Something is rotten in the state of Denmark (And in Seattle Schools)

 There is also something rotten at JSCEE.  I just don't get what they put in the water there that makes people working there think and act in dysfunctional ways that will NEVER turn out well. Or they will get found out, sooner or later. 

 I know some think I get a kick out of pointing this out. I don't. That it happens over and over again - and that's over the course of my 20+ years of district watching - is just saddening. 

I still have public disclosure requests into the district over the Hampson-DeWolf HIB investigation. The public records section of the SPS Legal Counsel have been nothing but polite and helpful. 

There are two things I want to report out of the last pile of documents I was sent which were the invoices for the costs of the investigation. 

The overall cost for two law firms and a mediator came to just over $120,500. Sadly mediation, which cost $33,000, was for naught. It appears the investigation started in November 2020, two months after the formal complaint was filed.

Viewing the invoices, I added up costs, researched names listed that I did not recognize and read thru the invoices. There's a tiny bit of legal work that made my jaw drop.

And I want to call that tiny bit of work out, here and now. 

Review and edit transcript of 9/16/2020 SPS Board Special Executive Committee Meeting

Continued review and edit of 9/16/2020 SPS Board Special Executive Committee Meeting transcript.

Now I know what you are thinking - "Melissa, no set of minutes is a direct transcription." I know that. 

But how often, in the middle of an investigation of two school board members for HIB, does someone at a school district ask a legal firm to massage the transcript from a tense board committee meeting relative to the investigation into something safe and palatable? 

Let that sink in - the Board - aided and abetted by district staff, is now NOT reporting out to parents, staff and the public ACCURATE minutes of a Board committee meeting. They allowed an outside person to listen/read the official transcript and then write it up for the Board. 

How many other minutes have been treated in this fashion? 

I reported this issue of the bland minutes of this meeting way back in the earlier part of 2021. I said for a meeting this volatile, you'd might have seen a notation like, "A lively discussion ensued." There is NOTHING of the kind there and now we know why.

I know for certain that the Board and senior administration have certainly been watering down other minutes because the phrase like, "questions were asked and answered" is a favorite now. 

I suspect SPS Legal was greatly worried about lawsuits if the Board put out what was actually stated at this meeting. And, if there were a lawsuit, even if witnesses said differently, they could point to the "official minutes" to counter that testimony.  I would be willing to bet that the then-Board president, Zachary DeWolf, was consulted on this and agreed to it. I would also bet that only Hampson and DeWolf know this was done. (Director Leslie Harris who was the third member of the Executive Committee at the time likely read those sanitized minutes and knew something was up.) 

I have no idea why this was "no charge." A paralegal and executive assistant at MFR Law Group did this work over 12 hours (for free! what a deal!).

As you may recall, the legal group who did the investigation was a firm called MFR Law Group. The district had hired the very well-known firm, Davis, Wright, Tremaine, to protect the district's interests. 

They also hired a former King County judge and now Chair of Commission at Washington Sentencing Guidelines Commission, Wesley Saint-Clair, to do the mediation between the parties when both sides agreed to it.

From the invoices, I think DWT was there to protect the district and basically, recheck MRF's work. There were no fewer than six lawyers, from both MFR and DWT, who worked on this investigation and the majority of them were Black women. Judge Saint-Clair is also African-American and specializes in restorative justice. I don't know if the district made sure there were people of color doing the investigation but there certainly were people who could understand the issues raised by Dr. Scarlett and Manal Al-ansi, the two senior Black staffers who brought forth the complaint against Director Chandra Hampson and Director Zachary DeWolf. 

 I also note the name of Phil Talmadge appearing on one invoice from MFR. He is a very well-known and respected lawyer in Seattle who does not work for either firm (he has his own firm). There were "email exchanges with Chandra Hampson and Phil Talmadge" plus one separate one sent only to Talmadge. Did Hampson pull Talmadge in to represent her? 

I am just so disappointed and disgusted with this Board.