I don't think it was the protests by the Bessie Rhodes community that led to Turner's apology. I think it was because of the letter from the two Mayors. This Administration and board have ignored the phone calls, marches, public statements from the Bessie Rhodes parents for the past year, and I don't think their response to this latest decision would have been any different without the public letter from the Mayors. (Only my opinion.)
Let's not forget that on October 28, they are introducing the school closure consultant. Maybe they didn't want to scare them off with people mad about BR, mad about whatever is in the Grossi memo they are hiding etc.
You would like to think that in the end they will do right by those kids, but it seems like they just don't want to face the music for a really horrible and quite honestly cruel idea.
They say in their response: "the requested records require examination by a competent person to determine which, if any, are exempt under Section 7 of the FOIA;"
I can imagine that it is pretty hard to find a "competent person" at D65 HQ!
Being serious, though. It seems as if it is standard operating procedure for public agencies to use the FOIA extension excuse. I haven't filed any FOIAs with D65, but I usually find myself filing 3-5 a year with the City of Evanston and I don't think I've ever had them get the docs to me in the five day window.
With regard to the memo, they should have made it public in the first place given that it was 100% predictable that people would want to see it. There is nothing precluding any of the board members from taking a picture and posting it on facebook or something.
Instead you get Donna chiding community members for not showing up to public comment to give views on the hidden memo and everyone involved (journalists, the public, D65 clerical staff) having to go through the FOIA rigamarole.
You don’t have to accept an apology just because it is offered. If the agency shows you again and again and again who they are—-by all means—-believe them.
This is where pledges to be transparent ring hollow. Seems pretty strategic to delay sharing these memos (which should not be hard at all to retrieve) till close to, if not after, two evenings of scheduled community engagement. If it isn't going to "unduly burden or interfere with operations" due to it being hard to track down, then please elaborate why it WOULD burden/interfere with operations. Is it because of the content of the memos? If not, why not share them ASAP to avoid situations where people assume it's being deliberately hidden?
Additionally, if you're doing a big project, and you're super tight on money and HAVE to stay within your budget + contingency, your GC/contractor should know they need to clearly communicate anything that comes up that might trigger overruns/change orders. For there to be "no responsive records because invoices haven't been sent" from Bid Group 1, that either means everything is tracking within planned budget OR they're not doing their job to stay in lockstep with CC about expense tracking against planned budgets to ensure no surprises on invoices. But didn't it sound like we already may have been over budget in Group 1 based on CC's comment of "around 2 million" in incurred costs thus far?
This has been driving me nuts; during the so-called “hearings” on the closure, one parent actually called her out about that. It’s just so disrespectful.
I get the need to live here, but in this case it is just reflective of her limited managerial abilities and all around general lack of impressiveness.
Does she not know the name of the school because she doesn't live here? Or is it because she isn't prepared/willing to do the work/or something else?
This was the same with Horton. His emails were replete with grammatical errors. He consistently got facts wrong and was generally a poor communicator.
If you compare him and Turner to Goren or Murphy it isn't even close.
There is a sloppiness that permeates the whole enterprise. I know people push back when there are comments about the Board's attire. But when you combine that with the incompetent way they have run things, I think it is a valid critique and is emblematic of a lack of seriousness that they bring to public service.
I hire people all the time in my job. And if someone came to an interview wearing a ratty baseball cap like Biz or a hoodie like Sergio I would immediately discount their seriousness. When we get emails from prospective employees that are ridden with errors or if they didn't know the name of something important during an interview, they would be discounted.
If you are making a quarter of a million dollars a year and running a school district, the least you could do memorize the names of the schools.
To give some insight, Ryan gave a DEI presentation to our school's PTA that talked about how traditional views of professionalism such as civil discourse, adherence to policies and procedures, being analytical, and grammatical proficiency, were rooted in white supremacy. She emphasized we should not strive for or expect professionalism at all as it is a white supremacy concept and tool to keep people down. I can be open to other characteristics defining competence but to Tom's earlier comment, a lot of this stuff isn't aging well given what has occurred over the last few years with this board and administration.
Is the full report from the consultant recommendations for closures etc available?. Do you know if the report indicates a recommendation to pause building Foster?
Not available yet, waiting for them to provide it to me via FOIA. You’ll have to stay tuned for the specific findings from his memo. ETA is probably later this week
Re: consultant recos for closures...aren't they just about to finalize the consultant selection tomorrow night at the meeting? Then consultant has to rush through recommendations of great magnitude.
Turner is, at least, willing to admit that they made a mistake and maybe change what they’re going to do. Horton would have just told them to go F themselves.
Right -- there's levels to this. Acknowledging error is better than not, but I'm not sure why the kids and parents involved weren't brought in on this vs. the decision just "being made". Dr. Turner acknowledges all the harm already done to that community, but if you were aware of it, wouldn't you be more careful with big decisions like that to begin with?
Dumb signature lines is one of the petty things that drives me nuts - I absolutely can't stand when people do that. I don't need or want to know your emotional state when sending me an email.
I don't think it was the protests by the Bessie Rhodes community that led to Turner's apology. I think it was because of the letter from the two Mayors. This Administration and board have ignored the phone calls, marches, public statements from the Bessie Rhodes parents for the past year, and I don't think their response to this latest decision would have been any different without the public letter from the Mayors. (Only my opinion.)
Let's not forget that on October 28, they are introducing the school closure consultant. Maybe they didn't want to scare them off with people mad about BR, mad about whatever is in the Grossi memo they are hiding etc.
You would like to think that in the end they will do right by those kids, but it seems like they just don't want to face the music for a really horrible and quite honestly cruel idea.
Tom, on the FOIA memo delay give them a break!
They say in their response: "the requested records require examination by a competent person to determine which, if any, are exempt under Section 7 of the FOIA;"
I can imagine that it is pretty hard to find a "competent person" at D65 HQ!
Having been on the end of delivering FOIA responses at a few places any delay is likely:
A) they are annoyed at the request/requestor so they are waiting as long as allowed
B) they are waiting to let enough time pass that the issue hopefully cools off a little
C) they are working with legal to find as many redactions as can be reasonably allowed
D) they are working with legal to find any reason to not provide anything responsive to the request
E) the request is complicated and voluminous and requires a lot of time to fulfill
Given you asked for a very specific document, and the org has been generally ok with response time, my guess is B-D apply, and maybe A.
Being serious, though. It seems as if it is standard operating procedure for public agencies to use the FOIA extension excuse. I haven't filed any FOIAs with D65, but I usually find myself filing 3-5 a year with the City of Evanston and I don't think I've ever had them get the docs to me in the five day window.
With regard to the memo, they should have made it public in the first place given that it was 100% predictable that people would want to see it. There is nothing precluding any of the board members from taking a picture and posting it on facebook or something.
Instead you get Donna chiding community members for not showing up to public comment to give views on the hidden memo and everyone involved (journalists, the public, D65 clerical staff) having to go through the FOIA rigamarole.
Yeah, I get this extension all the time but it depends on the agency. Here's my experience:
- Federal Government: Good luck, maybe 1 year if you are lucky
- ETHS: Usually 5 days
- Chicago Public Schools: 10 days 100% of the time
- D219 / Niles: 10 days 100% of the time
- ISBE: 10 days 100% of the time
- City of Evanston: PD requests usually 5 days, everything else 10
- District 65: Usually 5 days but more often 10 days now (which is kind of why I'm pushing back on this)
- New Trier: < 1 day
You don’t have to accept an apology just because it is offered. If the agency shows you again and again and again who they are—-by all means—-believe them.
This is where pledges to be transparent ring hollow. Seems pretty strategic to delay sharing these memos (which should not be hard at all to retrieve) till close to, if not after, two evenings of scheduled community engagement. If it isn't going to "unduly burden or interfere with operations" due to it being hard to track down, then please elaborate why it WOULD burden/interfere with operations. Is it because of the content of the memos? If not, why not share them ASAP to avoid situations where people assume it's being deliberately hidden?
Additionally, if you're doing a big project, and you're super tight on money and HAVE to stay within your budget + contingency, your GC/contractor should know they need to clearly communicate anything that comes up that might trigger overruns/change orders. For there to be "no responsive records because invoices haven't been sent" from Bid Group 1, that either means everything is tracking within planned budget OR they're not doing their job to stay in lockstep with CC about expense tracking against planned budgets to ensure no surprises on invoices. But didn't it sound like we already may have been over budget in Group 1 based on CC's comment of "around 2 million" in incurred costs thus far?
The Facebook group is seeing a vigorous mutiny against the Equity Army after last night’s meeting.
Most of the foot soldiers are curiously staying silent.
Someone is saying that Turner kept talking about BETSY Rhodes school. Is that true?
This has been driving me nuts; during the so-called “hearings” on the closure, one parent actually called her out about that. It’s just so disrespectful.
Again, I think this is why it is important and why Board Policy has language that requires the Superintendent to live here.
I get the need to live here, but in this case it is just reflective of her limited managerial abilities and all around general lack of impressiveness.
Does she not know the name of the school because she doesn't live here? Or is it because she isn't prepared/willing to do the work/or something else?
This was the same with Horton. His emails were replete with grammatical errors. He consistently got facts wrong and was generally a poor communicator.
If you compare him and Turner to Goren or Murphy it isn't even close.
There is a sloppiness that permeates the whole enterprise. I know people push back when there are comments about the Board's attire. But when you combine that with the incompetent way they have run things, I think it is a valid critique and is emblematic of a lack of seriousness that they bring to public service.
I hire people all the time in my job. And if someone came to an interview wearing a ratty baseball cap like Biz or a hoodie like Sergio I would immediately discount their seriousness. When we get emails from prospective employees that are ridden with errors or if they didn't know the name of something important during an interview, they would be discounted.
If you are making a quarter of a million dollars a year and running a school district, the least you could do memorize the names of the schools.
To give some insight, Ryan gave a DEI presentation to our school's PTA that talked about how traditional views of professionalism such as civil discourse, adherence to policies and procedures, being analytical, and grammatical proficiency, were rooted in white supremacy. She emphasized we should not strive for or expect professionalism at all as it is a white supremacy concept and tool to keep people down. I can be open to other characteristics defining competence but to Tom's earlier comment, a lot of this stuff isn't aging well given what has occurred over the last few years with this board and administration.
Do you know if your PTA paid for that presentation?
I think I know where your head's at! But I don't believe so. At least I didn't see an invoice.
Is the full report from the consultant recommendations for closures etc available?. Do you know if the report indicates a recommendation to pause building Foster?
Not available yet, waiting for them to provide it to me via FOIA. You’ll have to stay tuned for the specific findings from his memo. ETA is probably later this week
Re: consultant recos for closures...aren't they just about to finalize the consultant selection tomorrow night at the meeting? Then consultant has to rush through recommendations of great magnitude.
Turner is, at least, willing to admit that they made a mistake and maybe change what they’re going to do. Horton would have just told them to go F themselves.
She only admitted “making a mistake “ when “caught” by extreme protests of parents
Right -- there's levels to this. Acknowledging error is better than not, but I'm not sure why the kids and parents involved weren't brought in on this vs. the decision just "being made". Dr. Turner acknowledges all the harm already done to that community, but if you were aware of it, wouldn't you be more careful with big decisions like that to begin with?
And sign it - Unapologetically
Oh 1000% he'd have some dumb signature line
Looking back that he signed all of his emails that way given all of his corruption is just insane.
Dumb signature lines is one of the petty things that drives me nuts - I absolutely can't stand when people do that. I don't need or want to know your emotional state when sending me an email.