Attorney RFP Passes while Zoom Access for Families Gets Shut Down by Two BOE Reps Who Promised they Would Work to Make it Happen….

Last night, during the special meeting, the BOE re-opened the RFP process for attorneys. Ms. Stanley’s argument against it ranged from “it will increase costs” (which is not true – the BOE can negotiate a per-diem rate with ANY of the attorneys the District hires, not just her favorites) to “it’s wrong for you to bring up votes when I don’t have enough people here to block you”. The latter is rich coming from a BOE Member who, in concert with the Business Administrator and Board Attorney, has mangled policies and procedures to engineer outcomes. Ms. Stanley’s friend’s not being present at a BOE Meeting is not a reason to delay a vote.

Ms. Stanley’s logic of “your motion was voted down, so you can’t bring it back when we don’t have a full board” was inaccurate. We are aware that she plans to bring back student transportation policy 8600 and the 6421 policy on budgeted purchases, which will allow the BA to authorize most purchases under a statutory limit but does not abide by the state law. When the business administrator is on your side, it is in your interest to give them blank checks to circumvent the BOE Vote – especially when it might involve attorneys defending your case and pursuing your fellow BOE Members.

The RFP was necessary as it forced the BOE to follow the process correctly and allowed this new BOE to establish criteria. Ms. Bradford’s “no criteria” add-on is irrelevant. If the new RFP is not acceptable to the Board, it can simply not pass.

However, this isn’t going to be another article on bizarre arguments coming from Ms. Stanley and the Business Administrator because, in the end, the District was one step closer to an important objective – getting rid of a firm that has provided the District with terrible advice and drained dollars from our classrooms.

This “win” for families was overshadowed by a shocking and disappointing vote from Ms. Khanna and Ms. Joly, who voted against allowing families to participate in Zoom. Let’s be clear: there was no reasonable argument to go back on a campaign promise each of these BOE Members made to the families that supported their platform.  After years of waiting for the District to open up the doors to family input and years of dead end committee meetings, on this item, it was a betrayal to see these two BOE Members become the main reason why this door was shut yet again.

It was disappointing to see both representatives play the same tired tactic of throwing the issue into a committee “so it could be studied”. There was already a committee on this – and it went on forever, and it produced recommendations.

It was disappointing to hear the tired “well, it’s not perfect, so we can’t approve it” argument – remote participation will never be “perfect”. The decision on whether to use Google or Zoom is technical – not policy, and the IT Department could have worked it out after it had passed. We know both could be used tomorrow because the District has enabled Zoom participation for over a year during Covid. The Town Council has also, until recently, allowed for Zoom participation. There is no great mystery here.  The reasons to not allow Zoom (or Google) participation are not technical – they are purely political.

The only conclusion one can arrive at is optics – the desire to appear as “Look, I voted for Jordan’s awesome committee…I’m a team player” trumped promises made to voters who made a decision based on this commitment.

The next critical vote – the Budget and appointment of the Business Administrator, who has essentially mirrored the same problems as the prior Administrator, will expire in a month.  

Which version of Joly and Khanna will we see on these votes?

Will it be the campaign version that supported good policy and accountable administration or the “I am buying into the narrative and want to distance myself from Sai so the cool kids love me” version?

A little harsh or unfair?  So is going back on something you committed to do for this community and its’ students for no good reason.

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