In that entry, I mentioned that this was the second time in July that the Board had approved action taken by Stinson without prior board approval - which is required as Stinson does not have the authority to approve finances, that lies with the Board as granted by state law.
The first time in July was even more egregious than the $800,000 in parting gifts divvied up between 5 people.
The short story is that on July 13, 2010, the Board approved Stinson's unilateral action to flop a tax anticipation warrant (often called a 'temporary loan' in Decatur's school district) into a four year loan. But, there is so much more to it than first appears.
A little background. Let's take a couple of minutes to talk about property taxes and the route that the money takes from your pocket to the school district and other governmental units in Marion County. Every year during budget season, each taxing unit sets their budget and figures out how much property tax revenue they need to fund that budget. The tax rate is calculated from the total amount of property tax revenue required, divided by the total value of all property in the school district (called the 'assessed value'). The County Treasurer sends out a bill twice a year to collect these property taxes. Once the money is collected, the County Auditor mails a check to the school district for their portion. The school district then can spend that money.
The last few years have been unusual in that Governor Daniels ordered Marion County, among other counties, to do its determination of the 'assessed values' all over again. This took time. The delay in determining the assessed value caused a delay in determining the tax rate which caused a delay in sending out the property tax bills, which caused a delay in paying the property tax bills, which caused a delay in sending the property tax revenues to the school district. But the school districts, and other taxing units, still had to pay for their operations during the delay. So, they got short term loans called 'tax anticipation warrants', which this district often calls 'temporary loans'. The school district would eventually receive the property tax money; they would just receive it about one year late. The TAW would be repaid once the County Auditor sent the property tax check to the district. It is kind of like a payday loan. As soon as you get your paycheck, you are supposed to go in and pay off your loan.
The public has a right to assume that a 'tax anticipation warrant' will be paid off as soon as the tax money has been received.
Well, Don Stinson got Board approval on October 14, 2008, to arrange a TAW for the upcoming calendar year, 2009. The Board minutes state:
"Dr. Baer asked permission to begin the process for pursuing temporary loans in the amount of $23,000,000 for 2009. He explained that because of the status of the state budget and the fact there has been no collection of property taxes it has become necessary to borrow against local tax monies. At present, the school corporation is not scheduled to receive any property tax money until June of 2009. Mr. Huffman moved that the Board approve begin the process of pursuing temporary loans for 2009. Mrs. Wiseman seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously."
It is questionable whether the district should ever have taken such a large loan or TAW, since the State Department of Local Government Finance only authorized them raise $18 million from property taxes in 2009. There is still an outstanding issue here on the $23 million, but it is not the main point of this blog entry. On January 13, 2009, the TAW was finalized and the $23 million was received by the District.
In June, half of the $18 million authorized for property taxes would have been sent to the school district by the County Auditor, and the rest sent in December. So, by the end of 2009, the district had $18 million in order to pay back the TAW. They should have paid it back then.
But, they did not.
The public has a right to assume that a 'tax anticipation warrant' will be paid off as soon as the tax money has been received.
On December 8, 2009, the Board approved a 6 month extension of the TAW, pushing the due date to June 30, 2010. The minutes of that meeting state:
"Dr. Baer presented a Resolution for a Tax Anticipation Warrant Rollover to 2010. He explained this was the same process used in 2008 and this would allow repayment of debt to be carried over to the end of June 2010. Mrs. Wiseman made a motion to approve the Resolution. Mrs. Collins seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously."
The money to pay back the 2009 TAW had been received by the school district during 2009, but it was not used to pay off the loan. Instead, on July 13, 2010, the Board approved turning $19 million of this $23 million TAW, or "temporary" loan, into a 4 year loan. Please note the date -- July 13, 2010. The 2009 TAW was due on June 30, 2010. The resolution passed by the Board on July 13 states that:
"...on June 30,2010, the School Corporation executed and delivered to Regions Bank, ...documents evidencing the extension of the final maturity of the Obligations to February 15, 2014..., and [Regions] has accepted the Extension."
The School Corporation did not have the authority to give such "documents evidencing the extension" because there had not been any Board action to create such documents. Again, Don Stinson acted unilaterally, usurping the authority of the Board... and the Board again pulled his arse out of the fire.
What does all this mean to the taxpayers? This means that the school district should have paid off the 2009 TAW with the property taxes paid by residents in 2009. Instead, Stinson and the Board will make you pay even more taxes to pay off the new 4-year loan. YOU ALREADY PAID THE TAXES, but you will have to pay them a second time.
The public has a right to assume that a 'tax anticipation warrant' will be paid off as soon as the tax money has been received. The public trust should not be abused by keeping the money and floating another loan to pay off the first one and then foisting the tab for the new loan onto the backs of the taxpaying public. Its called "robbing Peter to pay Paul".
Where has the money gone? $18-23 million is very serious money. Where has it all gone?
In the end, it is also a devious and underhanded way to get the Decatur Taxpayer to pay more money to the district without ever having had a say. There was never a public hearing, the public notice was uninformative, and there has not been a referendum to increase our property taxes over the next 4 years. Roughly $5 million more money will have to be raised EACH YEAR, which will cause a roughly 25% increase in school taxes.
No vote. No hearing. No say.
The school board, Dale Henson, Don Huffman, Doug Greenwald, Judy Collins and Cathy Wiseman, have allowed our school finances to go from really bad to unsustainable. They are allowing Don Stinson to raise cash by not paying off our loans, when the money was available to pay off those loans. We are now in hock twice for the same money. This is reckless. And to approve this fiscal disaster two weeks after Stinson usurped their authority, is to have totally abandoned all responsibilities that they have as elected officials to serve the public interest.
Stinson and the Board were reckless in getting a $23 million TAW, when $18 million was all the State of Indiana authorized them to raise in property taxes for that year. Stinson and the Board were reckless in not paying off that TAW in June of 2009 or January of 2010, when they had the money from the taxpayers to do so. Stinson and the Board were reckless to turn that 2009 TAW into a four year loan, making the taxpayers pay yet again for loan. This last point is where they have totally abandoned the voting public; they made a grab for more money and hoped the public would not notice that they never had a say on whether or not they wanted to give the district more money.
Stinson and the Board have acted without honor. They have abused the public trust.
Posts
49 comments:
Hope Channel 6 or Channel 13 asks Stinson and board members about this. Yes, there is no trust. They all need to resign. Enough is enough.
Get a grip people. This is simply Stinson's "end run" around the 1% property tax caps the State placed in the way of Diamond Don's "vision" of "excellence".
In other words, it's a REFERENDUM that none of us got a chance to vote on! Smile everybody. You're getting screwed by Stinson and your school board without even being invited to a nice dinner beforehand.
Dear HEI -
Thank you for the information.
I have 2 questions:
#1 - Our taxes are capped at 1% by the governor - will this increase our taxes again?
#2- What can we the taxpayers do? Call a news channel? State BOA? Please give us ideas - where do we turn?
anon 5:56 -- if you already hit the cap, and, your assessed value doesn't go up - this won't add to your taxes. But, if you haven't hit the cap, then, yes, your taxes will rise.
I'd say, call everyone you can think of. I know I have been. We need help down here. Call everyone from the Governor on down and see what help we can get. Write letters to the Star. Get the information out to your friends and neighbors.
They are continuing to dig us a bigger and bigger financial hole. Whoever follows Stinson better have a skill set that includes rescuing businesses from the brink of bankruptcy. Because that's where we are headed.
Hope the governor and legislature will take a serious look at the abuse in Decatur Township. Decatur superintendent and board will hire lawyers to protect their interests until the governor and legislature put on the clamps.
Take a look at class sizes and ask WHY?
I'll be damned. Stinson and his school board pals knew they'd get a township tax referendum shoved right back up their noses if they tried it with the taxpayers. So instead they do this. Very clever. The gloves come off now, Mr. Stinson.
Does anyone know what buildings Mr. Opel and Ms. Meerman are teaching phys. ed.?
I want like to read from those of you who have been so critical of our administration about what is right about our schools. Do you believe that there is anything that is good about our schools. We have graduated successful articulate and intelligent people like yourself who are now engaged in successful employment and participating fully in what we call the American way of life.
All I read about is how the money is being misspent and accusations that the administration is secretly operating in concert to rob the children and spend the money on themselves. I have know these people for a long time and they are good people with good intentions and they are attempting to improve our schools as best they can. They are not evil , selfish people that many of you on this blog want to make them out to be. If you got to know them you would like them and you would trust them. I am sure that if I could sit down with all of you we would like each other and together we could accomplish great things for our children. If we are not part of the solution to the problem then we are probably part of the problem
I think we can all agree that we have major financial problems. After just one day in school we can see that class size is way up, programs like physical education, and art have been cut. Schools do not have playground equipment. Teachers at the high school are being asked to teach five and six class and many schools are operating with teacher aids or assistance. Please remember that the people who were offered early retirement are college educated professional people who deserve a retirement package equal to retiring people in the private sector. Actually the money that was offered to the retiree’s of Decatur Township Schools is not even close to what is offered to a comparable retiree in private industry. If we are going to improve our schools we must compete with the private sector for quality administrative people.
It needs to be remembered that the cost to the taxpayer for the cost to educate their child is much less that it would be if their child were to attend a private school. For example if a typical taxpayers tax bill for schools were 1000 dollars a year and they had three children the cost per child would be 250 dollars. If this taxpayer were to put their three children in day care or private high school like Park Tudor , Cathedral or Brebuef the cost could be 8,000 dollars a child or 24, 000 dollars a year. Decatur Central High School has recently graduated students who are now graduating from medical school, writing for national publications, who are receiving their doctorate degrees and are distinguishing themselves on the athletic field in colleges throughout the United States. If a child wants a great education in a great educational setting with the help of great teachers Decatur Central is the place.
Wouldn't you agree that firing everyone is the last resort not the first one. Working together to solve a common problem is a better strategy than lets fire them all and let God sort out the good ones. We can work together to solve the problems that divide us . Come to the school board meetings and come to meet the teachers nights and attend the athletic and artistic events to show support to our students and schools I believe in Public Education. I hope you do also. We need to work together against the forces that want to drive us apart. If we can infuse some cash into the system through a one time only referendum we can solve the problems created by this temporary financial crisis. Remember the famous words of FDR when he said that the only thing we have to fear is ----------. Maybe we need a town hall meeting to discuss the problems facing our community and our schools . Pat if you want to call a meeting let me know the location and I will be there
Phil, this would be great IF any member of the administration or school board wanted input and help from parents and taxpayers. I don't believe you really think that they would be receptive to sitting down and telling truthfully what is going on. They hide everything they do then run if they meet you in public. No one is allowed to question anything during the board meetings. You get 5 minutes to vent then you are expected to go back home and forget about it. Cutting administrators for the good of the township is BS. Of the total, how many are actually no longer working in the township? Jeff Baer is the only one but he was replaced so his departure can't be counted. Do these "consultants" get paid by someone other than the township? I think not. Stinson stood and lied on camera to David Barras today about what is going on here. He made it a point to tell Mr. Barras that he even took a 15% cut in pay, besides cutting administration to "bare bones." He omitted the fact that the administrators are almost all back, just with different titles. When is it going to end?
Phil,
DC has been a great school system for my kids. Most of the teachers have been great and yes we have graduated many students who are very successful. My problem now is that with this administration, things are going down and I feel like I'm watching my kids go down with a sinking ship. If I could afford private school that is where my kids would be. There is not a teacher that I've have talked to that trys to play the positive act but you can see it in their face that they are saying a well rehearsed speech and they are thinking something else. Some have even said how they feel and it's not good. They are about to leave but Love these kids. Our Board does not hold Stinson accountable for his actions and decisions! They all know each other as friends and buddies and thats not what we need for a Board. I'm not saying that everything Stinson has done is bad, he has done alot of good things for our schools. But, because of the way the economy has been he and his administration have been very reckless with money and any intelligent person that looks at the numbers can see this. As a person that has been in accounting my whole adult life, I can see this! How can any company MILLIONS in debt give out any raises? These people are not going to leave just because we say NO I'M SORRY, NOT THIS YEAR and if they do then good riddens they didn't love DC anyway. And I can guarantee you we can find people that are just as capable to replace our current administration for alot less money. Not everyone is in it just for the money, and I'm sure our current players did not start that way but if someone keeps handing it to you, you're going to take it. We just need to "TAKE BACK DECATUR SCHOOLS". It's time for some new blood in our Board and our Administration.
I have only been a teacher and a coach for Decatur Township Schools. I have never been in a administrative position. I think it must be very difficult to administer a school system that is responsible for transporting, feeding , educating, and providing extra curricular activities for over 5,000 students K -12. There is no doubt in my mind that he needs help to supply these services to the people of Decatur Township. We are not the only school system that is suffering and administrators all over the state are looking to cut cost anywhere they can. I am sure that Don Stinson looked for early retirement among his own staff and the teaching staff to cut costs. If he can get administrators in his office to take early retirement and bring them back a few days a week to help him with the administration of the school system cheaper that if he offered them no retirement and continued to employ them full time he should be given credit for saving money and being very creative. I do not think that Don Stinson runs from people who have questions about he strategies. I would think that if you called his office and asked for and appointment he would be receptive to answering your questions. It has always been the policy of the school board at school board meetings to give the public an opportunity to comment of school policies or school conditions. They limit the time to five minutes because there are other items on the agenda to cover and not much time to get them covered. By tradition they do not offer comment of the patrons remarks. They do discuss them during executive sessions and they do take patron remarks into consideration during their deliberations later. Again they are not evil people trying only to take care of themselves. If you or I were on the school board we might see the issues on how to supply a competitive education for our children with rapidly reducing revenue challenging. Our children need our help. I hope the President and Congress pass the bill that will give schools the needed temporary relief from this financial disaster. Let stay together
Wassup, Coach Phil? Are you back to pimping Stinson's vision of "excellence" in the hope he'll swing with you on your project of converting the old bus garage building into an athletic venue for your pay-to-play coaching scam? Oh, that's right, I forgot. You're going to put $200,000 of your own money into the deal with, um, no expectation of making anything out of it. Is this what makes you feel like you're the guy to make us all feel better about Stinson's siphoning money away from our kids future for his golden parachute retirement? You thinking a group hug will make us want to "get behind" the shake-down of our school system by Diamond Don and the school board? Your ceaseless rah-rah-rah, let's get behind the Superintendent and plan a "What's-Good-About-Decatur-Day" for this fall is really getting tiresome. That psychology might work on children, but it evaporates quickly when you try to use it to stampede the grown-ups in the direction Diamond Don wants them to go. Tell you what. You get with Pat Andrews, find out the info she is trying to get from the school board and the admin office, get Stinson to come with you and have answers to the questions raised here, and we'll ALL be happy to meet with you to find out what's "positive" about our schools.
Re: Phil
I have to take exception to a few of your statements; "Please remember that the people who were offered early retirement are college educated professional people who deserve a retirement package equal to retiring people in the private sector."
Let's start with the word deserve; if the board policy prior to their retirement stated those retirement benefits then they earned them and should receive those benefits but that wasn't the case. The latest board meeting corrected the little oversight of retirement incentives that were not approved by the board. Someone might want to check if their final contracts contain the necessary language to purchase those additional years of service credit and paid health insurance.
Question Phil, will the next retiring group of administrators receive equal treatment? Don't they deserve the same benefits as their former colleagues?
Anon 11:39 wrote:
"Someone might want to check if their final contracts contain the necessary language to purchase those additional years of service credit and paid health insurance."
Fat chance of Gary Pellico giving you any of THAT information.
Coach Webster, when is the school board going to put astro-turf on your varsity baseball field? Hey, at least you won a state championship. Or is that just something they do for board members' grandsons?
I am sorry that I am TIRESOME , PIMPING , SCAMING, SHAKE-DOWN, RAH RAH RAH . You are really good at calling people names even when you do not even know what you are talking about. I never once said that I did not intend to make money when I made my proposal to convert the bus garage and maintenance facility into an athletic enhancement facility. I would think that the school board and Don Stinson should be praised by you for turning my proposal down. Oh I am sorry I called him Don Stinson not DIAMOND DON. You probably would not recognize who I was talking about unless I used one of your clever name callings. No I am not attempting to get him or the board to change their mind. I am not PIMIPING him. I have written my views on the issues that concern our financial situation and your response is to call people names behind your name which is ANONYMOUS. Instead of sitting in front of your lap top and calling people names why don’t you go to the school board meeting and voice your concerns. Oh that means somebody might know who you are. I have an idea why don’t you set an appointment with Don Stinson and go to his office and voice your concerns about how he is robbing the future of our kids for his retirement. Make sure when you introduce yourself you say its nice to meet you DIAMOND DON. Oh that might not be a good idea because then he would know who you are and that might not be good. I have a better Idea you could put all of your bitter accusations into a letter to the editor of the Star or Times and you could call people names and then sign it concerned citizen. If our administration is robbing the people and acting illegally then turn them in to the prosecutors office. If our administration which was by the way elected by the people is making bad decision then defeat them in an election. Oh let see we just had an election and the two candidates endorsed by the HEI were defeated. If you think for one minute that I am not proud of Decatur Central High School and all that is being done there both academically and athletically you are sadly mistaken. You write very well and you are obviously very intelligent and frustrated like we all are. I wish you would put your energy into more positive actions and help the situation without the name calling. It is great that you disagree with policy and questions of decisions made by the board. Lets debate the issues without the name calling. Two can play that game.
I would be happy to get together with Pat and attempt to sit down with Don Stinson and the Board to get some answers to her and your questions. I have a great amount of respect for Pat. She is a very intelligent women who does a great service for our community and who once served on the school board. I salute her blog and I love the interaction of ideas that are transmitted back and forth over the issues concern local politics. We do not have to call each other names and express a hatred for each other over issues that vitally concern our community
No I am not wanting them to carpet the baseball field. I wish they would take better care of it but that is only a wish. Thank you for your comments about us winning a state championship. Every day we are planning to win another one just like all of our hard working coaches and teachers are doing in an attempt to make a good school a great school.
Wow, Coach, you need to work on your adult-handling skills. You seem to be stuck using the techniques you use on children with the grown-ups here, i.e., trying appeal to their rah-rah alma mater spirit, and if that doesn't work then go into a rage to scare them into submission. Impressive, and I'm sure it works...on children. Trouble is, we're grown-ups here, and we're talking about cash coming out of our pockets and going into Diamond Don's pockets. So don't bother trying to scare us, Coach. We're as scared as we can be with Pellico telling us this blog is being monitored. LOL!
Tell Stinson your credibility is a bit low here. You've already told us here that you're hoping to get yourself a fat-cat job in C.O., and assured us that you deserve it because you have much to offer. Who can blame you from wanting to get in on some of that central office juice, Coach? I see, too, you've forgotten about the times you've bad mouthed Pat Andrews. You shouldn't assume that some of us here don't remember you shooting your mouth off about her. For my part, I'm glad that you finally owned up to wanting to pocket some money with your proposed pay-to-play hustle in the old bus garage building. No one here believed for a minute that your only motivation was the poor children of the township, or that you were gonna sink 200K of your own money into the project with no expectation of lining your own pockets.
I gather you've never been to a school board meeting and watched the board members angrily endure the tedium of allowing taxpayers 5 minutes to say what's on their minds, and flatly refused to answer any questions from the unwashed masses. Don't make me laugh about getting an appointment to talk with Diamond Don, either. I've got a couple of friends who have either tried to get an appointment, or actually have gotten an appointment with him. Don's great for being "too busy" if he thinks you've got hard data and hard questions, and shrugs you off onto his propaganda minister Pellico. If you have a softball problem, Don will agree to listen to you. But that's it, you talk, he listens and, like the school board, he's given you your "5 minutes". Who are you trying to BS, Coach?
My condolences that the school board wouldn't plunk down the taxpayers cash to astro-turf your varsity baseball field. In fairness your program deserved it. Maybe another day, huh? The school board had to plunk down a million bucks out of our pockets to astro-turf the football field for Huffman's grandson. No doubt Collins has dibs on the next loose million bucks for an astro-turf job at the girls softball stadium, but be of good cheer. They'll get get some juice headed your way soon.
Phil: The Titanic had lifeboats; although 706 survived, 1,517 didn't. Of course we've had our share of Decatur graduates that have succeded! The point is that a majority aren't and we're not getting our moneys worth.
The only one that hasn't succeded is the idiot calling Stinson names! You lose all credibility when you start with the "Diamond Don" and "Honey Adams" garbage. If I see a post that has it in there, I refuse to read it. If you lay off the name calling you'll be taken more seriously.
Just prior to the School Board election there was a huge call for a "town hall" type meeting. The Administration and Board flat out refused to even consider it. I've personally seen 2 of the board members out and about and they BOTH refused to even talk about school issues. Not sure of the other 3; I've never seen one of them in public and know nothing about her. My point is that these people in charge....are putting their heads in the sand!
Where there's smoke there's usually fire. Is this Administration corrupt? Are they on the "take"? I doubt it; but there IS something funny going on.
It needs to be brought out in the open! Talk about some of these issues in a town hall style meeting. I dare you; they won't do it. That's a fact!
Remember....the Titanic DID have life boats.
Diamond Don is a nickname for Donald Stinson. A nickname, by definition, is a short, clever substitute for a person's legal name. Nicknames often relate to a person's character. Check it out.
Anon 11:15 wrote:
"Just prior to the School Board election there was a huge call for a "town hall" type meeting. The Administration and Board flat out refused to even consider it. I've personally seen 2 of the board members out and about and they BOTH refused to even talk about school issues. Not sure of the other 3; I've never seen one of them in public and know nothing about her. My point is that these people in charge....are putting their heads in the sand!
Where there's smoke there's usually fire. Is this Administration corrupt? Are they on the "take"? I doubt it; but there IS something funny going on."
I think all of us share your position. There definitely is something funny going on that really isn't very "funny" at all. Given the footnoted and resourced research that Pat Andrews has done here on this blog since last January, it seems that there is indeed some corruption involved.
With regard to posters hanging a label like "Diamond Don" on Mr. Stinson, I'd say he has to expect that occurring since he's set himself as a public caricature of a snake-oil selling huckster. Many of Stinson's assistant administrators appear to be cut from the same cloth. Our public officials often get tagged with nicknames, often unflattering ones, depending on how they do their public job. Actually, I'd say "Diamond Don" isn't as cruel as when Stinson's supporters have called Pat Andrews an "atheist" or "lesbian" here on this blog. I'd also submit that ol' Diamond Don can take a bit of the rough-and-tumble if Pat can. He's obviously making lots more money at it than she is. Personally, after watching Stinson's snake-oil performance with Channel 8 yesterday, I'd say he reminds me more of a "Boss Hogg" type of character straight out of Central Casting.
I'd welcome an opportunity to attend a town hall style meeting where the Superintendent and Board Members would give us answers to the researched and footnoted concerns that have been raised on this blog. It is our kids we're talking about.
How do we call a town hall meeting? Will there be any questions answered there or do we just do it for media coverage?
Also - can some of the adminstrators take turns teaching gym, art, etc to the elementaries that are missing out? I'm thinking if they each take one day, every third week - we could bring these classes back to the schools.
When some people say "No laws were broken" or "They didn't do anything wrong or illegal". Thats not the point, the point being made is whats is moral and unmoral about how school system choose to use funds payed by Taxpayers of Marion County. They know when they are in the wrong when they give out raises, promotions, employment by braking the rules. We can not trust the school district when the statement is clear when they feel as if they bend the rules when there are no laws.
Anon 12:24 wrote:
"I'd welcome an opportunity to attend a town hall style meeting where the Superintendent and Board Members would give us answers to the researched and footnoted concerns that have been raised on this blog. It is our kids we're talking about."
Good show! That should be a by-line for this blog, or be made a sticky in the banner. WHY won't our high-dollar township employees, like Stinson, or our elected representatives on the school board meet with us in public, in the open, and simply explain their seemingly unlawful, unethical and immoral actions? If they're right and the state board of accounts are wrong, we can move on. I'll even personally foot the bill for the next catered-in dinner for Stinson and his associates on the board if they meet us and actually answer our questions. I want them to honestly answer the questions that Pat has raised here. I especially want to know more about this recent end run around the state's 1 percent tax caps. Can Webster get them to meet with us?
Does anyone have any idea where I can get a Stenson mural so I can hang it between my murals of Stalin and Hitler?
Mr. Anonymous, Part 1
There you go with the name calling again. Lets see what you accuse me of this time. Using scare tactics on children . Appealing to there rah rah alma mater loyalties , using going into fits of rage techniques. I guess if you want to characterize the passion in my teaching styles with these descriptive phrases you maybe right. I fail to see what that has to do with whether our administration is acting legally and properly. The person making the accusations has the burden of proof. It seems to me that the person using the scare tactics is you Mr. Anonymous. You have not proven anything. You can’t even prove the allegations that you make about me,
Allegation 1
You allege that I told you that I was hoping for a fat cat central office job because I had much to offer.
It is true that I have much to offer but prove that I told you that I was hoping for a fat cat central office job.
Allegation 2
I was hiding the fact that I was hoping to make money off my proposed athletic enhancement of the bus garage. In the last entry in the blog I wrote:
“ I never once said that I did not intend to make money when I made my proposal to convert the bus garage and maintenance facility into an athletic enhancement facility.”
Sure I was hoping to make money. I would have to invest monies just to get the facility ready for use as a athletic enhancement center. I was also going to give up my teaching job that would have saved the school corporation my salary. In order to replace the investment capital and the lose of salary I was hoping to make money. I am going to assume that you did not read this in my last entry to you.
Allegation 3
Coach? I see, too, you've forgotten about the times you've bad mouthed Pat Andrews. You shouldn't assume that some of us here don't remember you shooting your mouth off about her.
Well I guess you are going to have to prove this one. When did I shoot my mouth off about her. Easy for you to say. Where is the proof?
Allegation 4
I'm glad that you finally owned up to wanting to pocket some money with your proposed pay-to-play hustle in the old bus garage building. No one here believed for a minute that your only motivation was the poor children of the township, or that you were gonna sink 200K of your own money into the project with no expectation of lining your own pockets.
Nice use of the words pay to play hustle . lining your own pockets and motivation was the poor children of the township. This I;s a common way you use to twist words to make something that maybe good look evil ,cynical, and corrupt. You do the same thing with your statements about our school board and administration.
Allegation 5
I gather you've never been to a school board meeting and watched the board members angrily endure the tedium of allowing taxpayers 5 minutes to say what's on their minds, and flatly refused to answer any questions from the unwashed masses.
Wrong again. I have been to many school board meetings and I have addressed the board about my concerns. I listened to the remarks by the school board president when he told those who were at the meeting that we would have 5 minutes and that they would not respond to my remarks. I was not there to have my questions answered I was there to express my concerns. I was very confident that they were listening and taking what I was saying into consideration. Have YOU been to the school board. Have YOU expressed you concerns about their actions. Also there you go again with those clever words Tedium and unwashed masses
Allegation 6 part 2
Don't make me laugh about getting an appointment to talk with Diamond Don, either. I've got a couple of friends who have either tried to get an appointment, or actually have gotten an appointment
Is this an admission that you can get an appointment with Don Stinson . Have YOU tried to get an appointment. Have YOU faced Don Stinson face to face and voiced your concerns . I do not think it is unreasonable to listen to someone’s concerns and thank them for voicing their concerns and taking their remarks into consideration.
Allegation 7
My condolences that the school board wouldn't plunk down the taxpayers cash to astro-turf your varsity baseball field
Maybe you did not read my entry into the latest blog but I said that I do not want them to carpet the baseball field only that I wished they would take better care of it. It is not MY field. The field belongs to the community and we should take pride in it and all of the other facilities that are on the DCHS campus
So again Mr. Anonymous I have felt compelled to answer the allegations that you have made about me. I wish we could sit down over a cup of coffee and talk about the common concerns we have about the education of our children. I live in Decatur Township and my daughter graduated for DCHS. I have a wonderful grand child who I hope is educated in the public schools here in Decatur Township. I trust the democratic process and the people we elect and who they hire to run our schools . I do not agree with everything they do and I voice my concerns to them. If I thought that they were doing something that is illegal, unethical, or immoral as some have charged I would be standing with you. But I do not think that they are doing those things.
Hey, Coach. Can you use your connections to get Stinson to agree to a town hall meeting to discuss the unlawful and unethical actions by him and the school board? Don't you agree that it would help re-unite the taxpayers and parents with the school if Stinson and the school board addressed the concerns raised here by Pat's well documented research? They've proved they won't answer our concerns at board meetings, and you can't get a meeting with Stinson if you have hardball questions. School board members run and hide from parents and taxpayers who try to quiz them in public. You want us to get behind Stinson's vision of excellence, how about helping us to get a town hall meeting with him and the board so we can get some questions answered? You don't expect us to pay for a pig in a poke, do you?
I think you have a very good idea. Here is the problem that I see. Now you have to trust me that I am writing this without having any contact with Don Stinson or anyone else that could be considered as part of his administration. If I were Don Stinson I would not sit down and have a question and answer session without and agreed set of rules that everyone would abide to and follow.. If I were Don Stinson I would not sit and agree to answer questions before a partisan group of people who have pre conceived notions that he is the enemy and the evil creature who is stealing money from the children of Decatur Township. It would have to be before a small group of people who would agree to submit the questions in advance so he could adequately prepare the answer and the audience would agree not to interrupt and keep their remarks to themselves and not applaud with cheers and boos. Each person could ask one question and one follow up question and then give up the floor. The question and answer session would have a time limit and a agreed moderator would have the ability to control the environment . These are some of my thoughts on what I would want if I were Don Stinson and were to agree to a question and answer session. Remember there is a history between Don Stinson and Pat Andrews when Pat served on the board. I know we are playing a what if game. What do you think of the format that I have presented. I agree with you that we need to put an end to this bickering and work together for our children.
At 6:28 Phil Webster wrote:
"It is true that I have much to offer but prove that I told you that I was hoping for a fat cat central office job."
------------
This look familiar, Coach?
"Yes I would like to be part of the administration. I have forty years of experience and I believe that I could help solve many of the eduacational problems facing our community.
March 6, 2010 8:16 AM"
Where is the term FAT CAT Job mentioned. I am obviously refering to being in a position to use my considerable educational experience to suggest improvements on lesson plan design or ways we can include more vocational training for people who may not be interested in going to college. you imply with the term Fat Cat administrative job as something I want to have to get rich off the tax payer. I love being in the classroom and I do have ideas on how teachers could be more effective with lesson plans and classroom management.
I'm jumping in here.
Whether intentional or not, Phil is distracting us from the important issue of how Don Stinson and the school board are foisting a $19 million loan on the backs of Decatur taxpayers.
From the annual financial report in the MD Times, it appears they have already spent some $7 million of it - eclipsing the supposed $6 million in budget cuts for this year.
Things are rotten in the Decatur School District finances and we are all on the hook.
I think you're right, Pat. Phil challenged another poster to prove he wanted a job at central office. When it was proven in his own words, he started to quibble over adjectives instead of being embarrassed at being caught trying to pull the wool over everyone's eyes. It is obvious he is here as a shill for Mr. Stinson. When simply asked if he could arrange a town hall meeting with Stinson, he immediately began setting parameters to protect Stinson and give him control over the town hall meeting. (See below) Phil must really want that job in the administration.
"I think you have a very good idea. Here is the problem that I see. Now you have to trust me that I am writing this without having any contact with Don Stinson or anyone else that could be considered as part of his administration. If I were Don Stinson I would not sit down and have a question and answer session without and agreed set of rules that everyone would abide to and follow. If I were Don Stinson..."
Mr. Webster we have concerns about the legal, moral and ethical conduct of Stinson and the 5 board members. They duck us, talk in circles, conceal their actions in a paperwork shuffle and consistently refuse to answer questions from taxpayers. We need honest answers, not a shill who's hoping to get on the C.O. gravy train.
IF Stinson and the Board were interested in building trust and respect they would not have hired an attorney to craft the "legal" resolution to cover up the administrator retirement packages that will be paid for by the taxpayers for many years. Don't buy into the comparison to private sector because there are many, many differences to analyze, i.e. measurable profits, etc.
Go to the Budget Public Hearing next week, get 10 or more taxpayers to sign a petition objecting to certain provisions of the budget (provisions caused by the misspending and overspending) of taxpayer dollars. Just an idea?????
Phil:
Don't take this personal!!! Decatur Township is tired of the "special" deals made with certain employees. Period.
anon 9:09 - I was looking at the very same thing. The notice also mentions an opportunity after the County Auditor publishes the final tax rates. Instead of being filed with the school district, it is filed with the Auditor who forwards it to the DLGF.
It appears there is a third opportunity as well. After the Auditor sends the tax rate information for the County to the DLGF, they have a public hearing. We will have to scour the newspaper for notice of that hearing, though.
Mrs. Andrews, if you need Decatur taxpayers to help out and sign a petition, please let us know here and we will contact you. i know i want to get answers about Stinson and Baer skirting the property tax caps with their tax anticipation warrant scam. We're going to lose everything if we don't get control back from the school board and diamond don.
anon 9:58 - thanks. We are certainly all in this together.
I never heard the one about her being lesbian.....
If that sort of thing makes your toes wriggle, feel free to check through the blog's archives. Beyond that, can YOU get Stinson and the board to meet with taxpayers in a town hall setting to answers the concerns raised here?
You'll never get Stinson and/or this school board to have any kind of informational meeting. They've proved that to be a fact. The media doesn't care; Decatur has never been a media-friendly place. How many of you have contacted various print/news medias? I know I have and I know others that have. The media doesn't care...honestly they don't. It's not really "newsy" enough. Stinson and Board know this so they keep doing this. And look at past elections; they know they will get re-elected so they keep doing what they want!
Seriously; all name calling and allegations put aside. Has ANY OF YOU that are posting on this blog on a regular basis....been into the new Taj-Mahal? I challenge you to do so and be objective. It's odd how it feels. Way out of character for Decatur Township. I mean; come on....do we need a brand new baby grand piano???? It goes way deeper than mismanagement of funds and multi-million dollar salaries/retirements. It's about a legacy....a living legacy for Stinson and the board members.
You can do it; go to the High School during school hours. Go to the main office (if you can find it) and ask to take a tour. You'll be shocked what they've spent your money on. Be careful; you're being watched too....there's cameras everywhere. As you walk in notice the outside of the building. There's a camera about every 100' or so. Inside; it looks like a Vegas casino with cameras everywhere....
My point is these people have gone beyond anything quasi-legal or unethical or immoral. They have simply built a legacy for their puny little selves with 80+ million dollars of your money....and lets not forget the astro turf for the grandson.....
The intermediate school didn't work. Only took them 2 years to find that out. What are they going to do when they find out the "small school" format is just another fad/trend in education? Pitiful.
TAKE BACK DECATUR SCHOOLS!
I demand that Stinson resign or be fired immediatly.
Decatur has posted an Executive Session for discussion of a person job performance without listing the date. It is posted for 5:30 p.m. IF this executive session is to be held August 17, how can they talk behing closed doors for 1 and 1/2 hours about a peron's job performance - guess they might be hiding behind a legal reason for their meeting?????
Can this be reported to the State???
People should plan to go to the Public Hearing on August 17 so the board can't say that no one attended the public hearing when the petition is presented?????
Re: anon 2:11pm
Executive sessions are typically held to discuss personnel, there is no board obligation to discuss the proceedings of an executive session.
Surprising that there is a need to discuss personnel issues for 90 minutes when a new school year is just beginning. Too bad they didn't get their personnel issues taken care of before the start of school. Still wonder if it is confidential personnel issues being discussed or just their - board and superintendent - personal business?????????
Okay. I just got through Pat's post about this end run around the state's property tax caps by Boss Hogg and his partners in school administration. She did a good job explaining a complex problem, though she sure's hell got my blood pressure up. Alright then, since the school board has slipped the leash and won't answer any questions, there's not much use in going to one of their board meetings. Does anyone have any knowledge of how other taxpayers have acted to get control of runaway local gov't??? How about the governor's office? He set the 1% tax caps in place to protect us from rip-off artists like Decatur's school board and superintendant.
Also this got my attention too:
"Has ANY OF YOU that are posting on this blog on a regular basis....been into the new Taj-Mahal? I challenge you to do so and be objective. It's odd how it feels. Way out of character for Decatur Township. I mean; come on....do we need a brand new baby grand piano????"
Are you talking about the new high school, or the new administration office across the street at the old hospital building? What in the hell do they need a baby grand piano for?
Try contacting Charles Nemeth, he is the field supervisor for the State Board of Accounts for Schools and Townships.
cnemeth@sboa.in.gov
317-232-2520
Both the retirement pay for the administrators and the tax anticipation warrants need to be reviewed...
Ha! Boss Hogg and Phil the shill. At least there's a little humor in this mess of corruption.
At least it is verifiable that the Superintendent knows each entry on this blog (it is public information). They have now posted the date and time for the Executive Session next Tuesay - this blog cleaned up their "legal" ignorance again. Good job.
Let's start with the word deserve; if the board policy prior to their retirement stated those retirement benefits then they earned them and should receive those benefits but that wasn't the case. The latest board meeting corrected the little oversight of retirement incentives that were not approved by the board. Someone might want to check if their final contracts contain the necessary language to purchase those additional years of service credit and paid health insurance.
Question Phil, will the next retiring group of administrators receive equal treatment? Don't they deserve the same benefits as their former colleagues?
August 10, 2010 11:39 PM
The most pertinent query of the thread....is the one that goes unanswered. It's not surprising.
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