home * June 22, 2013 scroll down for update *   ALERT TO COMMUNITY! BOARD'S CREATED APPEARANCE OF "TRANSPARENCY" IS ONLY AN ILLUSION   "It is important to this School Board that we be as transparent as legally possible." --Board President, David Tryon, said in a video on BBHCSD website   June 22, 2012 Every member of our school board has publicly stated that they want the Board to be more “transparent”. And, beginning in January 2012, the Board has done a fairly good job of creating a public appearance of being more “transparent”. For example, this current Board began publishing on its website the audio recordings of the Board meetings, and the Tab Items on the Board meeting agendas. That’s a good thing. And, a few months ago, the Board published a new page, “Negotiations News”, on the District’s website that contains the Board’s and the BEA’s proposals for a new teachers’ contract. That, too, is a good thing. But, don’t be fooled into thinking that this Board is TRULY interested in being “transparent” simply because it makes it easier to access public records of the Board’s own choosing. A TRULY transparent Board would make it easy for members of the public to access public records of members of the public’s choosing!    Ohio’s Public Records Law—a law that supposedly mandates government “transparency”-- requires public offices, including school boards, to fulfill public records requests “promptly". Unlike past Boards that fulfilled the Watchdog’s public records requests, typically, within only a few days, THIS Board has delayed fulfilling the Watchdog’s public records requests for WEEKS! In fact, David Tryon, the Board President who talks a lot about transparency, actually told the Public Records Officer to needlessly delay providing me with public records that are readily available so that I wouldn't get accustomed to prompt service. GO     MAKE NO MISTAKE: All this talk about transparency is just smoke and mirrors. This Board is only concerned with appearing, rather than actually being, transparent. * June 22, 2013  MORE OF THE BOARD'S HYPOCRISY EXPOSED!   The Watchdog recently discovered that the Board has frequently entered into private Executive Sessions for purposes not allowed by law---AFTER announcing to the public that it was entering Executive Session for different purposes, purposes that ARE allowed by law! This Board likes to talk a lot about how “transparent” it wants to be.  But, telling the public that it’s entering Executive Session to discuss "the employment of a public employee", for example, and then, once  behind the closed doors of that Executive Session, actually discusses matters the law requires to be discussed in public--is the exact OPPOSITE of transparent!    To find out what the Board improperly discussed in Executive Session, go here.  ______________________________________________________________________     April 30, 2013 Board shows CONTEMPT for OPEN GOVERNMENT Holds Secret Meeting to Discuss Levy Matter and...FIND OUT WHY IT MATTERS go   ______________________________________________________________________   Nov. 29, 2012 BOARD MEETS FAR AWAY FROM ITS CONSTITUENTS Discusses important Brecksville-Broadview Heights matters in Columbus! go * BBHCSD Reports to newspaper that Enrollment INCREASED--but the TRUTH is Enrollment DECREASED! go _________________________________________________________   WATCHDOG DIGS FOR BURIED ENROLLMENT NUMBERS Superintendent Turns a Blind Eye to Enrollment Discrepancies Board and Treasurer/CFO Ignore Watchdog's Request for Enrollment Records Shortly after Watchdog requests enrollment reports, District ceases keeping monthly enrollment reports. GO For first time in five years, Board omits enrollment projections from Notes to Financial Forecast Board Rejects Realistic Declining Enrollment Projections! GO * Update: June 22, 2012 BOARD IMPEDES WATCHDOG'S ABILITY TO LEARN TRUTH OF TEACHERS' SALARIES go WATCHDOG DIGGING INTO DISCREPANCIES IN TEACHERS' SALARIES TREASURER/CFO INSISTS SALARY FIGURES SHE GAVE WATCHDOG ARE CORRECT: SALARY NOTICES SHOW OTHERWISE! go ____________________________ Audio Recordings of Board Meetings (kept by Treasurer/CFO) Unavailable go * Dec. 1, 2011 BOARD DISTORTS RESULTS OF COMMUNITY SURVEY go The Sun Star Courier redacted the last paragraph of my letter in which I tell readers where they can go to view the actual survey results. The Board reported to the public at its October 11, 2011 meeting that the results of the community survey showed little more than respondents having various questions and that the only pattern detected was that they simply wanted more information. But, the actual survey results show that an overwhelming number of respondents want the Board to control spending!--the vast majority of whom want the Board to control the cost of personnel. Read the results for yourselves! * 2009 District Not Providing Public Records (go)