Confusion Reigns in Plowman Affair

Confusion is the only word that can describe the state of affairs with Councillor Lincoln Plowman. Today's Indianapolis Star article by Francesca Jarosz "Plowman to leave IMPD, reports say", says Plowman will retire from his IMPD post, but leaves things up in the air as to his Council seat.

Jarosz reports in part:

A city-county councilman and assistant police commander who has been under investigation for more than a month is expected to retire from the department Monday.

But it remained unclear Friday whether Lincoln Plowman's anticipated departure would shed light on the investigation. Details of the inquiry have been kept sealed since he was placed on administrative leave from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department on Feb. 3.

Also uncertain is whether Plowman, a Republican who represents the city's Southeastside, will remain in his council seat. Some council members say his departure from the department would bring them closer to asking for his resignation.

Meanwhile the new blog 'Indy's Political Stock Exchange' provides a link to a WTHR report that says Plowman will resign both his IMPD and Council positions.

WTHR, in part, reports the following:

Sources tell Eyewitness News that City-County Council member Lincoln Plowman plans to resign from his job on the council as well as his position with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police force.

Plowman has been under investigation over the past several weeks but even he says he does not know what the investigation is concerning.

The 21-year police veteran works as a major for Metro Police. He is currently on paid administrative leave during the unspecified investigation. The 30-day paid leave ended on Friday.

Jarosz further reports in her Star article, that :

Plowman's decision comes as public safety leaders prepare to make a ruling on his future with IMPD. His 30 days of paid administrative leave ended Friday, leaving public safety officials with a choice: reinstate Plowman to the department or suspend him without pay.

The latter decision would have started Plowman's termination from IMPD. The Indianapolis Star's sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, say Plowman chose to retire in anticipation of strong action from the department.

Plowman, who has served on the Police and Sheriff's departments for 21 years, did not respond to e-mails Friday, and his cell phone number was disconnected.

Frank Straub, the city's public safety director, confirmed that he planned to meet with Plowman and his attorneys Monday to discuss Plowman's status with IMPD, but he would not elaborate.

Looks like Monday will be a pivotal day for Lincoln Plowman. I firmly believe that those under investigation are not necessarily guilty of anything. And, I firmly believe that those who get a lawyer are not necessarily guilty of anything. The right of presumed innocent until proven guilty must extend to all of us, including police officers, Councillors, and average citizens alike. But, at some point, the public's right to know needs to be activated because Lincoln Plowman is both a police officer and a City-County Councillor and the public deserves to know if his service on either of those fronts is in question.

To Vote On School Board, You Must Be Registered

The School Board election is on May 4. The deadline to register to vote is April 5.

Many people assume that because the School Board election is held at the same time as the Party Primary elections, that you must declare a Party in order to vote for candidates running on the School Board ballot. That is not true. You would go to your voting location and let them know your only want to vote for School Board and they will give you a ballot listing only those candidates.

But, you must be registered to vote. Two things on this matter. IF YOU THINK you are already registered to vote - check to be sure. I'll tell you how below. IF YOU KNOW you are NOT registered to vote, I have some tips below to ensure your application will be successful.

I have worked the polls for a number of years now and I can tell you that it is common to see two things - folks who have voted year after year who do not show up on the records because they moved or changed their names and did not remember to get their voter registration updated - and - folks who filled out the voter registration form and trusted the BMV to get it to the Voter Registration people.

If you think you are registered to vote, or if you filled out the form and assume you are properly registered, you can call Voter Registration at 327-5040, or drop into their office if you are in the City-County Building. As we get closer to the election, you will also be able to double check on the County Clerk / Election Board website. Once polling locations are determined for the May 4 election, they will have an interactive form that tells you a) if you are registered to vote, and b) where you would go to vote. I will post that link once the feature is available.

If you need to register for the first time, or if you need to transfer your registration to a new address, or if you changed your name (ladies - that can easily be you if you recently got married and took your husband's name) - click here - on this page you have the choice of getting the form in either Word or Acrobat Reader format. Fill out the form. Having worked at the polls on election day, I can tell you that I have never heard of someone who sent their form to the Voter Registration Office who was not on the books as a registered voter. Lots of folks filled out the form at the BMV and never got registered. So, I advise you to either mail it to the Marion County Voter Registration Office (if you live in Marion County) - you will find the address on the form. Or, walk it in to the Voter Registration Office. It is on the first floor of the City-County Building.

If your registration is successful, the Voter Registration Office will send you a postcard that you should bring with you to the voting location, just in case. If you have that card, you will be allowed to vote, even if somehow your name does not show up in the books. If you have not received this card - make sure you double check that you are registered by calling 327-5040.

The deadline to register is April 5. So, if you want to vote on May 4, you must double check your registration before April 5 so that you have time to get the situation corrected.

The Decatur School District Culture of Fear

Fear rules the MSD Decatur Township school district. Fear that if you step out of line, you will be gone. Fear that if you speak up, you will be gone. There is no recourse - the School Board just rubber stamps everything.

Superintendent Don Stinson doesn't handle the tools of fear mongering himself. He has Assistant Superintendent Jeff Baer and soon to be Assistant Superintendent Susan Adams for that nasty business. Baer is leaving at the end of the school year. But, according to what Susan Adams is saying around the District, she will be getting a promotion to take over the non-business activities that Baer currently handles, but his successor wants no part of. Adams will relinquish her head custodian job, and become the overlord of Transportation and Safety.

Now, I have heard Adams referred to as 'the dragon lady' a couple of times. And by criteria of how she has treated the custodians, she deserves that moniker. She has trimmed their ranks substantially. She cuts the heat off in the winter and the AC off in the summer - even while the custodians lug around vacuum cleaners on their backs and even while they clean carpets. The freezing cold and the sweltering heat and humidity she subjects the custodians to is immoral in my book. I think they should be complaining to the EEOC about their work conditions, quite frankly. But, they are afraid of doing so lest they be released from their employment as revenge. Don Stinson lets the dragon lady mete out this injustice and is ultimately responsible. Well, let me amend that - the School Board is ultimately responsible. If we had a School Board who actually cared to listen to the employees in the district, they might have a very different work environment - one that respected the dignity of all workers.

I will be referring to this again in the section on Security below - the custodians have been told by the dragon lady, that, should there ever be a bomb threat in a school that causes evacuation of the building, they are to remain behind and search for the bomb. Let me repeat that - should there ever be a bomb threat in a school that causes evacuation of the building, the custodians are required to remain behind and search for the bomb.

Now, should you not be that alarmed about the treatment of decent, hard working people in Decatur Township Schools, maybe you would be interested in another aspect of the no heat, no AC for custodians rule. It turns out that what mold needs to flourish is hot, humid conditions. Say, like the conditions one would find in the summer with the AC turned off and right after carpets are steam cleaned. Thanks to the no AC for custodians rule, the district now has a mold problem in the Early Childhood Center and the Decatur Intermediate Learning Center. The problem in the ECC is being 'solved' by moving the school to the Lynwood campus. There appears to be no resolution on the table for the DILC mold problem. Eventually the taxpayers will be on the hook to reclaim these spaces.

Even before assuming her new duties, the dragon lady and Jeff Baer have been 'working' on the bus drivers. The community needs to become more aware of what is going on in the Transportation Department. That budget is being slashed by Don Stinson - seemingly without any Board action or public disclosures. It would seem that the push is to 1) get senior drivers to quit and 2) cut benefits.

The first steps are in the works as we speak. The drivers' hours are being cut from 6 or 7 per day, down to 4 hours per day. Meanwhile more drivers are being hired so that the bus schedule can continue unabated. Dropping the driver's time immediately cuts their take home pay and puts their ability to get benefits in jeopardy. This again is immoral in my book. The bus drivers have families to support. With only 4 hours per day - two in the morning and two in the afternoon - the drivers are also precluded from taking second jobs. Clearly this is a move to get them to quit their jobs. Yet again I emphasize that I consider this immoral.

But it doesn't end there. Senior drivers are being targeted with 'non-compliance write-ups'. These write-ups claim that the drivers were tail gating or speeding. This will provide a paper trail should Baer, Adams, and Stinson want to remove more drivers than those who voluntarily leave their District jobs.

As mentioned in a comment to a previous blog entry, the drivers have now received letters claiming that the cost of repairing any damage to their bus will come out of their pay. One needs to ask what insurance is for?

That leads me to the Security Department. When the midnight shift in that Department was eliminated, Baer said 'that's what insurance is for'. Susan Adams claims that we can do away with the entire department because 'we have cameras on all the buildings'. As I spoke about in some detail in "Security is First Casualty of Budget Cuts", the dragon lady refuses to give keys or floor plans to the officers, as recommended by national standards promulgated by the Department of Homeland Security. Now she is being promoted over Security, which she believes can be handled by cameras and custodians. This is unbelievable.

As mentioned in comments to other blog entries, the custodians and the bus drivers are not the only employees in the District who are enveloped by this culture of fear. The teachers also must watch their backs and do not feel that they can afford to speak up or speak to the Board about mistreatment. Don Stinson, through Susan Adams and Jeff Baer, has created a hostile work environment, paid for by good hearted, hard working Decatur taxpayers. This culture is not in keeping with the attitudes of our community, and at some point we have to ask why the School Board allows it to continue.

MSD Decatur School Administration Breaking Yet Another Law

Every year, every governmental unit in Indiana must submit the list of employees, their positions, and the salary received in the month of January. This is required by state law. State law dictates that these salary reports be submitted to the State Board of Accounts by the end of January.

Well the MSD Decatur Township is now over one month late with filing this state mandated report. This is the report I used to post the salaries of school personnel in 2009 (see "Top Decatur School District Salaries for 2008-2009 School Year". I have been trying to get the report for 2010 to no avail.

Unlike the numerous laws broken by the Administration and the School Board which I have previously reported, this one caries a penalty. State law says:

IC 5-11-13 Chapter 13. Executive Officers' Annual Report to State Board of Accounts
IC 5-11-13-1 Personnel report
Sec. 1. Every state, county, city, town, township, or school official, elective or appointive, who is the head of or in charge of any office, department, board, or commission of the state or of any county, city, town, or township, and every state, county, city, town, or township employee or agent who is the head of, or in charge of, or the executive officer of any department, bureau, board, or commission of the state, county, city, town, or township, and every executive officer by whatever title designated, who is in charge of any state educational institution or of any other state, county, or city institution, shall during the month of January of each year prepare,make, and sign a written or printed certified report, correctly and completely showing the names and business addresses of each and all officers, employees, and agents in their respective offices, departments, boards, commissions, and institutions, and the respective duties and compensation of each, and shall forthwith file said report in the office of the state examiner of the state board of accounts. However, no more than one (1) report covering the same officers, employees, and agents need be made from the state or any county, city, town, township, or school unit in any one year.

IC 5-11-13-3 Violations; offense; penalty
Sec. 3. A person who violates section 1 of this chapter commits a Class C infraction. If violated by an elected state officer, the officer is liable to impeachment, and if violated by any other person, the person is subject to removal for neglect of duty under the procedures described in IC 34-17.

Maybe our lawyer friends can interpret the exact penalty and who would be required to file the legal action. Also, if they could interpret who is to be held responsible - the elected School Board, the Superintendent, or the two Assistant Superintendents for Business.

But, the issue for our community is the ongoing and never ending arrogance displayed by all of these people.

Some New Audits For County School Districts Available

Every so often I check the State Board of Accounts Website for publication of the current audit of MSD Decatur Township books. Audits are conducted every other year and we are due for one covering the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 school years. Alas, ours was not up yet.

But three other districts in Marion County were published. Click the name to be taken directly to the audit:

MSD Perry Township

MSD Warren Township - Athletic Department

MSD Wayne Township


In addition an audit of the Washington Township (not schools but township government) has been posted.

MSD Washington Township School Board Member Calls For Investigation

Over at Ogden on Politics is a copy of a letter from Washington Township School Board Member, Greg Wright, asking for an investigation of multiple issues surrounding the contracted security services of a company called Securitex. I reprint the letter below:

Monday, March 01, 2010

Dear Superintendent Whitesell, Mr Hartman, and Honorable Zoller,

This letter is the official request of an elected member of the MSD Washington Township Board of Education.

Please investigate allegations that MSD Washington Township school administrators have intimidated and obstructed school police officers from carrying out their lawful duty to report.

Further, it is my request that you assist in the return of $5,493,868 to the taxpayers of MSD Washington Township. This is the amount of money paid to Securatex, an Illinois Corporation, by MSD Washington Township since 2001. An agreement between MSD Washington Township and Securatex dated 9/13/02 and amended 7/24/03 and 8/24/04 appears to never have been approved by the MSD Washington Township Board of Education. Since payments were made to Securatex for at least a year prior to the 9/13/02 date of this agreement, there may be

A Citizen has informed me that several firms have approached the MSDWT Administration requesting permission to bid on its security guard business and have been denied that opportunity. In 2009 alone, MSDWT paid Securatex $870,828.
Further, last Thursday February 25, 2010, I informed MSDWT Superintendent James Mervilde that a Citizen approached me and offered concerns that Securatex was not licensed to provide security and guard services to our school district. Mervilde assured me the following day that Securatex was properly licensed. However, a Citizen informed me that she has filed a complaint alleging that Securatex, an Illinois Corporation, does not meet the Indiana requirements of law to conduct business as a security guard service provider because, since 2007, it has not have a “resident licensee” as required by Indiana Code 25-30-1-14.

Therefore, since the safety of our children and teachers depend in large part upon having qualified and properly licensed security personnel, and because the taxpayers need to be treated fairly, particularly in these difficult economic times, these matters require your immediate attention.

Although this is an election year, I have not chosen to run for re-election to the MSD Washington Township Board of Education, and I am not a candidate for any public office.

Sincerely,
Gregory Wright, Elected Member
MSD Washington Township Board of Education

[edited to add : Dana Vice has two new entries on this matter over at 'Welcome to My Tea Party']

Is There a Board Meeting Tonight?

I just came back from the Decatur Library. Did anyone hear of a meeting of the Decatur School Board tonight? When I went into the Library I saw Dale Henson's car outside of the Central Office. When I left the Library I drove past and his car was gone, but I saw Greenwald and Huffman in the Board Room. Anyone have any info????? Saw a Caddy, but I don't know what kind Stinson drives.