009 PDF
Am I reading correctly on page 12 that Lindsay Paul had the lawyers devise strategy and draw up motions for a BOE MEETING FOR $1609.00?
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WHAT GALL.
Are you really sure you want this kind of leadership in Woodstock?
"Scott Sincerbeaux, and I am a candidate for Board of Education. I am employed by Crabtree & Evelyn as Vice President of Retail."
-Crabtree & Evelyn’s acting President, Stephen Bestwick, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection said management changes at the company resulted in strategy shifts, including lower sales to wholesale accounts and a “disconnect” between executive pay and performance.
Dick Cass:
His self-introduction included the proud proclamation of being a “tax and spend liberal”.
George McCoy:
A "club member" along with the other “tax and spend Republicans” “let’s worry about next year, next year”.
Now there’s brilliant and thoughtful financial leadership.
SO THIS IS WHAT THEY MEAN BY "SCRAPING THE BOTTOM OF THE BARREL???"
This brings up an interesting point. If the role of Superintendent is merely to go between lawyers and the BOE, it would, perhaps, be prudent to regionalize that position between several towns. By having one superintendent for WPS, Pomfret, and Eastford, the present salary could be split three ways and the savings could go into a position(s) that is student-focused (go figure), such as foreign language instructors (that could be regionalized between the three schools). Heck, in fact, if we really thought about it, the towns could regionalize many of their services for great savings to the taxpayers. What a novel idea.
Somebody is thinking! Excellent! Thank you!
This is a REPEAT CHALLENGE AND REQUEST: Please be sure to include the Facts regarding WHO initiated or was otherwise involved in incurring these Legal Costs, by whatever means.
Please - just spell it all out for everyone so ALL of the facts are on display, not merely scary numbers from which many seem to divorce themselves when in fact they are PARTIALLY RESPONSIBLE for the costs to begin with!
Please NAME ALL PARTIES INVOLVED - and we can decide for ourselves whether the school-yard wisdom of "WHO STARTED IT" has any bearing on WHO IS RESPONSIBLE for these Legal Costs and/or WHO had the power to avoid, mitigate or otherwise prevent these costs by utilizing Tried & True, well-developed ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION.
You folks needn't file costly suits and complaints so often - there are so many alternative ways to achieve your goals, NONE OF WHICH COST THE TOWN LEGAL COSTS!
It's the height of hypocritical ranting to continue to hear the very same group who CAUSED these Legal Costs then, in turn, complain shrilly about these legal costs. We've pointed this out before and most citizens are not fooled by continued efforts at Spinning - as if these costs are solely and exclusively the fault of OTHERS, when the same group continues to be DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for initiating costly actions, over and over...
Hello Con, I see that it's flailing diatribe time once again...and as usual your shrill arguments don't hold water-
I noticed that you fail to mention Lindsay Paul having the attorneys involved in trying to rewrite history and to cover Frank's incompetence through strategy and crafting of motions for the BOE to vote on without other BOE member's knowledge.
The bottom line is clear in that Frank Baran cannot handle his job without constant guidance from the attorneys...and Lindsay Paul condones this. This is clearly extremely poor management of the public's business no matter which way you'd like to spin it. Thanks for continuing to read and for attempting to educate yourself on the issues.
Even more interesting (go to the tapes) and you will see that when Steve Rosendahl made a motion with a second about not spending any more money on attorneys. The Queen of the BOE said it was within her purview to go to the attorneys when she felt like it. So it appears to me that you will get the attorneys whether you want them or not- clearly that choice is up to the Queen.