Saturday, October 13, 2007

Letter to Rob McKenna, Attorney General

rob.mckenna@atg.wa.gov

Dear Attorney General McKenna,

There is an utter disregard for the rule of law brewing in the Edmonds School District. Prior to September 11, 2007, a majority of the District's board members were in direct violation of their own policies and ineligible to hold the seats they were occupying. The following is a snapshot of these board members.

1. Bruce Williams relocated from his director district prior to an election that he subsequently won. The District's superintendent rallied to support his presence on the board by citing WASDA guidelines and recommendations but was ultimately unable to prevent Mr. Williams from doing the right thing and resigning. He resigned on September 11th.

2. Gary Noble serves on the board while his wife is an employee at Lynnwood High School. While the Superintendent has cited numerous RCWs describing how this might be permissible, District policy explicitly prevents such a conflict from arising by offering two specific policies, Board Policy 1260 and Board Policy 6810. The board, under Mr. Noble, is relocating and rebuilding Lynnwood High School without the support of demographic trends and student enrollment. While the outcome may be debatable, his conflict of interest is undeniable.

3. Pat Shields serves on the board while his "non-profit" program, "Powerful Partners" receives free rent in the District's administration building. This is happening despite a signed and notarized use agreement declaring their commitment to pay for their portion of the District's operating expenses. The agreement already discounts the rental rate because they are a non-profit program, and yet they have refused to pay for more than five years. This is a gift of public funds and a violation of board ethics, as described in Board Policy 1260, Board Policy 1270 and Board Policy 9200.

In light of these clear violations of Board Policy and this Board's inability or reluctance to enforce their own policies, I humbly request remediation by the Office of the Attorney General.

Sincerely,

Taxpayer & Voter
Edmonds School District

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wonderful Mark! I just wanted to let you know that I recognize what a gifted, hard working individual you are, for a tremendous cause.
Thank You for your efforts in making the Edmonds School District a greater resource for my children. I am very grateful!

Anonymous said...

Wow nice letter - Now all you need to do is file a complaint with supporting documentation and to the state auditor regarding the Edmonds School District's gift of public funds and services to a private organization "Powerful Partners" in violation of both the state constitution and numerous rcws and wacs.

Without citing the particular sections, statutes and codes because we want Duncan figure those out. Of course if he can.