Such a collection of names and animosity I’m gathering. And yes, it will be fun. I’ve been trying to get a SINGLE answer to a single question after Hanover School District Financial Assistant Janice Starkey interrupted and silenced a Parent during a Parent-Teacher Zoom meeting:
“I’m interrupting you. You are not allowed to talk. People like you that have views like you are not allowed to do what you’re doing, I’ve been trained to interrupt you.“
Who approved the training for Ms. Starkey? She wouldn’t answer me (ghosted me for a while). Her manager, Financial Manager April Veracka basically said “I’m not dealing with this, I’m sending you to Assistant Superintendent Robin Steiner.”
Well, she ghosted me as well. So, as Roadhouse’s star, actor Patrick Swayze said, “it’s time to not be nice.”
I tried to be nice, I tried to be patient – see what happens when you try to be a nice boy? The gals ignore you. Not so much anymore as yesterday I sent the following Right To Know demand to the Hanover School Board (emphasis mine):
—— Original Message ——
From: “Skip” <Skip@granitegrok.com>
To: Brittney.Joyce@hnsb.org; Marcela.DiBlasi@hnsb.org; Kimberly.Hartmann@hnsb.org; Benjamin.Keeney@hnsb.org; Richard.Johnson@hnsb.org
Sent: 6/8/2021 3:50:30 PM
Subject: Re[4]: Janice Starkey
Good afternoon,
Please view this as a formal NH RSA 91:A Right To Know demand. All materials pertaining to this demand are to be kept safe and not deleted. The Law says that you have five (5) business days in which to either make such responsive records available or to inform me when said response record material will be available. Please also let me know what the cost of providing such material will be – electronic copies would be preferable.
This demand in concerning Janice Starkey, a Hanover School District employee, when she told Mr. Dan Richards during an open Parent-Teacher Zoom meeting:
“I’m interrupting you. You are not allowed to talk. People like you that have views like you are not allowed to do what you’re doing, I’ve been trained to interrupt y”ou.“
Thus, since I have no answers back, I am demanding answers to the following question:
- What is the name of the company that supplied the materials, the presentation, and the instructor(s) in training this District Staff person to interrupt a parent at an open meeting simply for simply expressing his viewpoint?
- Provide the requisition paper work asking that this class be taught – including the requisitioning staff member
- Provide the authorizing paperwork for this instructional class including the signatory of the staff approver
- Provide any feedback material given to the vendor as part of an “after action” review process.
- Provide any and all class materials, be they electronic or hardcopy
- Please provide the vendor invoice given to the District for:
- the total cost
- line item costs
- Provide the title of the class
- Was this class concerning Critical Race Theory (or any of its euphemisms known as, but not limited to cultural appropriate training; diversity, equity, and inclusion)?
- Who authorized this class – District Staff (e.g., the Superintendent, Assist Superintendent, Manager or other) or the Hanover School Board? Provide the authorizing signature
- If the latter, what was the roll call vote on authorizing this training (by School Board member name, not just the final vote)?
- Provide the minutes of the meeting when the training was approved
- Provide either the video recording or a link to the video recording
Given what she said to a civilian Parent, It is clear that the following Hanover School District Policies are in force in this matter:
GBEA – Staff Ethics:
All employees of the District are expected to maintain high standards in their conduct both on and off duty. District employees are responsible for providing leadership in the school and community. This responsibility requires the employee to maintain standards of exemplary conduct. To these ends, the Board adopts the following statements of standards. District employees will adhere to the standards enunciated in this Policy in the decision-making process involving their interactions with students, the school community, colleagues, parents and the public.
To wit:
B. Additional Ethical Standards
In addition to the ethical standards set forth in the New Hampshire Code of Ethics, and without limiting the application thereof to District employment, employees will:
- Make the wellbeing of students the fundamental value of all decision-making and actions.
- Staff members shall maintain a reasonable standard of care for the supervision, control and protection of students commensurate with their assigned duties and responsibilities.
- Maintain just, courteous, and proper relationships with students, parents, staff members, and others.
- Fulfill their job responsibilities with honesty and integrity.
As well as your Policy GBEB:
A. General Provisions
All employees have the responsibility to make themselves familiar with, and abide by, the laws of the State of New Hampshire as they affect their work, all policies and decisions of the Board, and the administrative regulations and directives designed to implement them.
Employees are advised that failure to abide by this and other school board policies can lead to disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal, and can result in non-renewal. Any action taken regarding an employee’s employment with the District will be consistent with all rules, laws, and collective bargaining agreements, if applicable.
Thus, adding onto my Right to Know Demand:
- Provide the documentation under either these Policies, or others not specified, that granted Ms. Starkey an exception to the above Policies that allowed her to forcibly silence a Parent simply for expressing his views on upcoming legislation that might affect the District.
- Provide the documentation by which the District allows a Hanover School District government employee to abridge the Free Speech of another (re: US Constitution, First Amendment; NH Constitution Article 22)
- Since Janice Starkey demonstrated that such a thing called “Government Speech” can override a Citizen’s Free Speech Right, provide the documentation that this “Government Speech” is yet another Power that the District possesses and extended to Ms. Starkey
- Provide the documentation that outlines that the District has the Power to override a Citizen’s worldview perspective with its own.
And finally, and most importantly,
Provide the documentation that allows the Hanover School Board have the Power, as a mere subdivision of the State, to extend that Power in order to coerce the speech of others? Subdivisions of the State may only act under the law of authorizing NH RSAs – those authorizing documents (e.g., RSAs) would be construed as “responsive records” as well.
And before your legal counsel informs you that I have no standing in issuing this Right to Know:
[Art.] 8. [Accountability of Magistrates and Officers; Public’s Right to Know.] All power residing originally in, and being derived from, the people, all the magistrates and officers of government are their substitutes and agents, and at all times accountable to them. Government, therefore, should be open, accessible, accountable and responsive. To that end, the public’s right of access to governmental proceedings and records shall not be unreasonably restricted. The public also has a right to an orderly, lawful, and accountable government. Therefore, any individual taxpayer eligible to vote in the State, shall have standing to petition the Superior Court to declare whether the State or political subdivision in which the taxpayer resides has spent, or has approved spending, public funds in violation of a law, ordinance, or constitutional provision. In such a case, the taxpayer shall not have to demonstrate that his or her personal rights were impaired or prejudiced beyond his or her status as a taxpayer. However, this right shall not apply when the challenged governmental action is the subject of a judicial or administrative decision from which there is a right of appeal by statute or otherwise by the parties to that proceeding.
June 2, 1784
Amended 1976 by providing right of access to governmental proceedings and records.
Amended 2018 by providing that taxpayers have standing to bring actions against the governmentReferences:
-Skip
Co-Founder, co-owner
GraniteGrok.com
