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Why did the Meridian Chamber of Commerce decide in their ultimate wisdom that they should wade in on the recall issue of the West Ada School District? Our question is why is a business organization getting involved in a school board recall? It all comes down to money, power and control of our district and the $400 million dollars in their budget that will eventually get passed around to many of the various businesses for services they provide to the school district. This is a substantial sum of taxpayer money to spread around and as we have said in our newsletter we need to stop corporate intrusion and interference with government. All they want is control of our governmental bureaucracies to line their pockets with taxpayer money.
You would think anyone with some common sense that has participated in the last three or four months of WASD meetings as we have would understand that last year’s Election which changed trustees was for the good of the district in terms of accountability and transparency. These new trustees proved that by their grounded approach to serving the children and parents of this district first and foremost and not the establishment or corporate cronies who would like to regain control of this district. We have already had two quality trustees resign because of the perpetual bombardment of lies and innuendo thrown at them by the liberal media, the recall committee and now a crony Chamber Board. None of these charges they have levied have any basis of truth to them. The lame excuse they currently give in their memo that the Board’s egregious behavior resulted in significant financial increases to the school budget and resignations of key administrative staff is nothing more than selected facts that have already been brought up and explained at Board Meetings. Editorials in the Press Tribune (October 2015 and in the Statesman (April 2016) discouraged the recall yet the Meridian Chamber persists. Why, is it because the candidates they supported were defeated in the election? Sections of West Ada Files obtained via public records requests show an unusually close relationship between the Chamber and current and former WASD administrators and board members.
Why is it that the Chamber does not mention anything about the $5 million overruns with the Hillsdale School, the serious issues with the bussing contract, and the questionable spending or lucrative contracts by some WASD service suppliers that were permitted by the previous board? They bring up resignations of two superintendents and other high level administrators. We know of only one superintendent, Linda Clark, but whether she resigned or quit is up to interpretation. As for the rest, some retired and one accepted another position
We have studied all of the evidence including e-mails obtained from members of the board through public records requests and have concluded that any extraordinary expenses were caused by the members of the recall committee who complained that meetings were held in secret, which caused the current board had to retain legal counsel to get an opinion as to whether they violated any laws, which their attorney said they hadn’t. They also had to obtain an attorney to be there for contract negotiations with former Superintendent Linda Clark, who was released from employment as Supt. of the District after a disagreement on her revised contract which had been negotiated by the previous board in private. Understand that many of the people on the recall committee are allied with the Meridian Chamber members and that this smoke screen they are throwing up about egregious behavior is an intrusion they have no business getting involved in. Unless, of course, they are concerned that some of their prominent business members may lose some lucrative cones. It is bad enough that the corporations of this state use their money and influence to get crony professional politicians elected that will do their bidding in our legislature year afttracts for services to the district because of this change in trustees.
The corporate world has way too much say in how our state runs and where our tax money goer year. Now they are trying to use their influence in our educational system by taking sides in a recall.
Do you really think it is a good thing for the Meridian Chamber of Commerce to be sticking their nose in where it doesn’t belong? How many WASD meetings do you think they have attended in the past year? I doubt they have attended any at all. They are only interested in what they can gain from WASD’s huge $400 million budget not how well your children are educated. Please take a minute and call the Chamber and let them know we don’t need their interference in our district. They can be reached at 208-888-2817 or e-mail Anne Little Roberts at anne@meridianchamber.org.
The Idaho Statesman article can be found here. An excerpt is provided below:
Meridian Chamber of Commerce says the West Ada School Board’s “egregious behavior” could affect children and harm the vitality of the business community.
In a statement released Thursday morning, the chamber said board problems have “resulted in significant financial increases to the school budget, resignations of key staff, questionable meeting practices and a serious lack of transparency.”
Trustee Carol Sayles defended the district’s budget. “The chamber’s statement of ‘significant financial increases to the school budget’ is incorrect,” she said. “We have trimmed and saved expenses for the benefit of the students.”
Some vendors have complained that the district is slow in paying them and that has made it difficult for them to pay employees, Anne Little Roberts, chamber president and CEO, told the Idaho Statesman.
Read the rest of the article here.
