Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Where is the $77,000 Special Needs FOIA Whistleblower?

Whenever I see stories, or experience similar responses from governmental units, about astronomical FOIA charges, I can only ascertain the calculations were done for one of two reasons:

A.  The school administrator is a complete and utter moron; or,

B.  Someone is trying to hide some fraud.

At this juncture, I must choose all of the above.

It does not take over 4000 hours to do a server search.  All that needs to be done is pull the record to see who was assigned to administer the child's services.

No one even contacted the parent to discuss assistance in honing down the search parameters.

Someone needs to blow the whistle.

Goodrich Area Schools
Bylaws & Policies
 

1411 - WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION
The Board of Education expects all its employees to be honest and ethical in their conduct, and to comply with applicable State and Federal law, Board policies and administrative guidelines. The Board encourages and requires staff to report possible violations of these Board expectations. Parents, volunteers, contractors and concerned citizens are encouraged to report possible violations, when done in good faith belief.

It is the responsibility of an employee who is aware of conduct on the part of any Board member or employee that possibly violates Federal or State law, or Board policy, to call this conduct to the attention of his/her immediate supervisor. If the employee's immediate supervisor is not responsive or is the employee whose behavior is in question, the employee may report to the Superintendent. If the reported conduct relates to the Superintendent, the report may be filed directly with the Board President.

After such a report is made, the employee will be asked to put the report in writing. Any employee making such a report shall be protected from discipline, retaliation, or reprisal for making such report as long as the employee had a good faith belief as to the accuracy of any information reported. Employees are subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination, for knowingly making a false report under this policy. Employees may also be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination, if they are aware of a violation of Federal, State, or local law involving or relating to the business of the District and they do not make a report confirmed in writing to a supervisor in accordance with this policy.

The Superintendent shall develop administrative guidelines necessary for implementation of this policy, including the development of forms upon which such reports may be made.
M.C.L.A. 15.361 et seq.

Adopted 7/15/11


School district charges mom $77,000 for Freedom of Information Act request about her son

GOODRICH, Mich. (WXYZ) ­ Nineteen­year­old Mitchell Smith has special needs, but while mainstreamed at Goodrich High School he fit right in.

“Did you have a lot of friends at school?” I asked him.

“I have a lot of them,” he replied smiling.

While surrounded by classmates of different abilities,

Mitchell made goals. He beat many in cross country, running a twenty­two minute 5k.

He passed a test to qualify as a basketball referee. “I think that would be a great job,” said Mitchell.

As his classmates researched what to do after high school, he did too.

He learned about Ready for Life, a program that teaches life skills while mainstreaming special needs students on a college campus.

“I decided last year I wanted to go there,” said Mitchell.

“We visited a couple times and I liked it a lot.”

Then Mitchell and his mom met with school leaders to talk about his continuing education after high school, something state funded because of his special needs.

The decision?

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