At the last BoE meeting Julia Maxine Robinson was pretty darn angry and vowed to start coming to board meetings to keep an eye on things. After the meeting she confronted Schools Superintendent Richard Organisciak and asked to know when the next school board meeting was scheduled because she planned on being there. Organisciak told her there were no board meetings until September. Overhearing this, I took Robinson aside and told Robinson Organisciak was intentionally misleading her, that last year there were multiple board meetings in July and August and I saw no reason why that would not be the case this year.
Yesterday the District posted a number of announcements to the NRED web site including newly scheduled meetings of the school board. If someone can let her know, I believe Ms. Robinson will want to know that Organisciak flat out lied to her.
Tuesday, July 28 Board of Education Committee Meetings 6:30 PM
Tuesday, August 4 Board of Education Meeting 7:00 AM PM
Tuesday, August 25 Board of Education Committee of the Whole Meeting 7:00 PM
The first meeting is meant to appear like it is an executive session meeting but is, in fact, a meeting of the full board.
Board of Education Committee Meetings
Date: 7/28/2009 Time: 6:30 PM
Members of the Audit Committee (members of the Board of Education as a whole) will hold a meeting on Tuesday evening, July 28, 2009, at 6:30 P.M. in the Edwina Carew Conference Room at the Administration Building, 515 North Avenue, New Rochelle, New York, immediately preceding the Committee of the Whole Session at 7:00 p.m. Members of the Audit Committee plan to make a motion to convene immediately into Executive Session to discuss financial matters with the Internal Auditors, Tobin & Company, Certified Public Accountants, P.C. Non-Audit Committee members are not expected to attend.
If you did not know any better you might think that this meeting was not going to be a full meeting of the board because the last sentence reads “Non-Audit Committee members are not expected to attend”. Now, that sure sounds like to me it is meant to convey the idea that the Audit Committee is a select group of board members and those board members not on the Audit Committee will not be present. This might even give you the idea this is sort of a “half-meeting” or maybe not really a board meeting. In other words, “move along, nothing to see here”.
If you looked on the District web site you would not see any information about which board members are on this “select” Audit Committee. If you went to City Hall, they would not willingly hand over this information. In fact, the only way the public would be able to figure this is out is if someone who was very familiar with their shenanigans was paying close attention, someone who had actually read all the board resolutions from the last board meeting, someone who knew about Resolution 10-15 that was passed by the BoE on July 7, 2009. Let’s see what that document has to say about this.
RESOLUTION NO. 10-15
RESOLUTION DESIGNATING THE AUDIT COMMITTEE FOR THE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT OF THE CITY OF NEW ROCHELLE FOR THE 2009-10 SCHOOL YEAR TO BE THE BOARD OF EDUCATION AS A COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE
WHEREAS, Chapter 263 of the Laws of 2005, also known as the Comptroller’s Five-Point plan, requires each Board of Education to establish an advisory audit committee by January 1, 2006; and
WHEREAS, Chapter 263 of the Laws of 2005 permit the Board of Education as a Whole to be such Audit Committee; and
WHEREAS, members of the Board of Education as a Whole were appointed as the Audit Committee by Resolutions No. 06-123 dated November 1, 2005; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the Board of Education hereby designates the Board of Education of the City School District of New Rochelle as a Whole to be the audit committee for the City School District of the City of New Rochelle for the 2009-2010 fiscal year;
and be it further
RESOLVED, that this resolution shall take effect immediately
In other words, the entire school board is the Audit Committee.
Gee. Why would they publish a notice saying “Non-Audit Committee members are not expected to attend”? Could it be because they want the public to believe that this is not actually a full meeting of the board or a public session. If that were the case then, heaven forbid, people might actually show up and see what they are up to over there. Worse, they might realize that they can file a request to be added to the agenda for the Public Comment period and have some input.
If you would like to break up their little private party, you might want to consider sending an email to the Clerk, Liz Saraiva, right now asking to be put on the agenda for July 28th, 2009. You are entitled to 5 minutes without interruption from the board. If enough people were to drop her a line and sign up for their turn to speak it might be possible to help the board better understand that New Rochelle residents are not satisfied with their attempts to sweep the non-residents enrollment issue under the table or to keep paying the President of the teacher’s union a six figure salary plus full benefits for teaching one class at IEYMS while drawing a second paycheck from the union.
LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us
I sent my request. Have you?
BOE meeting next Tuesday
Bob, we look forward to your commentary from these meetings. You make them interesting.
I don’t think that “hosted” children should be able to attend schools in New Rochelle without having to pay “out of district” tuition. They are more than welcome to attend, but should have to pay or have their home district reimburse.
school supplies
i’d like to make a point and question the BOE as to why parents have to spend up to $100+ on school supplies. why isn’t it recommended that teachers apply for grants for yearly school supplies. it’s not fair that some parents are chosen to spend for the whole class, i pay enough taxes…enough is enough