The following is another snippet from the District's legal counsel. The entire letter will appear on the Public Records Repository in the near future.The District believes that during the time you were employed with the Edmonds School District you violated the District's Internet Use Agreement by improperly using the District's resources to conduct personal business [Do you mean a real estate business, personal tasks and activities, or perhaps the infrequent email messages to friends and family?]. The District has recovered more than 6,000 personal documents [or files?] from the computer you used while employed [really?], and is working on obtaining countless more documents that were intentionally encrypted [You have a vivid imagination, Duncan] and then deleted from your [you mean the District's] hard drive shortly before your [yet-to-be-proven] resignation. The District is investigating [at considerable expense, no doubt] whether you destroyed public records necessary to conduct District business [competent employees are necessary to conduct District business], and whether you were using confidential or proprietary District information to benefit your personal business [Dear Mom, Student enrollment is falling]. Such conduct would have resulted in immediate termination from employment.
I find this paragraph to be especially amusing. Notice the use of language. The District "believes" is supposed to make the statement more intimidating. Well, the District also "believes" their new administration site is not contaminated. The District "believes" the Nobles are not violating District policy. The District "believes" Powerful Partners should not have to pay for their use of District resources. The District "believes" many things that everyone else has a hard time accepting.
This legal drivel is not an effective use of District resources. Suggesting that encryption of documents took place shows how seriously incapable District staff must be at retrieving documents. I suspect that when the District eliminated my account nearly a week before my last day, they inadvertently complicated their future detective work. Perhaps what the District stumbled upon was stray files related to all of the domain space I was providing at no charge - back when esd15.org had another purpose.
The "such conduct would have resulted in immediate termination from employment" is also entertaining fiction. The District believes that you may have downloaded plans to build a dirty bomb. The District believes that you may have been planning to detonate this dirty bomb. The District believes that your actions would have harmed many people and would have constituted an illegal act and therefore would have resulted in immediate termination from employment. What the District chooses to believe says more about their tenuous grip on hope and less about the reality of their current circumstance.
7 comments:
Mark,
I really hope you publish this comment and your answer. I am a district employee because of my familys business, I do not live on my Edmonds school salary. I would like to know what legal expenses you had so far. I think that the district is trying to tie you up with bills from their expensive attorneys. I think that if you opened an account to pay for your site and legal expenses, many people would make cash donations, even small ones. I think that I am allowed to make a cash gift and have it have no tax impact on either of us. Would you consider it?
If they can be more specific about what violation of internet use agreement you are "believed" to have committed it might be interesting. Many of us know that personal real estate transactions, vacation travel bookings and even purchases of pets amongst many other have been made via the internet by employees from their desks during work hours. Yes, even by administrators and all are still employed by the District. If this is punishable by termination I believe we will have to lose half the employees currently in the District!
It is believed that most of the information (if not all) that was on the hard drive of the computer that you used when an employee was wiped. Whether done intentionally or accidentally remains unclear (thought they were protecting themselves 'doh!').
The public records you are alleged to have destroyed were probably those crucial documents which can never be recovered which would have revealed Marla to be completely innocent and fully competent!
believe: verb. 1. To accept as true or real. 2. To have confidence in; trust. 3. To expect or suppose; think. 4. To have firm faith.
Faith is accepting as fact something that you cannot show, prove or give any material evidence for.
Basically, this is their lawyer (or would it be our lawyer, since the public's money is paying for him?) jumping up and down, beating his chest and making loud monkey noises. All of his accusations are firmly founded on thin air!
Apparently the only time these people open their mouths is to change feet.
Since they are so willing to put our money were their mouths are, please give use the opportunity to donate to your legal expenses, as was earlier suggested. We KNOW what your doing is right, and that's a fact. Besides, I'm sure you don't have a monkey for a lawyer.
What these people say they "believe" is amusing and would be downright entertaining if it wasn't for what they are "doing" to the Edmonds School District. Disciplining and terminating employees that point out problems with their decisions and business practices, covering up and putting a spin (creative lying) on their own ill advised actions, influence peddling, wasting public funds and violating the District policies they are sworn to uphold. The list goes on. These are the things they DO. What kind of people do want running your child's School District?
If the caliber lawyer one hires is any indication as to their character, this poor guy really has a fool for a client!
I will not take money from readers. You already pay enough in property tax to support these people and you deserve so much more.
My legal fees are but a flash in the pan. I would be happy to share legal tips and suggestions with whomever asks - including Nick and Marla.
I would be happy to share anything with anyone, but since the District has already initiated the work to be performed by "experts", let's wait and see what they uncover.
I did run a brief DVD rental business out of the ESC for a few months, but since I charged nothing, I viewed it as an extension of the small collection of books in the staff lounge.
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