By: JR
On Wednesday evening, Pottsville Area held it's monthly board meeting and Scott R. Thomas, a former school board member, spoke out at the meeting about the recent hiring of the full-time transportation supervisor/dispatcher.
"I was and remain very disappointed at the hiring decisions made by this board in relation to the Transportation Supervisor position. With that in mind, I submitted several right to know requests to investigate this matter and try to make sense of what seems like a senseless decision. Unfortunately, the information provided to me, and subsequent information gained via the newspaper’s inquiries has left me only more incensed at the inappropriate action of this Administration and Board." Thomas began.
Thomas submitted 2 Right-to-know requests on September 22nd and September 30th asking for the following:
September 22nd Request
- Please allow me to view a copy of the job description for the Transportation Supervisor/Dispatcher position.
- Please provide me to review all emails that were sent by the Superintendent and Business manager regarding the position above. (Note: Only emails that were sent on school district email. Personal emails are not covered by the Right to Know Law.)
- How can the Board of Education vote to fill the Transportation Supervisor/Dispatcher position on September 17th when the job was still seeking applicants up until September 18th (according to the districts website)
- According to the Republican & Herald article on September 19th, the Transportation Supervisor/Dispatcher position, was posted “internally”. Please define the districts interpretation of internally.
- Please allow me to view the minutes of any committee meeting where the Transportation Supervisor/Dispatcher position was discussed.
- Please provide me with the attendance of board members for the executive session which the Transportation Supervisor/Dispatcher position was discussed.
- Please provide me with the hiring process for the Transportation Supervisor/Dispatcher position.
- When was the Board of Education notified of the ‘Personnel Committee’ recommendation? Who made the Board of Education aware of the recommendation? Please allow me to review any and all public documents relating to this.
September 30th Request
- Please provide me with the topic discussed at the Executive Session meeting that was held on the morning of Saturday, September 20, 2014.
- Please provide me with any emails that were sent to the Business Manager and Superintendents’ school district email regarding the Transportation/Dispatcher position. Please provide emails that are on the school district server since some emails may have been deleted.
- Was the Board given notification that the district was creating a new position (the Assistant Position), prior to the email which was sent to School Board President John Boran, notifying him that the interviewers were recommending Kim Blum for the position. If so, please provide me with documentation of the notification.
- How many closed door executive sessions were held in regards to the Transportation/Dispatcher position?
- Was the District Solicitor consulted prior to the hiring of the Transportation/Dispatcher position?
- What job responsibilities changed in the job description that permitted a reclassification of the job from hourly paid to a salary based position?
- Were those changes reviewed by a federal wage and hour expert (I.e. attorney or human resource professional) to protect the district from potential wage and hour violations?
- How do the responsibilities of the full time job differ from the part time job that allows the wage/hour classification for one to be salaried and the other to be hourly
Of the 8 requests from September 30th, Thomas was told 6 were not requests for the record. Thomas was provided emails and there were no records that existed to fill the request regarding if the board was given notification that the district was creating a new assistant position.
Thomas closed his speech with
We've experienced a lack of transparency in our school board over the past several weeks, as outlined by our newspaper. We've had many legitimate questions about salaries, qualifications, new hires, new positions and private meetings, and many of the responses to these inquiries were inadequate, illogical, or simply dismissed. It would not be prudent for me to conclusively charge the board and its staff of violating a particular law or code without knowing all the details. However, I'm prevented from learning these details and therefore the appearance of mistrust remains. I will be forwarding tonight's comments and documentation previously obtained to the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission as well as carbon copying Pennsylvania’s Auditor and Attorney Generals in hopes they will investigate this matter further.
Thomas closed his speech with
We've experienced a lack of transparency in our school board over the past several weeks, as outlined by our newspaper. We've had many legitimate questions about salaries, qualifications, new hires, new positions and private meetings, and many of the responses to these inquiries were inadequate, illogical, or simply dismissed. It would not be prudent for me to conclusively charge the board and its staff of violating a particular law or code without knowing all the details. However, I'm prevented from learning these details and therefore the appearance of mistrust remains. I will be forwarding tonight's comments and documentation previously obtained to the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission as well as carbon copying Pennsylvania’s Auditor and Attorney Generals in hopes they will investigate this matter further.
Link to previous story about Thomas's inquiry
http://www.skooknews.com/2014/09/former-school-board-member-submits.html