What Does Jeffrey Hastie Keep Lying About T&M Invoices for Apex Grade Fixing Scandal?

Written By: Robert Cox

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — For many months now the New Rochelle Board of Education and various school officials have lied repeatedly about the invoices submitted by T&M Protection Resources for their investigation into the Apex Online Learning grade-fixing scandal. This despite public records, emails and video that clearly demonstrate they are lying.

The lie is that payments to T&M Protection Resources were “washed” through the District’s law firm rather than made directly. Why anyone other an organized crime syndicate would boast of laundering money through a third-party remains a mystery. Regardless, it is untrue. T&M invoiced the District directly, as required under the T&M contract.

At the meeting of the New Rochelle Board of Education on April 2, 2019, Jeffrey Hastie doubled-down on the lies he and Interim Superintendent Dr. Magda Parvey and other school officials have been telling about the invoices from T&M Protection Resources for their investigation into the Apex Online Learning grade-fixing scandal.

Here are the relevant documents:

T&M Agreement
T&M Invoice 12165
T&M Invoice 12860

We wrote about the Town Hall meeting on February 25, 2019 where Hastie and Parvey first went public with their lies:

Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?: The Improbable Saga of the New Rochelle Board of Ed

This meeting came on the heels of months of back and forth on emails originating with our request for the invoices from T&M on October 25, 2018. Initially, the District claimed that the District did not have any T&M invoices, claiming that the invoices were in the possession of their law firm at the time, Bond, Schoeneck & King. As they are public records regardless of who possesses them, we demanded that they obtain the invoices from BSK and turn them over. The District then said BSK did not have the invoices either. Meanwhile, we made another Freedom of Information request for the T&M Contract and the BSK Contract and BSK invoices going back 6 months.

Between October 2018 and February 2019, there were more than a dozen emails between Robert Cox, District Clerk Liz Saraiva, Interim Superintendent Dr. Magda Parvey, New Rochelle Board of Education President Jeffrey Hastie, New Rochelle Board of Education Vice President Amy Moselhi and others. Only after repeatedly pressing the issue did the District admit it had the T&M Invoices we had requested on October 25, 2018 the entire time. Here is what the District’s own records show:

  • The T&M Contact explicitly states “Counsel (BSK) is not financially responsible to T&M for any fees, costs, or expenses and that all such fees, costs, and expenses shall be paid by Client (CSDNR).”
  • There is no item in any of the BSK Invoices for the T&M investigation.
  • T&M Invoice 12165 is addressed to Brian Osborne at 515 North Avenue, New Rochelle, NY.
  • T&M Invoice 12165 is addressed to Dr. Magda Parvey at 515 North Avenue, New Rochelle, NY

Despite these ongoing back and forth emails regarding the T&M invoices, all involving Dr. Parvey and Hastie, the pair lied about it in a question submitted the week before at the Town Hall held at Isaac E. Young Middle School on February 25, 2019. Ever since then I have been questioning the knowingly false statement made by Parvey and Hastie and asking that they correct the record.

We have the videos and full transcripts but below is an edited version containing the relevant portion of transcripts from the Town Hall on February 25, 2019 and the Board of Education Meeting on April 2, 2019. For readers who wish to view the videos they can be found on the District’s web site. We have linked the T&M Contract and T&M Invoice 12165 and T&M Invoice 12860.

New Rochelle Board of Education Town Hall – February 25, 2019

JULIA MUGGIA-OCHS: (READING QUESTION FROM ROBERT COX) “Over the past year, the District has hired three different security firms (Guidepost, T&M, and Alteris) none of which was a budgeted expense. What is the actual or projected cost for each and what line item in the budget is being used to pay for each of them?”

DR. MAGDA PARVEY: …T&M wasn’t an actual District expense. We did not pay for T&M that was our attorneys paid for that, BSK paid for that.

JEFFREY HASTIE: …as Dr. Parvey said it was billed through BSK but we do pay our law firm but it was $77,000 spent for that related to security…

JULIA MUGGIA-OCHS: Did that answer your question?

ROBERT COX: No. I am asking about the line items in the budget, where the money’s coming from and I don’t know why Dr. Parvey thinks the District didn’t pay for T&M. I have copies of the invoices… the T&M contract requires the District to make those payments so I don’t know what she’s talking about.

JULIA MUGGIA-OCHS:So, we will try to clarify all of that and include that in the…

JEFFREY HASTIE: So I think you need to repeat the question, the question is where in the budget this is being paid for…your first question…

ROBERT COX: Line items…yeah, the line items…

JEFFREY HASTIE: So, security is paid for out of 1623-400 which is Security-Other. In the budget for this year we had actually a place holder of $200,000 in there so that’s kinda where this these costs is coming from, where these costs are coming from. Is there anything else?

ROBERT COX: Well, just that what Dr. Parvey said is not accurate. The contract with T&M requires the District to pay for it and the invoices were all sent to Dr. Osborne and I have copies of them so I don’t know why…

JEFFREY HASTIE: Well, I answered that question… Thank you.

New Rochelle Board of Education – April 2, 2019

ROBERT COX: On that note, regarding the Town Hall in February, is it still the position of the District that was expressed at that meeting that the District did not pay T&M

JEFFREY HASTIE: Two responses, one is as far as the claim that we said that we didn’t pay the bill, that was, the law firm, that was stated and I corrected it at that time I was saying “no the bill went through BSK and we paid the bill through BSK” so that was clear if you go back and look at the video it says that so that you need to correct that record.

ROBERT COX: By the way, I have a recording too, of that Town Hall meeting and what you just said is not accurate.

JEFFREY HASTIE: Thank you for that but you can look at it again but it is accurate what I just said…

ROBERT COX: No, it’s not.

JEFFREY HASTIE: It is.

Given that there were invoices, contracts, emails and video evidence to the contrary, why Jeffrey Hastie continues to lie about the T&M Invoices is inexplicable except that he believes that by repeated this lies over and over some people will accept that without looking at the evidence. We have here provided the evidence. Jeffrey Hastie is lying.

In his statement on April 2, 2019 he purported to quote himself at the Town Hall on February 25th, saying “the bill went through BSK and we paid the bill through BSK” when he actually said “it was billed through BSK but we do pay our law firm”. There is a difference between the two statements. In the original statement, Hastie is conveying that T&M invoiced BSK and the District paid a BSK invoice with an amount that included the amount paid by BSK to T&M. In the second statement, Hastie is conveying that T&M sent their invoice to BSK which in turn BSK presented to the District which then paid the T&M invoice by paying BSK which then paid T&M.

So, they are not the same thing but they are both conveying the same false premise: that T&M never sent any invoices made out to the District and sent directly through the District.

There are two invoices (T&M Invoice 12165 and T&M Invoice 12165). Readers can click and see for themselves they were both addressed to the New Rochelle Schools Superintendent at New Rochelle City Hall. Bond, Schoeneck & King is not even mentioned in either invoice. Likewise, a review of Page 2 of the contract makes clear that BSK was never to be invoiced for any fees or costs related to the investigation.

We know Jeffrey Hastie is lying.

What is less clear is WHY he is lying when the evidence to contrary is incontrovertible.

For those that are interested below is the relevant exchange of emails:

From: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Date: Oct 25, 2018, 12:38 PM -0400
To: Liz Saraiva lsaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us
Subject: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,

Liz

This is a public records request.

I would like to obtain the following records:

Documents pertaining to the agreement under which T&M Protection Resources was hired earlier this year to conduct an investigation related to Apex Credit Recovery Service along with all invoices and all related payments pursuant to that agreement

From: Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us
Date: Nov 1, 2018, 3:37 PM -0400
To: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Cc: Meghan LaBella MeghanLabella@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Amy Moselhi amoselhi@nredlearn.org, Jeffrey Hastie jhastie@nredlearn.org, mparvey@nredlearn.org
Subject: Re: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,

Dear Mr. Cox,

I acknowledge receipt of your Freedom of Information Law request dated 10/25/2018, which was received via e-mail on same date.

The records you are seeking are not in the possession of the City School District of New Rochelle. The private investigative firm was hired by our attorneys, Bond Schoeneck & King, not the School District, to investigate the APEX complaints.

From: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Date: Nov 1, 2018, 6:10 PM -0400
To: Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us
Cc: Meghan LaBella MeghanLabella@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Amy Moselhi amoselhi@nredlearn.org, Jeffrey Hastie jhastie@nredlearn.org, mparvey@nredlearn.org
Subject: Re: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,

Don’t be ridiculous.

You all know perfectly well if the records are possessed by some other entity you have to go get them.

Do you not recall we went through this baloney regarding financial records possessed by O’Connor Davies.

I want the records immediately and I am not paying for them either.

smh

Bob Cox

From: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Date: Nov 6, 2018, 8:46 AM -0500
To: Magda Parvey mparvey@newrochelle.k12.ny.us
Cc: Liz Saraiva lsaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Amy Moselhi amoselhi@nredlearn.org, Robert Freeman robert.freeman@dos.ny.gov, Jeffrey Hastie jhastie@nredlearn.org
Subject: Fwd: Re: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,

APPEAL OF DENIAL OF FOIL REQUEST

Dr. Parvey

The district has unsuccessfully adopted this absurd position before (below).

If there are public records in the possession of a third party (previously it was financial records at O’Connor Davies) the District must obtain those records and provide them to me. This is not even a question; the law is quite clear on this point.

In the previous case, the District claimed its cost to obtain the records was $800+. I successfully refuted that absurd claim as well and was ultimately provide the financial records at no cost. So please do not come back and tell me anything about paying for the records.

I want you to instruct BSK to deliver the records to you and for you to deliver them to me. I would like that to happen today.

Under NYS Law you have 10 days to respond to my appeal and must notify NYS COOG.

Robert Cox
Publisher and Managing Editor
Talk of the Sound

On 11/6/2018 at 11:20 AM, in message , Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com wrote:
Liz

Let me cover my bases here while awaiting my appeal on this phony denial of my previous FOIL request.

This is a public records request.

I would like to obtain the following records:

For the period May 1 2018 until the present, all invoices from and payments to Bond, Schoeneck & King including all supporting documents such as, but not exclusively, invoices from T&M Protection and payments to T&M Protection, any agreements with T&M Protection, and beyond just T&M, any and all time sheets, records of billable hours, travel & entertainment forms including related invoices and receipts and any other document submitted by BSK for purposes of billing the District during that period.

From: Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us
Date: Nov 9, 2018, 4:18 PM -0500
To: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Cc: Jeffrey White jeffreywhite@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Magda Parvey MParvey@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Amy Moselhi amoselhi@nredlearn.org, Jeffrey Hastie jhastie@nredlearn.org
Subject: Fwd: Re: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,

Dear Mr. Cox,

In reference to your Freedom of Information Law requests dated 10/25/2018 and 11/6/2018, and further to our e-mail exchange, attached please find a copy of the executed agreement between Bond Schoeneck & King, PLLC and T&M Protection Resources, LLC, dated May 23, 2018. There is no signature by representative of our School District because the agreement was between BSK and T&M. There are no invoices from T&M or payments made to them by Bond Schoeneck & King pertaining to this agreement.

I hereby certify to the best of my knowledge that the attached record is a true copy of the original record on file with the City School District of New Rochelle.

Please let me know if you still require the remaining items outlined in your FOIL request dated 11/6/2018, and if you rescind your appeal filed with Dr. Magda Parvey, Interim Superintendent of Schools, via e-mail on 11/6/2018 8:47 AM. Enjoy the holiday weekend.

Language in T&M Contract

If the Agreement is acceptable, please have it executed on behalf of Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC and on behalf of New Rochelle City School District and return a copy to me.

It is understood and agreed that Counsel is not financially responsible to T&M for any fees, costs, or expenses and that all such fees, costs, and expenses shall be paid by Client.

Invoices are due upon presentment of such invoice. Payments received by T&M more than thirty days after invoice date are subject to delayed payment charges of 1 ½ % per month. Payments may be made by check, credit card or wiring.

This agreement shall confirm the engagement of T&M Protection Resources, LLC by Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC to provide consulting and investigative services required in connection with Counsel’s representation and rendering of legal services to your client, New Rochelle City School District, (“Client”), as described in the Scope of Services below.
SCOPE OF SERVICES
T & M will provide investigative and consulting services in reference to allegations related to the credit recovery program at client’s high school.

Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us
Attachments
Nov 14, 2018, 4:58 PM

to Robert, Jeffrey, Magda, Amy, Jeffrey

Dear Mr. Cox,

I acknowledge receipt of your Freedom of Information Law request dated 11/6/2018, received via e-mail on same date.

Attached is the agreement between T&M Protection Resources, LLC and Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC.

I hereby certify to the best of my knowledge that the attached record is a true copy of the original record on file with the City School District of New Rochelle, as received from Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC.

Additional time is needed to conduct a search for the remaining records you requested pertaining to Bond, Schoeneck & King, and to review such records to determine if any information needs to be redacted in accordance with FOIL, such as confidential information pertaining to students, staff, etc. I will get back to you within 20 business days – by December 17, 2018.

From: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Date: Fri, Nov 16, 2018 at 9:16 AM
Subject: FOIL – current BSK contract
To: Liz Saraiva lsaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us

Liz

This is a public records request.

I would like to obtain the following records:

Current contract between City School District of New Rochelle and Bond, Schoeneck & King.

From: Dr. Magda Parvey mparvey@nredlearn.org
Date: Mon, Nov 26, 2018 at 3:54 PM
Subject: Re: Re: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,
To: robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Cc: robert.freeman@dos.ny.gov, Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Amy Moselhi amoselhi@nredlearn.org, Jeffrey Hastie jhastie@nredlearn.org

Mr. Cox,

I am writing in response to your FOIL appeal of November 6, 2018. I am granting your appeal. Attached is the agreement entered into between T& M Investigative Services and our legal counsel, on behalf of the School District to conduct an investigation into the District’s use of the APEX on-line learning system as well as a bill received from T & M which has been redacted to protect personally identifiable information. Bond Schoeneck and King’s bills contain personally identifiable and otherwise protected information and will need to be reviewed and redacted before they can be released pursuant to your request. There are approximately 200 pages that will need to reviewed. We anticipate that this process will take a minimum of one month to complete. Once it is complete we will forward you the redacted documents that you have requested. Should there be any fees associated with this review, we will apprise you immediately.

Thank you,
Dr. Parvey

From: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Date: Nov 27, 2018, 1:48 PM -0500
Subject: Re: Re: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,
To: Dr. Magda Parvey mparvey@nredlearn.org
Cc: robert.freeman@dos.ny.gov, Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Amy Moselhi amoselhi@nredlearn.org, Jeffrey Hastie jhastie@nredlearn.org

Dr. Parvey,

Thank you for your reply. I am pleased to see you have granted my appeal. I look forward to getting the BSK records.

Having reviewed the records you sent last night I cannot help but note the invoice date is 9/21/18 and that the invoice was billed to Dr. Osborne at City Hall in New Rochelle.

Why was I told that the District did not have any invoices in response to my FOIL on 10/25 when clearly they had them the entire time?

Why was I told BSK had the invoices when the contract states the District is responsible to pay all invoices and the invoice was, in fact, sent to the District and only the District two months ago?

Why was I told that the District was not a party to the T&M contract despite all evidence to the contrary?

T&M is, apparently, continuing to do work for the District yet the T&M contract remains insigned. Are there any plans to rectify that?

Looking through all of this and knowing what I know about these matters (which is quite a bit as I am the one who first broke this story) I still fail to understand both why anyone would believe that the District was not a party to the T&M contract and, conversely, why BSK was and is a party to the T&M contract. The whole thing strikes me as flipped on its head – the District should have hired T&M directly and on its own and BSK could play a role advising the District under the contract between the District and BSK. I see no reason at all for BSK to be mentioned at all in the T&M contract. Can you explain that?

Bob Cox

PS, I have drafted a story based on the invoices and intend to publish that story with these questions. With any other agency I would hold the story to provide time to respond. In my experience it seems highly unlikely I will get a response. So, I will publish then, if you respond, update the article.

Robert Cox
Publisher and Managing Editor
Talk of the Sound

From: Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us
Date: Wed, Nov 28, 2018 at 5:53 PM
Subject: Re: FOIL – current BSK contract
To: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Cc: Amy Moselhi amoselhi@nredlearn.org, Jeffrey Hastie jhastie@nredlearn.org, mparvey@nredlearn.org

Dear Mr. Cox,

I acknowledge receipt of your Freedom of Information Law request dated November 16, 2018, received via e-mail on same date.

Lisdalia (“Liz”) I. Saraiva
Clerk and Secretary to the Board of Education
Freedom of Information Law Officer
Records Access and Management Officer
City School District of New Rochelle

From: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Date: Wed, Nov 28, 2018 at 7:40 PM
Subject: Re: FOIL – current BSK contract
To: Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us

Liz

Can you double-check this PDF File?

I see resolutions and letters that refer to a contract and refer to extending a contract but I do not the original contract the other documents refer to.

Thanks

Bob Cox

Robert Cox

Managing Editor
New Rochelle’s Talk of the Sound

From: Liz Saraiva lsaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us
Date: Wed, Nov 28, 2018 at 8:02 PM
Subject: Re: FOIL – current BSK contract
To: robertcox@talkofthesound.com

I will check. I will be out of the office tomorrow, but will get back to you on Friday. Thank you.

Liz

From: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Date: Wed, Nov 28, 2018 at 9:02 PM
Subject: Re: FOIL – current BSK contract
To: Liz Saraiva lsaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us

Sure thing. Thanks

Robert Cox

Managing Editor
New Rochelle’s Talk of the Sound

From: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Date: Thu, Nov 29, 2018 at 12:44 PM
Subject: Re: Re: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,
To: Dr. Magda Parvey mparvey@nredlearn.org
Cc: robert.freeman@dos.ny.gov, Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Amy Moselhi amoselhi@nredlearn.org, Jeffrey Hastie jhastie@nredlearn.org

Dr. Parvey,

Again, thank you for granting my appeal. I hope you will take some time to provide answers to my questions as it appears that someone illegally withheld public records. I would like to believe that was not your decision and that you were genuinely unaware that I was being repeatedly lied to by the District.

If you fail to provide answes I can only take that to mean that you knew or even directed this illegal conduct. I hope you will consider providing answers. The public has a right to know why I was improperly denied public records and who was responsible.

Thank you.

Robert Cox

Managing Editor
New Rochelle’s Talk of the Sound

From: Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us
Date: Fri, Nov 30, 2018 at 4:35 PM
Subject: Re: FOIL – current BSK contract
To: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Cc: Amy Moselhi amoselhi@nredlearn.org, Jeffrey Hastie jhastie@nredlearn.org, mparvey@nredlearn.org

Dear Mr. Cox,

In reference to your FOIL request of 11/16/2018, and further to our e-mail exchange and phone conversation earlier today, attached are copies of additional Board resolutions and respective attachments, which I spoke about with you during our conversation. We are continuing to search our files to see if there is a contract/agreement with BSK, and I am also awaiting to hear from Sara Richmond, Esq., of Bond Schoeneck & King to see if they have a contract/agreement on file for legal services. I will get back to you in about 10 business days with an update.

I hereby certify to the best of my knowledge that the attached records are true copies of the original records on file with the City School District of New Rochelle.

Thank you.

Lisdalia (“Liz”) I. Saraiva
Clerk and Secretary to the Board of Education
Freedom of Information Law Officer
Records Access and Management Officer
City School District of New Rochelle

From: Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us
Date: Mon, Dec 17, 2018 at 1:19 PM
Subject: Re: FOIL – current BSK contract
To: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Cc: Amy Moselhi amoselhi@nredlearn.org, Jeffrey Hastie jhastie@nredlearn.org, mparvey@nredlearn.org

Dear Mr. Cox,

In reference to your FOIL request dated 11/16/2018, and further to my e-mail of 11/30/2018, please be advised that we could not locate any additional documents pertaining to a contract and/or agreement between Bond Schoeneck & King, PLLC and our School District, other than copies of the documents which I already e-mailed to you.

Sincerely,

Lisdalia (“Liz”) I. Saraiva
Clerk and Secretary to the Board of Education
Freedom of Information Law Officer
Records Access and Management Officer
City School District of New Rochelle

From: Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us
Date: Mon, Dec 17, 2018 at 2:31 PM
Subject: Fwd: Re: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,
To: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Cc: Jeffrey White jeffreywhite@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Magda Parvey MParvey@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Amy Moselhi amoselhi@nredlearn.org, Jeffrey Hastie jhastie@nredlearn.org

Dear Mr. Cox,

In reference to your Freedom of Information Law request dated 11/6/2018, and further to my e-mail dated 11/14/2018, we will be requiring further time to respond to this request. We anticipate having a response by January 17, 2019, and will advise if this timeframe cannot be met.

Sincerely,

Lisdalia (“Liz”) I. Saraiva
Clerk and Secretary to the Board of Education
Freedom of Information Law Officer
Records Access and Management Officer
City School District of New Rochelle

Date: Wed, Jan 9, 2019 at 12:21 AM
Subject: Re: Re: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,
To: Dr Magda Parvey mparvey@nredlearn.org
Cc: Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Amy Moselhi amoselhi@nredlearn.org, Jeffrey Hastie jhastie@nredlearn.org

Liz

I would like follow up on my previous FOIL request to get all T&M invoices other than the ones I already received. It appears that the invoices I have are from May until July 31 2018.

So I need all invoices from T&M other than those.

Robert Cox

From: Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us
Date: Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 1:15 PM
Subject: Re: Re: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,
To: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Cc: Amy Moselhi amoselhi@nredlearn.org, Jeffrey Hastie jhastie@nredlearn.org, mparvey@nredlearn.org

Dear Mr. Cox,

I acknowledge receipt of your FOIL request dated 1/9/2019. Attached is a copy of the record you requested – the additional invoice from T&M.

From: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Date: Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 2:41 PM
Subject: Re: Re: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,
To: Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us

Liz

Thank you. I take it that I now have all T&M invoices per Apex so a put $130,000 total.

Bob

From: Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us
Date: Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 3:15 PM
Subject: Re: Re: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,
To: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com

Mr. Cox,

As of this date, we’ve received 2 invoices from T&M, which was confirmed by Sara Richmond, Esq. of Bond Schoeneck & King, and both invoices were e-mailed to you.

Liz

Date: Thu, Jan 17, 2019 at 3:37 PM
Subject: Fwd: Re: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,
To: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Cc: Magda Parvey MParvey@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Amy Moselhi amoselhi@nredlearn.org, Jeffrey Hastie jhastie@nredlearn.org

Dear Mr. Cox,

In reference to your FOIL request dated 11/6/2018, we have reviewed the documents you have requested, “For the period May 1 2018 until the present, all invoices from and payments to Bond, Schoeneck & King including all supporting documents such as, but not exclusively, invoices from T&M Protection and payments to T&M Protection, any agreements with T&M Protection, and beyond just T&M, any and all time sheets, records of billable hours, travel & entertainment forms including related invoices and receipts and any other document submitted by BSK for purposes of billing the District during that period”, and have identified approximately 135 pages that will need redactions on them to protect information not available pursuant to FOIL. We understand that you are requesting that the requested records be scanned or otherwise transmitted to you electronically; however, inasmuch as producing the records to which you are entitled will entail manually redacting many of the records, we will need to first make a copy of each “original” of the records that require redaction, so as to preserve our originals. Therefore, kindly remit prepayment in the amount of $33.75, payable to the “City School District of New Rochelle, to cover our copying fee of 25 cents per page, whereupon we will begin the process of manually redacting these records in order to fulfill your records request. If a greater or lesser number of records end up needing to be copied prior to redaction, we will adjust our copying fees accordingly, including the issuance of a refund, if applicable.

Sincerely,

Lisdalia (“Liz”) I. Saraiva
Clerk and Secretary to the Board of Education
Freedom of Information Law Officer
Records Access and Management Officer
City School District of New Rochelle

From: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Date: Fri, Jan 18, 2019 at 10:48 AM
Subject: Re: Fwd: Re: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,
To: Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us
Cc: Magda Parvey MParvey@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Amy Moselhi amoselhi@nredlearn.org, Jeffrey Hastie jhastie@nredlearn.org

Liz/Dr. Parvey

I will stop by the Clerk’s office around noon today to pick up the BSK invoices (with a check of $33.75 per Liz’s email).

I am aware that board members did not attend the Restorative Justice event at NRHS on 1/7 because, per the RFP for Legal Services they were interviewing finalists.

According to the RFP for Legal Services the winner was to be notified the following day, 1/8 yet I heard nothing about it at the board meeting that night.

By now I would figure a winner was selected.

I would like to know the name of the firm that won and, if other than BSK, when their contract begins (or began).

Attached is the relevant portion of the RFP.

As the person who has been pushing to have an RFP for Legal Services since 2008, I would appreciate being informed of the outcome.

If for some reason a decision has not been made (and I can see no reason for that to be the case), I would at least like to know the finalists.

I expect you all know I am primarily interested to know if a particular firm is NOT being considered or NOT selected.

I would greatly appreciate answers before the holiday weekend.

Thanks

Robert Cox
Publisher and Managing Editor
Talk of the Sound

Date: Fri, Jan 18, 2019 at 11:31 AM
Subject: Re: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,
To: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Cc: Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Magda Parvey MParvey@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Amy Moselhi amoselhi@nredlearn.org

Bob,

We are doing a press release about legal services today.

Best,
J

From: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Date: Fri, Jan 18, 2019 at 11:54 AM
Subject: Re: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,
To: Jeffrey Hastie jhastie@nredlearn.org
Cc: Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Magda Parvey MParvey@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Amy Moselhi amoselhi@nredlearn.org

And will I get a copy? Typically I do not.

From: Jeffrey Hastie jhastie@nredlearn.org
Date: Fri, Jan 18, 2019 at 12:07 PM
Subject: Re: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,
To: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Cc: Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Magda Parvey MParvey@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Amy Moselhi amoselhi@nredlearn.org

I will make sure that you do.

J

From: Liz Saraiva LSaraiva@newrochelle.k12.ny.us
Date: Mon, Feb 4, 2019 at 12:58 PM
Subject: Fwd: Re: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,
To: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Cc: Magda Parvey MParvey@newrochelle.k12.ny.us, Amy Moselhi amoselhi@nredlearn.org, Jeffrey Hastie jhastie@nredlearn.org

Dear Mr. Cox,

Attached are copies of the records you requested. I hereby certify to the best of my knowledge that the attached records are true copies of the original records on file with the City School District of New Rochelle.

Sincerely,

Lisdalia (“Liz”) I. Saraiva
Clerk and Secretary to the Board of Education
Freedom of Information Law Officer
Records Access and Management Officer
City School District of New Rochelle

From: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Date: Fri, Feb 22, 2019 at 9:29 PM
Subject: Questions for security town hall
To: kvalenti@nredlearn.org

Ken

Here are questions I would like to hear back on at the security town hall:
Over the past five years we have hired firms for three security assessments (Vigilant Resource, Guidepost Solutions, Alteris) plus the Brice Task Force, the SAVE Team and the Culture & Climate Committee. Can you name any specific, actionable recommendations made by any of them that have been implemented?

Over the past year, the District has hired three different security firms (Guidepost, T&M, and Alteris) none of which was a budgeted expense. What is the actual or projected cost for each and what line item in the budget is being used to pay for each of them?

The Brice Task Force recommended School Resource Officers at NRHS, them Guidepost Solutions recommended SROs. What happened to these reports and recommendations? Is Alteris considering SROs? Is the Culture & Climate Committee? What is the status on making a decision?

It has been more than a year, with all the consultants and assessments and committees and task forces has anyone connected to the district investigated the circumstances surrounding the stabbings on January 10 and January 18, if so, what were the findings, where is the report?

Bob Cox

Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game?: The Improbable Saga of the New Rochelle Board of Ed
https://talkofthesound.com/2019/02/26/cant-anybody-here-play-this-game-the-improbable-saga-of-the-new-rochelle-board-of-ed/

TOWN HALL

JULIA MUGGIA-OCHS: Is Mr. Cox here?

KEN VALENTI: I see him over here.

JULIA MUGGIA-OCHS: OK. (READING QUESTION) “Over the past year, the District has hired three different security firms (Guidepost, T&M, and Alteris) none of which was a budgeted expense. What is the actual or projected cost for each and what line item in the budget is being used to pay for each of them?”

JULIA MUGGIA-OCHS: So we’re going to through that to Dr. Parvey and Mr. Hastie

DR. MAGDA PARVEY: So, our budget really is our estimate of our expenses. We do have. We do move funds for priorities so we may plan something and end up with other priorities in the budget and we shift out funds to meet the priorities of the District. That’s not uncommon. We’ve done that before.

T&M wasn’t an actual District expense. We did not pay for T&M that was our attorneys paid for that, BSK paid for that.

When it comes to…when we look at our budget over all, we prioritize and we move funds and prioritize when necessary such as security and we do have a security line item as well.

JEFFREY HASTIE: Let me clarify just two things the question (inaudible) the question about T&M and the expense for that but T&M is not a security related issue but as Dr. Parvey said it was billed through BSK but we do pay our law firm but it was $77,000 spent for that related to security. I just wanted to clarify that.

Muggia-Ochs: Did that answer your question?

Cox: No.

Cox: I am asking about the line items in the budget, where the money’s coming from and I don’t know why Dr. Parvey thinks the District didn’t pay for T&M. I have copies of the invoices… the T&M contract requires the District to make those payments so I don’t know what she’s talking about.

Muggia-Ochs: So, we will try to clarify all of that and include that in the…

Hastie: So I think you need to repeat the question, the question is where in the budget this is being paid for…your first question…

Cox: Line items…yeah, the line items…

Hastie: So, security is paid for out of 1623-400 which is Security-Other. In the budget for this year we had actually a place holder of $200,000 in there so that’s kinda where this these costs is coming from, where these costs are coming from. Is there anything else?

Cox: Well, just that what Dr. Parvey said is not accurate. The contract with T&M requires the District to pay for it and the invoices were all sent to Dr. Osborne and I have copies of them so I don’t know why…

Hastie: Well, I answered that question… Thank you.

Cox: (in an aside to Muggia-Ochs, standing next to me) So, they all came from the same line item, is that what we’re saying?

Muggia-Ochs: If you want to email me with follow up questions or Mr. Valenti we will make sure that it’s included in the Q&A we will be putting together afterwards we’re going to do kind of a summary.

Questions Submitted in Advance for New Rochelle Town Hall Meeting on Security 2/25

https://talkofthesound.com/2019/03/13/questions-submitted-in-advance-for-new-rochelle-town-hall-meeting-on-security-2-25/

I submitted 5 questions the week before the Town Hall held on February 25th

The organizers chose to pose just one of them, question number two:

Over the past year, the District has hired three different security firms (Guidepost, T&M, and Alteris) none of which was a budgeted expense. What is the actual or projected cost for each and what line item in the budget is being used to pay for each of them?

The reply to this question was given by Interim Superintendent Dr. Magda Parvey and New Rochelle Board of Education President Jeffrey Hastie

Dr. Parvey’s statement was largely incomplete and what she did say about the District not paying for the T&M investigation was untrue (knowingly, in my view). Mr. Hastie also replied. He added some information, some of it incorrect, but still did not fully address my question (despite cutting me off by insisting he had answered my question which he clearly had not). Mr. Hastie made a statement about the T&M cost which was off by about 50% (he gave a figure of about $77,000 when I have invoices totaling about $130,000.

From: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Date: Wed, Mar 13, 2019 at 7:03 PM
Subject: Status on QA on from security town hall
To: Julia Muggia Ochs juliaochs@nredlearn.org

Julia,

I obtained under FOIL the questions submitted in advance.

Questions Submitted in Advance for New Rochelle Town Hall Meeting on Security 2/25
https://talkofthesound.com/2019/03/13/questions-submitted-in-advance-for-new-rochelle-town-hall-meeting-on-security-2-25/

You said that night you would produce a QA doc based on the questions from that night which I understood to mean the questions submitted in advance plus questions put forward the night of the event.

I see there is now a section of the home page on for the town hall security QA. I see 3 questions with answers. I do not recall how many questions were asked but certainly more than 3 as evidenced by the list of questions obtained under FOIL.

Have you completed that QA?

If so how may I obtain a copy?

I do not see any of the questions I asked among those on the web site.

I would note that Dr. Parvey gave a reply to my second question. It was was largely incomplete and what she did say about the District not paying for the T&M investigation was untrue (knowingly, in my view). Mr. Hastie also replied. He added some information, some of it incorrect, but still did not fully address my question (despite cutting me off by insisting he had answered my questions which he clearly had not). How do you propose to address the misinformation provided by Dr. Parvey which was not corrected at the meeting (or ever) and how do you propose to deal with the video which contains her false, uncorrected claim about the T&M invoice. Also, Mr. Hastie made a statement about the T&M cost which was off by about 50% (he gave a figure of about $77,000 when I have invoices totalling about $130,000 – and there may be more). How will that and other misinformation in the video be addressed?

Thank you.

Robert Cox
Publisher and Managing Editor
Talk of the Sound

From: Julia Muggia Ochs juliaochs@nredlearn.org
Date: Wed, Mar 13, 2019 at 7:10 PM
Subject: Re: Status on QA on from security town hall
To: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Cc: kvalenti@nredlearn.org, Paul Warhit pwarhit@nredlearn.org

Hi Bob,

Ken Valenti is handling all Q&As. I will follow up with him to see when he thinks more questions and answers will be added to the website.

My understanding is that all answers are being updated and fact checked.

Best, Julia

Julia Muggia Ochs
Board Member
City School District of New Rochelle

From: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Date: Thu, Mar 14, 2019 at 11:36 AM
Subject: Re: Status on QA on from security town hall
To: Julia Muggia Ochs juliaochs@nredlearn.org
Cc: kvalenti@nredlearn.org, Paul Warhit pwarhit@nredlearn.org, Christopher Daniello cdaniello@nredlearn.org

Julia

Maybe I am misremembering but I recall you said to me during the meeting when Dr. Parvey and Mr. Hastie were not answering my question about the costs of the consultants and the budget line items that you and Mr. Danielo were going to put together a QA doc.

I do not recall you ever saying that Ken would be doing this and certainly not doing it alone.

In any case it has been weeks since I sent my questions which were supposed to be answer at the meeting so I would like to get answers and for right now get a date certain when I can expect answers.

You have still not addressed my concerns about the misinformation from Dr. Parvey and Mr. Hastie. You have linked the video on the home page but there is no way for the viewer to know that Dr. Parvey and Mr. Hastie stated things that are (knowingly) false. Again, how do you (or Ken) propose to address what is now active promulgation (via the video) of false information? It is one thing to lie at a meeting but another to memorialize lies in video and broadcast/ stream that video to an unsuspecting public.

I believe you should REMOVE the video until such time as you have figured out a way to address the various false statements by Dr. Parvey and Mr. Hastie.

It seems to me that it entirely defeats the purported purpose of these town halls — to be transparent— unless transparency is defined as OPENLY lying to the public.

Please let me know how you propose to address these issues.

I will add, it seems to me that until you are able to better sort these issues you ought to stop having town halls. First, clean up the mess from the ones you already convened.

Thanks
Bob Cox

From: Julia Muggia Ochs juliaochs@nredlearn.org
Date: Thu, Mar 14, 2019 at 11:48 AM
Subject: Re: Status on QA on from security town hall
To: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Cc: kvalenti@nredlearn.org, Paul Warhit pwarhit@nredlearn.org, Christopher Daniello cdaniello@nredlearn.org, jhastie@nredlearn.org

Hi Bob,

I do not recall saying that Chris and I would be putting together the Q&A. All Q&As for BOE meetings and town halls go through Ken. He has been presenting updates on the progress of the Q&As as part of his update to the Advocacy and Community Outreach Committee.

Ken indicated to me that many more answers will be posted today or tomorrow. I will discuss the issues regarding the posting of the video with Jeffrey.

Best,

Julia Ochs
Board Member
City School District of New Rochelle

From: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Date: Thu, Mar 14, 2019 at 12:32 PM
Subject: Re: Status on QA on from security town hall
To: Julia Muggia Ochs juliaochs@nredlearn.org
Cc: Paul Warhit pwarhit@nredlearn.org, Ken Valenti kvalenti@nredlearn.org, Christopher Daniello cdaniello@nredlearn.org

Julia

After Mr. Hastie cut me off for answering your question – whether “that” answered my question – by falsely claiming he answered my question you said “we”. Chris was standing nearby. If I misunderstood or misrember so be it but you said “we” and you said to email YOU follow up questions — or Ken — and “we” would make sure it’s included in the QA and you said “we” are putting together a QA afterwards. For this reason I understood that you and Chris were involved but in hindsight “we” could mean you and Ken too. It certainly could not mean “only Ken”. But if your position is now that it is only Ken so be ot.

It appears you do not fully appreciate my concern so I think it best I send you the email I received from Dr. Parvey in November which makes it clear that I was lied to repeatedly about the T&M contract and T&M invoices but that after quite a few emails involving Dr. Parvey and Mr. Hastie and others Dr. Parvey admitted that the District had the invoices I requested all along. You will also see that Dr. Parvey falsely claimed that BSK was authorized under their agreement with the BOE to bind the District to the T&M contract (a six-figure obligation) and for that reason no one from the District signed the T&M contract. All of this was untrue including that there was an agreement between the District and BSK. In a subsequent FOIL exchange Ms. Saraiva acknowledged that the District had no record of any agreement with BSK. She also said she asked BSK for such an agreement and BSK (Sara Richmond) told Ms. Saraiva that BSK had no such agreement. Ms. Saraiva dug into the archives and reported to me that not only was there no BSK agreement but no KKS agreement either (Kehl, Katzive & Simon, the predecessor to Jeff Kehl’s being merged with BSK). So, there was no agreement with BSK and thus no authority to bind the District to a T&M contract. The T&M contract has a line for the District to sign so obviously T&M expected the District to sign. The T&M contract explicitly states that BSK is not responsible for any fees or costs, that invoices go to the District (and they did).

Given this rather involved series of emails, FOILs, Denial of FOILS, appeal of FOILS, granting of appeals, letters to New York State, communications with BSK, T&M, and more back in November…it seems difficult to imagine that Dr. Parvey and Mr. Hastie would get a simple question the week before AND STILL CLAIM THAT BSK PAID T&M!!!

For these reasons and more, I believe Dr. Parvey and Mr. Hastie gave deliberately false replies to the portion of my question they chose to address.

Why they would do this is a mystery to me considering I simply asked for the cost of 3 consultants and the budget line item used to pay for them in light of the fact they were not budgeted expenses.

A simple reply would look like this…

T&M Line Item ABC $###,###
Guidepost Line Item ABC $###,###
Alteris Line Item ABC $###,###

In light of the rambling, incoherent and multiplicatively false reply I received from a Superintendent and Board President to a simple question with a simple answer they both had received well in advance it both raises questions as to what they might be trying to hide AND casts doubts on all of their answers that night.

And here it is weeks later and still no answer — and video posted with deliberately (in my view) false (not an opinion but a fact) Information.

In any case

Bob Cox

From: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Date: Thu, Mar 14, 2019 at 3:14 PM
Subject: Fwd: Re: Re: FOIL: T&M Protection Resources,
To: Julia Ochs jmuggiaochs@gmail.com
Cc: Paul Warhit pwarhit@optonline.net, Christopher Daniello cdaniello@nredlearn.org

Julia

These emails do several things but two of them are…

I was repeatedly lied to about T&M
Dr. Parvey and Mr. Hastie were in the loop on all of this from October to January.
So, the idea that they believed that the District did not pay for the T&M investigation is simply not credible. They knew. They lied. They lied at your town hall. They are lying in the video.

All this I know – that Dr. Parvey and Mr. Hastie are liars.

What I do not know is WHY they chose to lie.

ThanksRobert Cox
Publisher and Managing Editor
Talk of the Sound

From: Julia Muggia Ochs juliaochs@nredlearn.org
Date: Sat, Mar 16, 2019 at 10:18 AM
Subject: Re: Status on QA on from security town hall
To: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com

Hi Bob,

My mother is in the hospital and I am not in the loop on this. Can you please follow up with Ken?

Best, Julia

Julia Muggia Ochs
Board Member
City School District of New Rochelle

From: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Date: Sat, Mar 16, 2019 at 11:11 AM
Subject: Re: Status on QA on from security town hall
To: Julia Muggia Ochs juliaochs@nredlearn.org

Sorry to hear that. Ken IS on the email.

APRIL 2 BOE MEETING 2:41

240 55

ROBERT COX: On that note, regarding the Town Hall in February, is it still the position of the District that was expressed at that meeting that the District did not pay T&M

JEFFREY HASTIE: Two responses, one is as far as the claim that we said that we didn’t pay the bill, that was, the law firm, that was stated and I corrected it at that time I was saying “no the bill went through BSK and we paid the bill through BSK” so that was clear if you go back and look at the video it says that so that you need to correct that record.

ROBERT COX: By the way, I have a recording too, of that Town Hall meeting and what you just said is not accurate.

JEFFREY HASTIE: Thank you for that but you can look at it again but it is accurate what I just said…

ROBERT COX: No, it’s not.

JEFFREY HASTIE: It is.

From: Robert Cox robertcox@talkofthesound.com
Date: Tue, Apr 2, 2019 at 10:04 PM
Subject: Hastie says T&M was paid THROUGH our law firm
To: New Rochelle Board of Education boe@nredlearn.org

As the audio shows, Mr. Hastie’s statement at tonight’s meeting is false. The District did NOT pay T&M through BSK.

He absolutely did not say the District paid T&M. Dr. Parvey said district not pay T&M

Per the contract all invoices were sent direct to the district and required to be paid by the district.

Here is audio from the town hall

Bob Cox

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