Massive, Expansive Public Records Request Made of District Officials RE: Newpoint Investigation...

I have been notified, via the below email, that I am to turn over everything requested regarding the Newpoint investigation (emails, notes, text message screen shots, blog posts, blog comments, and any other written documents in my possession regarding this investigation)  I am currently gathering all of this documentation and I will be turning it all over to our Board’s attorney, Donna Waters, this week.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Donna Waters
To: Jeffrey Bergosh
Cc: Jackie Dwelle , Malcolm Thomas , Norm Ross , Sharon Goshorn
Date: Mon, 06 Apr 2015 11:03:16 -0500
Subject: Fwd: Public Records Request #486

Good Morning:

Ms. Lovett of Newpoint has made the attached public records request. I have conferred with the Superintendent and the State Attorney, and they concur with my opinion that these records are not exempt from Public Records disclosure.  Please forward me all such documents in your possession (including, but not limited to, emails, letters, blog posts, etc.) and I will review and redact them as appropriate, then forward them to Ms. Dwelle, who is coordinating the response.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Donna

Donna Sessions Waters

General Counsel

Escambia County School Board

75 North Pace Boulevard

Pensacola, Florida 32505

850-469-6362

Portion of the email requesting the records, below:

“As a result of the allegations raised against Newpoint Pensacola, we will be hiring an external investigator to do a complete and thorough investigation of the allegations raised.  Because this investigation will be intensive and look at all aspects, we are including here a public records request.

Pursuant to the Public Records Act, Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes, we are requesting the following:

All emails and any other correspondence and all written documentation that is related to or 

Step up for Students and Florida's Tax-Credit Scholarship Program: Today's PNJ Covers the Positives!

I wrote a piece for Watchdog.org a few months back on a local private school that receives tuition tax credit scholarship students from our local community via Step up for Students.  I was very impressed by what this school does for some local students--and I remain a staunch school choice supporter, knowing full-well that sometimes this can be a rocky-road to travel.  

From  NAACP aligns with the Florida establishment in attempts to kill school choice :

"Locally, we have fine private schools that have accepted the challenge to teach struggling students under the Florida tax credit scholarship program.  These schools are educating Florida students at about half the cost of what the state of Florida spends per pupil-and in the eyes of many parents these schools are doing a much better job than the public schools! Colin Hendrickson runs three such schools in our local area.  He and his wife, Johanna, have grown their program from one location and 12 students to three locations serving nearly 300 students in two counties from Pre-K through 12th grade. “Our growth has been exponential” Hendrickson stated when I spoke to him recently.  “Parents are coming to us from word of mouth referrals.” Colin described to me some of the attributes of his program that his parents and students appreciate.  “They feel safe here and they are safe here.  Parents are confident about the rigor of the curriculum, the quality of the learning environment, and the safety of the atmosphere here at Lighthouse Private Christian Academy [the academy run by the Hendricksons].  With our small classes and lots of one-on-one attention, our staff knows these kids by name, and parents really like that.” When asked about the financial ramifications to his program if the tax credit scholarship is eliminated by the special interests in court, Hendrickson is less optimistic.  “We have at least 120 students on the scholarship program, so if that goes away this will be a devastating blow to our school, costing us between $700,000 and $900,000– it could potentially shut us down. Lots of students would be uprooted and sent back to programs that are not meeting their needs, and that would be very sad to see,” Hendrickson said."

Today's  (Sunday's) edition of the Pensacola News Journal has a front page piece on one of the local

Universal Pre-K: Myths and Reality Part II

I've discussed this issue plenty on this blog.  Universal Pre-K, funded by tax dollars, touted as an "educational program" panacea that will benefit students throughout their lives, is a myth. It is an expensive one, to boot.

But these programs enjoy broad bipartisan support from politicians of every stripe that love the money these programs inject into their jurisdictions.  Everyone loves money, right? And if it funds a program "for the children"---- it becomes all but  unstoppable, a juggernaut.

Even if the best, most well-constructed studies debunk the lofty claims Universal Pre-K proponents espouse (lifetime benefits,7 to 1 ROI, value to communities, etc, etc. etc.) --these  ideologues married to the notion that the government must fund these programs will never stop proclaiming their view of the benefits of these programs, intentionally disguising the fact that these programs are job creating entitlements, not long-term, effective educational programs...

Earlier this week US News and World Report ran an article on this same subject.  From the report:

"Pre-K for all” has become a rallying cry for progressives, underscored last week by Hillary Clinton’s speech at the Center for American Progress' discussion on “Expanding Opportunity in America’s Urban Areas." In her seven-minute talk, Clinton emphasized the “overriding issues of inequality and lack of mobility” in America, and praised New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s universal pre-K program as a model for helping the struggling middle class. There’s no question that the rapidly growing cost of child care has become a huge burden on middle-class families. Since 2000, the cost of child care has increased twice as much as median income of families with children..Pre-K advocates

The Shadow Economy Part II: District Booster Clubs and Outside Support Organizations

School carnivals, snack bars at football games, school dances, chain-gangs at Friday night football games throughout our county-none of these things would occur were it not for the work of volunteers and Outside Support Organizations (OSO's).  The work that these volunteer groups do provides vital assistance to students and to our school district.  But when significant sums of money start to roll through these organizations, there must be uniform accountability.  Currently, according to a soon-to-be released audit report on the subject of these organizations' compliance with School Board policy, we have many organizations that need additional guidance and support to be in full compliance.

Using approximate figures, the school district receives about $7 Million dollars per year that supports various student organizations.  One million flows through George Stone Technical School, Three Million runs through school internal accounts, (and this money is subject to Board rules on cash handling, fundraising, and most importantly is subject to district audit) But Three Million dollars yearly flows directly through OSOs --they have their own checking accounts, their own treasurer, and very little oversight.  These organizations are required, under our District's 13 year old "OSO Manual", to provide each Principal of each school whose programs are supported copies of minutes, financial statements, and IRS documentation demonstrating their compliance with applicable law on non-profit organizations.  The problem is that many of these documents could not be readily obtained at several schools when a recent district-wide audit of these organizations was conducted.  Many clubs do comply--but there are a significant number that do not.  From the report:

"School principals may not be fully aware of the requirements that OSOs must operate under, and what their monitoring responsibilities are, including what documents they are required to have submitted to them..Throughout the process of obtaining financial information related to this project, we noted principals were not provided required information by their OSOs, nor were they actively seeking out this information until our office asked for the information. We began requesting this information in December 2014. The information from the 2013-2104 year should have been 

Newpoint HS Investigation Errupts

Investigations into allegations of misconduct regarding Newpoint HS in Pensacola are now, officially, being initiated by the State.

After I received explosive information about one of our charter schools at 7:45 in the evening on March 25^th, --I passed this information directly over to our attorney and the superintendent of schools.   Last week, I mentioned what I could in two entries into my blog because I was told by multiple insiders that “nothing was being done to address the significant allegations” at this school.

Now, multiple media outlets have picked up on the story I alluded to on my blog.

Like a snowball rolling down a hill, this story is growing--which appears to be exactly what the whistle blowers who initially contacted me wanted.

Rick’s Blog was first, PNJ was next, followed by WEAR channel three’s Ricki Vann.  Next was WCOA, then AM1620.  Early on, I’m told that Pensacola Today and NorthEscambia.com were informed of the allegations but chose not to follow the story.  PNJ was notified, apparently, months ago about some issues at Newpoint according to a source.  PNJ chose not to follow the story at that time.

Since this all went down last Wednesday--I’ve done three radio interviews and had conversations with media outlets from around the state; yesterday I even spoke to a reporter from as far away as Miami!

I keep telling everyone that calls me the same things:  I’m not the school board’s spokesman, I’m not the investigator, I’m just one member of a five member board of constitutional officers, I’m just a guy that received some explosive allegations and passed them along expeditiously to the appropriate authorities.  I continue to receive information from sources, and I continue to pass this information along to the school board’s attorney. 

What I’m also saying to the media is this:  Everyone and every entity that is facing these allegations is innocent until proven guilty, everyone will get due process, and the issue is now getting a thorough investigation.   I’m telling everyone to call the district, call the Board Chair, call the spokesman, call the attorney—yet these folks still call me!

I haven’t and I won’t divulge anything that would ever compromise any investigations; but I also won’t sit silently like a wax statue when nobody else from our district seems willing to even acknowledge the issue and make a statement to anyone in the media------ as my phone simultaneously rings off the hook!!

Keeping the public informed on basic facts can be accomplished (and should be), while at the same time not jeopardizing “active investigations.” That’s why organizations do press conferences.  Hello?  I’m not a private eye, an attorney, a PR spokesman, or a detective –but even I know this.

Sitting in a cone of silence regarding basic, publicly known facts that are useful to constituents when a situation like this erupts only makes the public more and more distrustful and suspicious of the district. 

Look at incidents recently in the Midwest that were handled initially via a “cone of silence”—those incidents were mishandled very badly and information that could have been passed to calm an angry, restless crowd was unnecessarily withheld, leading to significant problems as that whole incident devolved….Information helps in these instances.

NOW INVESTIGATIONS HAVE BEGUN

In Rick’s blog on April 1st, our Deputy Supt. of Schools is quoted stating the district’s investigation commenced two weeks ago.  In the April 3rd PNJ, however, the Superintendent of Schools, in an 

Florida Coalition of School Board Members Issues Press Release on SB 602

Newpoint Issues a Press Release This Afternoon at 5:00