Something Smelly On The Playground?
by SCRGadmin on Mar.02, 2010, under Our School System
A Red Herring?
The odd part of the whole thing is that he has used the school district’s attorneys (disguised as the “U-B Corporation” in Cleveland) as the agent for the foundation. We’re not sure what the Superintendent and the law firm of Ulmer and Berne are up to but we will be watching. Why must everything in this district be done under the table?
It begs a lot of questions, Why a 501(c)(4) whose contributions are not tax deductible? If it is really for the citizens of stow then why not a 501(c)(3) whose contributions are deductible, like B.E.S.T., the committee formed to put artificial turf on the football field, or the Band Boosters or the PTA? Who paid the filing fees and attorney fees (Ulmer Berne)? Who is going to appoint the Board for this foundation, the School? It also seems strange because Russ Jones is not a Stow citizen and this is the type of organization that a citizen would start. Something does not smell very good here in suburbia.
Click here to see the forms filed with the Secretary of State Click here to see an IRS definition
11 Comments for this entry
-
Welcome to the new Stow Citizens For Responsible Government website!
Click here for Website Navigation Help
Please note as of the most recent post's date, NO ONE has stepped forward to challenge any fact presented on this website. The easiest way to stay updated is to subscribe to our RSS feed, send us a message, or join us on our Facebook page!
Loading ...
We use Digsby to manage our social networks.
What do you use?
We use 1&1 for our hosting!
March 2nd, 2010 on 7:21 pm
Looks like the Superinte4ndent has done it again. Another way of abusing our tax dollars to evade being caught by this group.Is it his way to deceive the public so they cannot find out what he and the board is doing. It’s too bad the school board and the administrators who take care of OUR MONEY aren’t this efficient.
March 2nd, 2010 on 7:47 pm
It’s bad enough when you have a law firm on retainer and rack up all this frivolous attorney time, but the current board (under advisement of the treasurer and superintendent) has chosen to go the hourly route. HOW MUCH IS THIS DISTRICT(taxpayer)REALLY PAYING FOR ATTORNEY FEES? How much has been paid to cover up administrative “mistakes”?
March 3rd, 2010 on 12:24 pm
It appears the superintendent, treasurer and those who take their advice (the Board) would rather use tax money to pay attorneys rather than rely on their own sense of right and wrong, on experienced employees or on community input that is backed by sound experience.
How come the previous superintendents, treasurers and Boards operated with, what seems like, a lot more integrity and transparency and did not need to use attorneys so much?
March 3rd, 2010 on 1:41 pm
Has anyone done a public records request on all of this stuff? I’d be interested to know. I’ve been riled up at the district over the school newspaper fiasco (which I supported the students on wholeheartedly — and did NOT support the Principal’s EXCUSE for not allowing the picture; but I did not agree with the “censorship”/”First Amendment” claims either). Anyways, because of the ridiculous and short-sighted “reason” from the Principal (which she never fully explained), they had to retain an attorney. At what cost?
Also, are ALL of these members on the school board — including the President — elected?
March 5th, 2010 on 2:08 am
Yes all posistions are elected, except for the superintendent, whose is hired by the school board. I have had MANY questions for the Superintendant.
1. Why do you not live in Stow and have your children go to our schools instead of Aurora. Your 5600.00 in real estate taxes to Portage County could be a great way to help Stow Schools.
2. Your professional decisions are very questionable, that stem clear back to when you were a teacher at Kent City Schools.
3. Has anyone ever asked how Mr. Jones met his wife? The answer to that refers to point #2.
I truely do not understand how this man continues to run our schools, and no one has asked these questions. If he can not make good choices personally then how can we expect him to make good choices for our children.
March 5th, 2010 on 7:54 pm
JJinStow – Yes, all school board members are elected. Unfortunately, the public rarely gives these positions much thought even though the school district budget is over twice that of the city’s. There have been many public records requests, with varying degrees of success. The treasurer makes it a difficult process, but the alternative to the average citizen is to retain legal representation. In these economic times, few of us have such resources. Contrastingly, the school district has ultimate resources for their legal expenses – the taxpayers!
March 9th, 2010 on 2:58 pm
Thanks LMAO & Justice.
I’ll be honest Justice, I am not concerned why he does not live here, nor do I care how he met his wife. Now, if his kids went here when he didn’t live here, then I would have a problem. Unless teachers are required to live in the city they teach in, then it’s a non-issue, IMO. We still get the income taxes from their salaries. And personally, I’ve heard from some in the past that teachers should work in the district they teach. I find that extremely ridiculous, not to mention unconstitutional. The same goes for how he met his wife. This just sounds like it’s nitpicking and irrelevant. I realize people might not agree with one’s personal behaviors, but the actual issue affecting the district need to be focused on.
LMAO — The Treasure is not allowed to make it difficult to file public record requests. ORC 149.43 addresses public record requests — especially section 8 of the code. If they are not complying or are making you go through hoops, then you should let the Ohio AG know. Since I had a job where I can shine a light on this, I might be able to look into this firsthand by making a request. But, you put your request in writing (of course, by law, there is some information that we are not entitled to) and they have a “reasonable” amount of time to respond. You can also request to look at records during normal business hours.
“Any person may request inspection or copying of public records from a public office which keeps those
records. A public office must organize and maintain its public records in a manner that meets its duty
to respond to public records requests, and must keep a copy of its Public records retention schedule at a
location readily available to the public. When it receives a proper public records request, and unless part or all of a record is protected from release, a public office must provide inspection of the requested records promptly and at no cost, or provide copies at cost within a reasonable period of time.
Unless a specific law says otherwise, a requester does not have to give the reason for wanting the records, or give their name, or make the request in writing. However, the request does have to be clear and specific enough for the public office to reasonably identify what public records are being requested. A request can be refused if the office no longer keeps the records, if the request is for documents which are not records of the office, or if the requester does not revise an ambiguous or overly broad request.
The General Assembly has passed a number of laws that protect certain records by either requiring or
permitting a public office to withhold them from public release. Where a public office invokes one of these exceptions, the office may only withhold a record or part of a record clearly covered by the exception, and must tell the requester what legal authority it is relying on to withhold the record.
If a person believes they were wrongly denied a public record, she can file a lawsuit against the public office, and the burden will be on the office to show the court that any record it withheld was clearly protected by one or more valid exceptions. If it cannot, the public office will be ordered to provide the record, and may be subject to a civil penalty and payment of attorney fees.”
Whenever I make a public records request, I purpose cite language that is relative from the AG and/or ORC. While specific, but easy, steps must be followed,they MUST comply. I have this link on my desktop, I would suggest everyone keeping it and looking at it:
http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/files/Publications/Publications-for-Legal/2009-Sunshine-Laws-Manual.aspx
-JJ
March 12th, 2010 on 5:14 am
JJinStow: I would imagine one of the big hang-ups holding back the committee that does the record requests for this website is the fact that when I asked several years ago for the Attorney General to help out with a case of sunshine law vilations, I was told it would cost me around $300.00 to file my grievance. It is explained near the back of the manual you cite, but does not mention the cost. It is easy to suppose that a committee that operates on a shoe-string (or less) budget would find that a daunting sum. This is probably a very good example of what is meant by “pay to play” in Ohio government.
March 12th, 2010 on 5:21 am
JJin Stow: As a second thought to the above posting: I happen to be in the school office when a member of the Stow Citizens for Responsible Government was there to pick up records that they had requested. The office attempted to snow them under with about 7 to 8 inches of useless paper. The person found what he wanted and paid for only the record requested. The school tried to make it so expensive in the hopes that he would abandon the request. I can’t really say if I am correct in this scenario, but sure looked that way to me. I was just as ticked off as he was.
March 16th, 2010 on 9:48 pm
What you saw, Wizard, is a big part of the problem.
The public school establishment does not know its place. In its heart of hearts, the people that comprise it really do feel that the community is there to serve them, not that they exist to serve the community.
And let’s be clear, when I say public school establishment, it includes, the teachers union, the PTA, the contractors, and, of course, the lapdog administration. It typically also include close family relatives of those directly in the establishment, all of whom have a personal financial interest in keeping the money pouring in and the taxpayers in the dark.
March 24th, 2010 on 1:55 am
To shed some light on a public records request. The only way in Ohio to enforce the sunshine law is to petition the court for a writ of mandamus at the petitioners expense. The political entity can keep delaying the request until the right before the court date then release the public information to the petitioner and the request becomes moot. The petitioner is out all monies and time and has no recourse. Most attorneys will not touch these cases because there is no money in them.