Concerns about wasteful spending raised by Cameron school board vice president

Last nights Cameron R-1 school districts board meeting we heard concern raised about possible unnecessary and wasteful spending in the district. Were these legitimate concerns about wasteful spending, or a veiled attempt by the district to discredit a local resident? Let’s flesh this out a little and allow you to draw your own conclusion.

The relevant discussion happened in the first few minutes of last nights meeting. School board vice president Ryan Murphy brought up a concern and started a discussion about a large bill for attorney services to redact records for a single Missouri Sunshine Law request. During the discussion about that bill, board member Pam Ice asks Superintendent Matt Robinson how much that specific records request cost the district to make redactions. Matt responded that it was $8200. That is unquestionably a lot of money.

You can watch that full exchange in the following video. But be sure to continue reading as we will provide additional and relevant details about likely reasons why attorneys are now making these redactions.

Can those redaction be made by school staff to save money?

That is the relevant question I would have liked one of the board members to have asked superintendent Robinson.  Board members Peck, Ice and board president Lockridge all joined in the conversation to share concern about the cost for redactions.  They were concerned about the cost, why were there no questions on how the district could reduce that cost?

I believe that both the district and school board have a fiduciary responsibility to the tax payers to spend our money wisely.  Paying a law firm $200 plus dollars an hour to redact names from public records doesn’t seem like a good use of tax dollars IF those redactions can be made by the district. 

Around the 2 minute and 45 second mark in the above YouTube video, Robinson mentions the district can only charge the individual requesting the records an amount equal to the lowest paid qualified staff member to complete that task.  Robinson mentions that is around $20 an hour.

Why then isn’t the Cameron school district making their own redactions and saving tax payers $180 an hour?  Of course hindsight is 20/20, but this would have been a good question for a member of the board to ask.  I’d love to hear a cost reduction question at every board meeting!

Has the school district previously completed their own records redactions

That is another question I would have liked  to hear a board member ask.  And if the answer provided was “yes”, a follow on question to ask why the change from previous and cheaper in house redactions.  The board didn’t ask those questions, but i can still provide an answer to that question.

Yes, the Cameron school district has made its own redactions in the past. 

In this screenshot you will see an email response from the district where they state that the superintendent was personally redacting records requests previously. Why was the highest paid staff member for the district conducting this task?

This image is from one of my own Sunshine Law requests and the redactions being made were staff names, the same type of redactions made in the $8200 request mentioned at last nights May 20th board meeting. If the district was previously able of making redactions to protect the names of district employees, why outsource that task to a significantly more expensive law firm? Another good question I wish one of the board members had asked.

Why did the Cameron school district stop completing their own redactions for records request?

While it is typically frowned on to comment on such questions with mere speculation, in this instance my answer is based on irrefutable fact.  Records we previously obtained through Sunshine Law requests pertaining to the dirty book fight appear to indicated unlawful redactions made by the district.  

One of the redactions appears to be an attempt to avoid transparency and coverup proof of records the district previously said didn’t exist.  We can show you that unlawful redaction.

To the right in the attached screenshot you can see a record with a poorly made redaction.  The link is to a google document of book votes taken by a book review committee.  This is important because when I originally asked for records of these votes I was told that no records existed.  This redaction appears to be an attempt made by the district to cover up the existence of public records.   This is the exact opposite of transparency.

When did the district switch to using lawyers for redactions

If Mr Murphy were to extend his records request he shared with the board and made a public record at last nights meeting to around the time of my records request, I suspect we will find an uptick in the billable hours by Ed Council.  It is my belief that it was around this time that found this unlawful redaction and attempt to avoid transparency that the district began outsourcing simple redaction duties to its law firm.

Was this a personal attack or legitimate concern about wasteful spending

Once again I can only speculate on this question.  In the 2 plus years I have been attending these board meetings, last night was the first time I recall a monthly expense budget item being questioned during a meeting.  If this was a one time event and we don’t hear similar questions in the future, we have our answer.

I hope that I am wrong.  I hope this is a sincere concern about possible wasteful spending of our tax dollars in the Cameron R-1 school district.  I hope to see additional concerns about expenses brought up at future meetings.  Hopefully routine series of questions are developed and asked during those meetings to ensure our hard earned tax dollars are being spent responsibly and wisely.