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Audit Response Log Update
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The Audit Response Log has been expanded to include a number of audits and financial reviews - including the Moss Adams review and recommendations.
And how many years have I been saying "Moss Adams?" Our new CFO needs only the July 2010 audit (with district responses) and Moss Adams for a road map/blueprint for what needs to get done.
I know if Mr. Boesche can be strong, not listen to "that's not the way we've done it before" and hold firm to what needs to get done, the district can get on better footing.
In some ways, he IS the most important person in the district right now. He is our fixer, our closer. If he can get it right, some degree of public trust will be restored AND we will have a better run district.
After that, I'm agreeing with Charlie; some of the administration of this district should be outsourced to the city. Facilities or maintenance would be good places to start.
Wondering said…
AE7 "Superintendent's vacation cash out not in compliance with contract."
WANANO said…
Melissa,
I understand outsourcing, but not to the City or for that matter any other government agency. You may as well outsource to the Alliance or Gates!
The inclusion of the Moss-Adams recommendations to the Audit Response project is a significant positive step - both for improved internal controls and for Board oversight.
The District staff, the Board, and Director Carr in particular, deserve congratulations for this step.
The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested. It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio. (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read). end of update Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction. end of update I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board. To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up. But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, grief, that is to come fro
Update 2: So I have seen a message from President Liza Rankin on why she, Director Evan Briggs, and Director Michelle Sarju backed out of this meeting. In a nutshell: - She says there was no organization to the meeting which is just not true. They had a moderator lined up and naturally the board members could have set parameters for what to discuss, length of meeting, etc. All that was fleshed out. - She also claimed that if the meeting was PTA sponsored, they needed to have liability insurance to use the school space. Hello? PTAs use school space all the time and know they have to have this insurance. - She seems to be worried about the Open Public Meetings law. Look, if she has a meeting in a school building on a non-personnel topic, it should be an open meeting. It appears that Rankin is trying, over and over, to narrow the window of access that parents have to Board members. She even says in her message - "...with decisions made in public." Hmmm - She also says that th
Comments
I know if Mr. Boesche can be strong, not listen to "that's not the way we've done it before" and hold firm to what needs to get done, the district can get on better footing.
In some ways, he IS the most important person in the district right now. He is our fixer, our closer. If he can get it right, some degree of public trust will be restored AND we will have a better run district.
After that, I'm agreeing with Charlie; some of the administration of this district should be outsourced to the city. Facilities or maintenance would be good places to start.
I understand outsourcing, but not to the City or for that matter any other government agency. You may as well outsource to the Alliance or Gates!
The District staff, the Board, and Director Carr in particular, deserve congratulations for this step.