“Wonnerful, wonnerful, wonnerful…So why do you have a Policy that you can’t enforce and to which no one has agreed to follow by assenting to it in writing? “
Back on August 6, I posted “Gilford School Board – RTK this: Signed Copies of Policy BCA that mandates a Code of Ethics“. Actually, I did it twice (forgetting that I had done the latter before the former): “Right to Know Demand – Your Ethics Policy Outlines a Number of Items That a School Board Shall Comply With…”
From the former, I had written this:
Really? So School Board are assuming that merely by dint of winning a School Board race, the winning candidate is automatically enrolled into following a Code of Ethics? Funny, I always thought such a document had to be signed by consent? This Policy give NO ability of a School Board Member to do either #9 or #10. And for those living in Gilford, all I have to say is “The Dormody Rule” (you can’t do anything to me as a Budget member, even though I lied through my teeth about not voting on anything about the Library where my wife is the Library Director, because there is no RSA that allows you (the Budget Committee) to do anything against me).
In it, I asked for the “discipline schedule” (you can’t list a bunch of stuff that members have to follow without a list of penalties for blowing them off, right?). Also, I ask for the signed copies from each member that signified that they had read the Policy and consented to it.
I did get a response from the acting Superintendent Amie Leigh (er, it’s not like my Elected Representatives on the School Board, for whom this responsibility is really theirs, wants to actually do the work for which they’ve been elected but slough this off to their employee instead. After all, I guess, they aren’t supposed to take the slings and arrows that most Elected Representatives are expected to endure. Must be nice to really isolate themselves from the voting unwashed…but I digress).
The response sent within the five business days allotted to the Government was:
Skip Murphy
Gilford, NH
Skip@GraniteGrok.ComRE: School Board Documents 8/5/21 Request
Dear Mr. Murphy:
The documents that you requested in your August 5, 2021 e-mail as shown below, are not available documents. The District does not have the “discipline schedule”, the Legislature’s “backup documentation,” or the signed copies thereof that you have requested.
So that which one would have thought, for a Policy such as this, WOULD have had documentation, right? So that triggered a “Wonnerful, wonnerful, wonnerful” response back to the Gilford School Board that has a most OPERATIVE Question yet:
—— Original Message ——From: “Skip” <Skip@granitegrok.com>To: “Gandini, Gretchen” <ggandini@sau73.org>; “kthurston@sau73.org” <kthurston@sau73.org>; “jonos@sau73.org” <jonos@sau73.org>; “ksanborn@sau73.org” <ksanborn@sau73.org>; “AKelly@sau73.org” <AKelly@sau73.org>Cc: “Amie Leigh” <aleigh@sau73.org>Sent: 8/10/2021 12:46:35 PMSubject: Re: R2K Request 8.5.21 – Policy BCAGood afternoon,Amie – thank you for expediting the District’s response to my Right To Know demand concerning Policy BCA (https://www.sau73.org/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=11706448), School Board member Ethics that has, as its Preamble,“Each board member shall comply with the following ethical provisions:”And then lists a number of “ethical provisions” to which each member HAS to follow as “shall comply” has a specific and legal definition. To recap, my demands were:Thus, pursuant to the Right to Know Law (RSA. 91-A), I am requesting public access, within 5 business days, to the following governmental records:
- The discipline schedule for School Board members that decline to follow one or more of the above strictures over some amount of time. In order to have the Power to discipline your members, I expect that the District will also supply the backup documentation in which the Legislature has granted to these Powers subdivision of the State in this matter. Threatening disciplinary actions requires that such objective actions are in place, otherwise such actions against a member would be capricious and arbitrary and may well violate existing State statutes which outline what a School Board is allowed to do.
- Signed copies of this Ethics document by each of the members of the Gilford School Board. After all, there is nothing in State statute that holds that merely winning an election automatically gives consent to such a document; consent must be willingly given.
The answer was:
The documents that you requested in your August 5, 2021 e-mail as shown below, are not available documents. The District does not have the “discipline schedule”, the Legislature’s “backup documentation,” or the signed copies thereof that you have requested.
Wonnerful, wonnerful, wonnerful (an old TV variety show reference, if you’re wondering; doubt that you remember). A Policy that has no objective or specified list of violations so that members would know what kind of penalties they might be facing is toothless and worthless – why is it on the District’s books? Even worse, you don’t even have signed copies of a member’s consent which is part of the legal process to give such consent.
Such a fine look you are giving the District.
And then the real question:
So why do you have a Policy that you can’t enforce and to which no one has agreed to follow by assenting to it in writing?Yes, that’s yet another Question – and I am looking for an answer as you have threatened legal action against a past or future potential member (that “shall comply” bit) that knows that the Dormady Rule is in effect.-Skip
