Just a few of the many facts we have uncovered.

Fact: Gary Noble was ineligible to seek election to the Board and was still ineligible when he sought re-election in 2007.
This was confirmed by the State Auditor and the Attorney General. The District recently changed board policies to allow this conflict to occur for future candidates, however, Mr. Noble is to be held to the standard that was in place when he filed as a candidate.

Fact: Bruce Williams was not eligible to occupy his board position and resigned.
Despite the fact that the Superintendent lied numerous times to conceal this fact, readers of the blog did a little research and uncovered what was really happening. As unfortunate as his personal life may have been, there was no reason to spew forth so many lies about modernizing apartments and what WSSDA might feel about deceptive practices.

Fact: The Piano Scam was a scam.
The involvement of the District's legal counsel was to make it somehow meet a minimal threshold. The use of a lease came close but the State Auditor has confirmed that the intent was to purchase the pianos, not lease them.

Fact: Powerful Partners is stealing space from the District.
The District claimed that Powerful Partners disbanded in 2007, but somehow they are still using their same name and still occupy the same space in the ESC. If an organization "disbands" are they no longer responsible for the debts they have accumulated?

Fact: The New Administration Site is contaminated.
The problem with establishing this fact is the absence of legally-required documentation being filed with the appropriate agencies. Personally reading many of these documents was enough to convince staff and consultants of contamination. The District, however, wanted to funnel an additional $2,500,000.00 to a friend from Medina with wineries in Woodinville.

Fact: Capital Partnership funds have been misappropriated.
When the District decided to no longer be a partner and transfer these projects to another department that is capital funded, they swept more than $150,000.00 in matchable money under the rug. This single action removed $300,000.00 in projects away from district playgrounds.

Fact: Reconfigurations are now performed by outside vendors.
The District has no one on staff that has the ability to learn or understand how to maintain inventory of panels and parts. They have no one on staff that can manage a reconfiguration. They have no internal talent that can learn or become trained in reconfigurations.

Fact: The District hires friends and relatives.
If you have any doubts as to the validity of this statement, you aren't getting out much. People that have come in dead last in a list of applicants have magically been hired. People that didn't even bother to apply had their applications inserted in after the deadline. People without any qualifications or experience have been hired to manage staff having jobs they don't understand.

Fact: The District did not act in the public's best interest when they sold Old Woodway Elementary.
This topic will be covered in greater detail in the near future. Essentially, during the peak of our last real estate frenzy, the District advertised the entire site as being for sale. After filtering out all developers that could not perform a demolition, they then handed a vacant piece of dirt to Burnstead. The summary page of the Old Woodway appraisal says it all.

Fact: The Snohomish County Auditor does not actually audit anything.
We cannot achieve public accountability if the State Auditor refers critical issues to the County Auditor, only to have her readily confess that she doesn't audit anything. Her job is more appropriately described as that of County Recorder.

Fact: The District claims they do not keep copies of checks.
This statement was only made to avoid having to reveal that no rent was being collected from Powerful Partners, now Powerful Tutors. For more than six years, I personally copied every check that I received while working for the District and I never received a single check from Powerful Partners.

Fact: The District refuses to read and understand the Capital Facilities Plan before adopting it.
Never fear. The document doesn't actually reveal anything anymore. There are no student generation rates nor does it provide any meaningful basis for the enrollment trends it might try to illustrate. If an agency refuses to follow their own adopted planning documents, why not just water them down so they become as meaningless as the Board?

Fact: The District hired someone to sit at home for 16 hours a week waiting for a pager to go off.
Staff used to carry the pager one weekend a month as Non-Exempt employees and never received compensation for all of the hours they sat around waiting for a crisis to occur. Personally, I carried the pager for no less than 30 days a year and never received a single dollar for the inconvenience.

There are many other rather shocking revelations to discover by reading this blog. If you have any doubt as to the credibility of any statement contained herein, please feel free to contact us. You can also contact the District, but then they won't tell you anything.