An Olive Branch

We believe the recent focus on Myers has been a distraction to the school board and the community.  The focus should be on the work of the board.  

The Board will be searching for a new superintendent and the district a new chief financial officer.  Both candidate pools will certainly do their own due diligence finding a fractured board and a vocal group of unhappy residents.  Neither are helpful to the district when hiring new talent.

We are contemplating the removal of this blog as an olive branch to the community.  Our hopes and prayers are the distractions of the past will fade away and the entire AISD community can focus on the future.

1. Olive Branch - Definition  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/olive+branch

Actions and Words Speak Very Loud

When Former President Clinton said it depends on what the definition of "is" is, the world has needed to parse the statements of our elected public officials.  It seems we must now do the same with elected official Myers. Well respected Allenonline member VRS documented the statement of Myers on Monday, August 12, 2013 during a workshop of the Allen ISD Board Members. (1)

Myers said "I will take down the blog."

It seem "take down" to Myers has a different definition than most people.  It seems "take down" means "transfer of ownership".

If we cannot trust Myers to honor the word he gives the other AISD Trustees, then why should we listen to anything he has to say?

1. AllenOnline Forum, post by VRS          http://www.allenonline.com/fusionbb/showpost.php?post/162750/

Commentary of August 5,6,7, 2013

Dissecting the post of Monday, August 5 through Wednesday, August 7, 2013:

Many of Myers latest posts (1,2,3) lack specific facts to verify, but provide the reader with additional insight into who Myers is and allows for speculation as to his true motives. 

The Monday, August 5, 2013 post(1) is lacking of quantifiable facts to refute but demonstrates an attempt at humor, sarcasm, whit and humility. Or at least we hope and pray it is. Unfortunately it comes across as arrogant, self-serving, condescending, disrespectful and egotistical.

The Tuesday, August 6, 2013 post(2) indicates Myers has not learned that anytime you speak with the press, you run the risk of being misquoted.  The post lacks any real purpose other than for the blogger to share his side of the story.  Our suggestion is to listen more and talk (blog) less.

The Wednesday, August 7, 2013 post(3) indicates Myers willingness to share information not readily available to the general public. Information that appears to have been provided in closed session to Trustees. (4,5,6).

Commentary: 

Every family has something in their past (or present) they would prefer not be public.  Maybe it’s a pregnant teenage daughter, a failed business venture, earning an on-line degree (although not as taboo as it was in the past) or internal fraud.  

Myers hasn't realized that protecting AISD's reputation,  as you would a family member, is an unspoken role of the trustee.  Myers instead has chosen to share the unproven allegations or “dirty laundry” of the district in an attempt to connect the allegations to current bond projects and stop the bus barn, as well as disassociate himself with these allegations. Protecting his image seems more important than protecting the image of AISD.

Rather than share the opinion of our consensus, we provide a link to a post (7) on the AllenOnline forum that we feel best states the hopes and prayers of the residents within the Allen Independent School District.

The post’s author, vrs, is not affiliated with the members of this blog.

Our attempt is to use this blog only to check the facts and statements made by Myers.  With great restraint we attempt to not respond to each post on his blog.

Note:  The contents of Myers' posts appear to be edited after publication, in some cases removing information previously referenced by this blog.

Source Documents and articles of interest:

1. Myers Blog                                                                       http://allentxisd.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-message-we-send-to-our-kids-not-in.html
2. Myers Blog                                                   http://allentxisd.blogspot.com/2013/08/transparency-email-exchange-with-press.html
3. Myers Blog                                                                         http://allentxisd.blogspot.com/2013/08/it-is-what-it-isnow-lets-get-on-with-it.html
4. Allen ISD school board member uses personal blog to criticize district  http://www.scntx.com/articles/2013/08/07/allen_american/news/388.txt
5. Former Allen ISD finance director accused of stealing from Mansfield ISD  http://www.scntx.com/articles/2013/08/07/allen_american/news/387.txt
6. Fact-checking site started to counter board member's blog  http://www.scntx.com/articles/2013/08/07/allen_american/news/389.txt
7. AllenOnline Forum – Service Center Bid conversation  http://www.allenonline.com/fusionbb/showpost.php?post/162610/

Analysis and Commentary of Sunday, August 4, 2013

Dissecting the post of Sunday, August 4, 2013:

Today's analysis of Myers post(1) notes his complaining about the press misinterpreting his position and his repeated claim of not receiving the information he requested.  Policy and statute analysis will be bypassed, especially given his propensity to misinterpret both.

Myers Statement:  "It always begs to question why a newspaper would utilize adjectives, such as “combative”, when explaining a story, unless of course they want to generate discord in their viewing audience."

Analysis:  This is very interesting for Myers to attack the paper's descriptive choice of words when Myers is the person when it appears Myers forwarded the email exchange to the newspaper.(2)  
This sounds like sour grapes.  Minus 1 Myers.

Myers Statement:  "It should be noted that on three separate occasions I specifically asked for any and all information related to the management of the bond package for the ISD. On two occasions I even went further by requesting information on the service center itself. On all occasions, accept for two, I was not provided the information I requested.  This material was to prepare me to cast a vote on the $27 Million expenditures. It was clearly stated to all the board members that I was not in receipt of any information regarding the bond, or the service center, until a few weeks before the board vote. But, the information provided to me was a deficient cost estimate for the service center – a cost estimate, I may add, that was only based on quantities and did not specify any great detail. The night of the board vote, I was presented, as was all the board members, detailed information of the service center and the application of the bond package to move the vote forward. It is this process, and the knowledge there of, that this administration, in my interpretation, was in violation of the law. I requested an investigation by legal council, but have not received anything as of today."

Analysis:   He asked for information, it was provided to him a few weeks before the vote. 

One question we should have for Myers, why did he not review the information available to all trustees on the district server?  As mentioned by Trustees during the July Board meeting, the information he requested was available via WebDav. (3)  

The deficient (missing) cost estimate is available to the general public on the district web site. (4).  Why can't Myers find what is available to the general public?
Minus 2 Myers.

Myers appears to want detail cost estimates.  Greg Suttle and numerous Board Members where unable to help Myers understand that detail numbers where not available, anywhere, until after the sealed bids were opened, reviewed, accepted and the GMP tabulated.  That information was then provided to the Board in their packet.(5)

"The night of the board vote, I was presented, was was all the board members, detailed information of the service center."   

This comment could be the "smoking gun" to understanding some of Myers' behavior. 

Myers states he didn't see the information until Monday night. When in fact, the "Board Packet"(6) is delivered to each Trustee no later than the prior Wednesday and is available to the general public usually no later than 5pm the Friday prior to each Board Meeting.

So it seems Myers is saying he didn't do his homework and did not prepare for the meeting.

Failing to do your homework Minus 3 Myers.

Final Analysis:

Myers doesn't appear to take the time to understand what information is available. He doesn't understand the process used by the district and appears to not accept their statements regarding the processes.  He admitted he didn't read the board packet given to him (see smoking gun above.)

Let's review the score to date:
October 2, 2012:  4 of 9 facts correct
May 29, 2013:      1 of 6 correct
July 31, 2013:       0 of 1 for possibly publishing closed session information
Aug  2, 2013:        0 of 1 correct
Aug  4, 2013:        0 of 3 failure to do homework, find public information or information available to board members.

Correct only 25% of the time.       

Source Documents:

1. http://allentxisd.blogspot.com/2013/08/bond-vote-for-service-center-and.html
2. Rumor, awaiting confirmation via Freedom of Information Request - Allen ISD
3. WebDav Definition  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebDAV
4. AISD Website http://allenisd.org/domain/2418  click on the link August 27, 2012 Schematic Design For Service Center (Presentation)  https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicItemDownload.aspx?ik=32821203 
5. GMP - Service Center              https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicItemDownload.aspx?ik=34083298
6. "Board Book" - Meeting Agendas and Approved Minutes  https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicHome.aspx?ak=43901

Analysis and Commentary of Friday, August 2, 2013

Dissecting the post of Friday, August 2, 2013:  

Today's analysis and commentary will be on Myers post(1) justifying why he voted No on the round-about intersection to be built at Bossy Boots and Bray Central Drive. (2)  We'll focus on Myers reference to Board Policy and the Texas Education Code.

Myers Statement:  "... What I do have an issue with is the following:

• BAA (Legal) RESTRICTIONS ON BOARD POWERS AND DUTIES
•  The Board may not:
• Enter into an agreement authorizing the use of District employees, property, or resources for the provision of materials or labor for the design, construction, or renovation of improvements to real property not owned or leased by the District. Education Code 11.168 [See CE]

...
With that said, and getting back to what I was saying, if the ISD doesn't own the land we can't spend money on it.....its written in the State Law. So, that means even if we wanted to make a nice gesture to the City we can't.

The point I was trying to make is that in the prior board meeting I was under the impression that the reason for building the round-a-bout was due to our expanded property line and the fact that we impact the traffic patterns...regardless of my personal belief that we shouldn't even be considering the Service Center at this point in time or not. But, what I got was that the payment to the city was a "good deed gesture" and not actually part of the ISD property, which makes it illegal for us to consider......ahhhhh."

Analysis:  

The reference Myers makes is to AISD School Board Policy BAA (Legal).  His quote is near the bottom of page 4.(3)  If we look at why it says [See CE]?  This is a reference to AISD School Board Policy CE (Legal).(4)  

CE (Legal) says at the bottom of page 1:

"This section does not prohibit the Board from entering into an agreement for the design, construction, or renovation of improvements to real property not owned or leased by the District if the improvements benefit real property owned or leased by the District. Benefits to real property owned or leased by the District include the design, construction, or renovation of highways, roads, streets, sidewalks, crosswalks, utilities, and drainage improvements that serve or benefit the real property owned or leased by the District."

Education Code 11.168

If we go one additional step and look at Texas Education Code 11.168 (5) we find similar language indicating the school district and the board are legally allowed to do what was approved.

Final Analysis:  

Myers is wrong.  The district is allowed to enter into an such an agreement.  Since he claims this is why he voted no, we can only surmise he only looked for a reason to vote no.  If he had completed his homework and reviewed school board policy CE (Legal) he would have learned the action was legal.

Source Documents:

1. Myers Blog on why he voted against the Round about http://allentxisd.blogspot.com/2013/08/board-vote-on-roundabout-why-i-voted-no.html
2. Allen American/Star Local News article about the roundabout.http://www.planostar.com/articles/2013/07/31/allen_american/news/413.txt
3. Allen ISD Board Policy BAA (Legal), page 4        http://pol.tasb.org/Policy/Download/305?filename=BAA(LEGAL).pdf
4. Allen ISD Board Policy CE (Legal)                         http://pol.tasb.org/Policy/Download/305?filename=CE(LEGAL).pdf
5. Texas Education Code 11.168  http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/ED/htm/ED.11.htm#11.168

Analysis and Commentary of Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Dissecting the post of Wednesday, July 31, 2013:

The analysis and commentary regarding the July 31st post(1) will be rather limited due to the availability of information.  The posted information appears to have originated from a closed session agenda item not readily available to the general public.   A closed session is legally allowed when an entity needs to discuss personal matters, talk with their attorney or discuss land purchases/sales.

"Why is Myers deliberately publishing information or even general knowledge learned in closed session?"

Legally there is not a penalty to do so, but is not recommended  "..it is possible that such a discussion could waive the governing body's claim of attorney-client privilege if a member revealed attorney-client communications that occurred during a closed meeting".(2)

So by possibly publishing what may have been discussed in closed session, Myers may have irrevocably harmed the school district from it's attorney-client privilege.(2)

Myers Statement:  Myers has a very interesting opening in this post:  "A resident of Allen, who pays taxes to the ISD, should be aware that the law states that a Trustee who sits on the board is actually only a state official when in session. Anytime before, or after, the Trustee is just a taxpaying citizen like everyone else. We receive no pay, or benefits, for sitting on the board, and thus we maintain regular jobs as the normal citizen would. We aren't some tyrannical team of miscreants that stand upon their high post and preach their needs first. If we are then we need to go. We in fact are just citizens who were elected by you to represent and protect your needs when it comes to the ISD and its expenditures. I can assure you that all of the board members I sit with exhibit a great deal of care when it comes to administering the duties of the office. But we are just humans as well, and humans are easily influenced, especially when in unfamiliar surroundings...and most particularly with the scrutinization of 100's of millions of dollars of taxpayer money. Such responsibilities will intimidate anyone -- if it doesn't then that individual may not be suited for the job."

Response:  Interesting statement from someone who berated the school board for the last two years.  He does appear to "preach his needs first" by wanting the service center moved away from his residence.  

Given Myers has been wrong 55% of the time(3) with simple numbers that are easily to obtain, should we really believe much of what he claims?

Myers Statement:  ."I will continue to follow the rules and stand up when I know something is wrong.."

Response:  Interesting statement from someone who ran a campaign by breaking the rules (raising money without a treasurer on file), it may not seem like a big deal, except it is a Class A Misdemeanor.(4,5,6)

Final Analysis:  

"Why is Myers deliberately publishing information or even general knowledge learned in closed session?"  

The general conclusion may be any of the following:

• He is intentionally trying to harm the district by revealing this information.
• He is intentionally trying to harm one or individuals by revealing this information.
• He is attempting to justify his voting record.
• He doesn't understand the implications his actions may have on the district.

What do you think?

Source Documents:

1. Myers Blog http://allentxisd.blogspot.com/2013/07/allen-isd-and-my-recent-board.html
2. 2012 Open Meetings Act Made Easy, page 28, pdf page35, Question 88.  https://www.oag.state.tx.us/AG_Publications/pdfs/openmeetings_easy.pdf
3. Myers Fact Check  http://myersfactcheck.blogspot.com/2013/08/analysis-and-commentary-of-october-2.html
4. Allen American, April 25, 2013  http://www.scntx.com/articles/2013/04/25/allen_american/news/496.txt
5. Allen ISD Campaign Documents via FOIA  
6. Texas Election Code 253.031  http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/EL/htm/EL.253.htm#253.031

Analysis and Commentary of May 29, 2013

Dissecting the post of Wednesday, May 29, 2013:

The May 29th post appears to be more commentary and opinion than factual.

Myers Statement:   “By tabling the development of the new Service Center we will administer the will of the residents by not building the new service center within any new, or existing, residential communities within the City limits accept for the consideration of the existing facilities of the Lowery Freshman Center.” (1)

Analysis:   Myers appears to believe the will of the citizens is to not build a service center.  This is based on his defeat of a sitting board member.  Voters also approved the building of the service center by approving the bond in 2009.  Reviewing the vote count; Myers won with 1002 votes or 51.94% of the voters who voted (2).  The Bond passed with 2363 votes or 63.66% of the vote (3).  Clearly more people and a larger percentage of voters who voted wanted the bond to pass. Service Center trumps Myers.

Score:  Facts 1 - Myers 0 

Myers Statement:  “By focusing on the redevelopment of the Lowery Freshman Center to the “Lowery Center” I would propose that a new facility be constructed on its property to accommodate both the 9^th and 10^th grade classes. This would almost eliminate the stress on the High School by accommodating only the 11^th and 12^thgrades. It would also directly contribute to a reduction of the student-teacher ratio as well as a progressive improvement of the academic standings for our student body in whole.”(1)

Analysis:  Movement of the 10th grade class would remove approximately 1300 students (one-third of the students), resulting in 55.5% utilization of the high school or a waste of 44.5% of the space.(4)  Moving students out of AHS does not directly relate to a reduction in student-teacher ratio. It would result in more students being bused between the two buildings (AHS and LFC). 

• The high school has one additional wing that can be added, if necessary.
• Adding 10th grade students to Lowery would result in additional parking at LFC.
• If acted up as stated, the high school will only be at 70% utilization at build-out.(4)

Score:  Facts 2 - Myers 0 

Myers Statement:  “By redevelopment I would call for a complete re-design of the existing Lowery Freshmen Center property. (See Figure 1 below) I would recommend that the old baseball field and the practice field, located just to the north of the old football stadium, be allocated to a below grade and walled secure facility for bus parking. Entrances can be built at the north end of the bus parking as well as the bottom southwest corner of the same planned bus parking area. Being that the current bus parking area already feeds bus routes into these transit areas there will be little to no effect on the current traffic patterns.”(1)

Analysis:  

• The bus parking at LFC was initiated because the district had outgrown existing service center. Parking at LFC has always been described as a short-term solution.
• The baseball field and practice fields are still being used by the district
• The old football stadium is still being used by the district.

Score: Fact 3 - Myers 0 

Myers Statement: “I would further recommend the purchase of the land just to the north of the current bus parking lot and the existing freshmen center. This land could be included in the overall design of the Lowery Center.”(1)

Analysis:  The purchase of land is allowed in closed session.  One reason is to keep the price of the land down.  By Myers specifically mentioning the property, he may have already caused the selling price to go up. Bad move by a rookie board member.

Score: Fact 4 - Myers 0 

Myers Statement: “As for the existing bond allocations for the transportation and service center these funds will still be specifically used for building and expanding those requirements; only in this case they will be focused on building into the existing Lowery Center. It should be noted that the original bond does not specify any location within the school district. The selection process for the current site was purely on the prior boards approval process. Therefore a decision to look at new locations still resides with the current school board.”(1)

Analysis:  True, board members selected the property at Bossy Boots and Watters.

Score: Fact 5 - Myers 1 

Myers Statement:  “A bus fueling point could be including in the below grade bus parking area on the Lowery campus. By having the new bus parking area below grade we eliminate the catastrophic risk of the above ground fueling points and could even investigate burying and advanced fueling point in the newly acquired land to the north of the current bus parking area. We may even want to entertain outsourcing the fueling center to the gas station to the north of that land parcel. It should be further noted that by building the facility below grade we also eliminate the eye-sore of bus parking from any surrounding neighborhoods to the East. Any unused funds would be put to a vote as to its application to the development of the Lowery Center. If a renegotiation with the State is required then we will address it when the time comes.”(1)

Analysis:  Clearly Myers is deeply concerned about bus parking and fueling centers. The idea of below grade parking for 120 buses is unique, probably quite expensive and problematic.  Texans don’t have basements for a reason. The idea of using the gas station to the north has not been fully examined.  The district has 120 buses that use diesel.  The gas station mentioned does not have adequate space for fueling, would disrupt other businesses at that location.  The agreement would need to be put out to the lowest bidder, you can’t just pick who to purchase fuel from, you must follow policy and law.  The Board indicated during the July meeting the location had been considered and eliminated.

Score: Fact 6 - Myers 1 

Final Analysis:

• The idea of moving some students out of the high school for capacity and educational reasons is not without merit.  
• But before suggesting to continue spending money to create more facilities, one must look at the learning models available for high school students.  
• The campus of 2023 may allow for student learning to occur off-campus with only periodic on-campus learning.  
• To blindly create capacity at LFC without analyzing the impact to the existing to high school campus is irresponsible and reckless.

Source Documents: 

1. Myers Blog, First Move to Action: Move the Service Center   http://allentxisd.blogspot.com/2013/05/first-move-to-action-move-service-center.html
2. 2013 Allen ISD Election Results https://www.co.collin.tx.us/elections/election_results/2013/051113/051113CAT.htm
3. 2009 Allen ISD Bond Election Results https://www.co.collin.tx.us/elections/election_results/2009/050909/050909CAT.htm 
4. AISD Campus Enrollment and Projection data. FOIA from AISD.