I did receive answers back from the Hanover School District after sending them my first RSA 91:A demand concerning Janice Starkey’s rude shutting down of a Parent on a PTO Zoom call. Loyal Readers know that I tried to be nice.
To ask the correct questions but then didn’t get any answers back, and they really were obvious simple questions. So, I issued an RSA 91:A demand of the Hanover School District demanding answers including:
- Provide the title of the class
- 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?
- Please provide the vendor invoice given to the District for:
- the total cost
- line-item costs
And a few more revolving around that training class. I did get a first response back from Dr. Badams, the Superintendent, stating that results may be available in 20 business days (June 28, this coming Monday). And he’s denying some of what I asked for (see that link). And then I got an “update” (if one can call it that):
From: “Badams, Jay” <jaybadams@hanovernorwichschools.org>Sent: 6/14/2021 12:10:51 PMSubject: RequestDear Skip,We continue to compile the documents that you have requested, and in doing so I understand that you have reached out to a number of our staff seeking information about an incident that happened at the February 25 Ray School PTO meeting. While the employee you have inquired about was present at that meeting, she was there in her capacity as a parent member of the PTO. The training that she referenced was intended as a way to stand up for students during incidents of bullying, not to inhibit or prevent the expression of conflicting opinions during respectful dialogue. I will be sure to highlight the details of that training when I have all of your requested information compiled.Take care,Jay
Yeah, well, the Parent that was dissed is NOT a student and the Hanover School District’s own Policies that I quoted in my FIRST Right to Know listed them which made it clear that employees are responsible at all times to be courteous to the Public AT ALL TIMES. I await a final written answer as to how the District is going to square that circle.
But time has passed and I STILL have no answers – not even partial answers to the simple questions above. I understand that SOME of what I asked for would take time – but three weeks just to get the title of the training? Wouldn’t that be in Janice Starkey’s personnel folder? Or tracked online in their Accounting system? And Dr. Badams has confirmed that he knows what the training class was (e.g., “The training that she referenced was intended as a way to stand up for students“). That means that the first two items above are already known.
Soooo,
From: “Skip” <Skip@granitegrok.com>To: “Badams, Jay” <jaybadams@hanovernorwichschools.org>Sent: 6/24/2021 3:26:25 PMSubject: Re[4]: Request
Dr. Badams,It has been almost 3 weeks since I sent my Right To Know to you, with our hour long conversation in the middle of that time period. Am I to assume that you are unable to send even partial results to me at this time? Not even the name of the training class that Janice Starkey took, the name of the company/person that delivered it, nor the Invoice they sent to you, or the payment voucher associated with paying them? I find it highly unlikely that even just those four data elements need three weeks to find and send.Occam’s Razor leaves me with only two obvious reasons why not even a partial response has been returned.
- Your staff are incompetent at fetching such information (be it hard copy or in softcopy form)
- You’re stalling.
Thus……Consider this my second Right To Know demand under RSA 91:A: A Right to Know (“RTK”) concerning other Right To Know demands submitted to your School District.From January 1, 2021 to present, I am demanding
- A list of how many Right to Know demands have been submitted to the District
- A list of how many of those Right to Know requests are still in WIP (Work In Process) status
- How many of those Right to Know Requests have been completed by the District
- How many of those Right to Know Request have been verified as completed and accepted by the interrogator.
Further: for each Right To Know demand submitted to the District:
- Copies of each Right To Know demands submitted to the District (by any communications methods)
- The dates that they were first received and logged by the District
- The dates of the District’s initial response back to the interrogator that the demand had been received along with:
- any / all answers to the RTK
- if not answered in said first response, the estimate given in order to complete the request
- Copies of that initial response
- The dates and updates / information sent back to the interrogator, in part or in full, in fulfilling the demand request
- The final information-bearing response by the District.
- The dates and final submission by the District to the interrogator that the District has fullfilled it’s legal responsibility.
- The interrogator’s return response to your final response
The Law grants you five business days for your initial response. Further, it requires that all information that would be responsive to this demand be kept safe and available. Electronic copies of documents showing the information are preferred but I am willing to come to the District office to review the material. Please, as needed, let me know the cost of providing hardcopy versions of the documents that are responsive to this demand.-SkipCo-Founder, co-ownerGraniteGrok.com
Yep, a Right To Know about Right To Knows….who would have guessed?
To Be Continued…
