I would grudgingly watch tonight’s election results as the people of the United State’s send more “blame everything on Obama” congressmen to the Nation’s Capitol except that I returned from a day in the Twin Cities to find Attorney Mary Rice’s long overdue report on Art Johnston. I will be reading it but making only limited comments about it’s contents. I’ve been warned that doing so could subject the school district to a lawsuit in a letter our CFO sent along with the 65 page report. Ms. Rice interviewed 36 people from June 3rd to September 16th.
If and when the public sees the report will be redacted like hell to protect the innocent. It is not legal testimony and if anything were to go to court would require a do over before it could be accepted by a court of law.
It may be worth pointing out, however, that if I were to disclose private info it appears from the letter that the District would only be subjected to a maximum of $15,000 for my violating this privacy. (I’m not sure if that would leave me off the hook) That’s peanuts. I can’t wait to see how much more Mary Rice’s report will cost the District than a potential $15,000 fine.
I have been silent for a week but not without the intention to write about a great many things of an educational nature. This was not one of those things. I suspect I’ll be wired all night and will get little sleep reading through it. That’s too bad because I’m driving down to the the Twin Cities again tomorrow for the day. Today it was to read a book to my wife while she headed down for a class at her seminary. Its a very engaging book: The Orphan Train. Tomorrow I’ll be traveling south to attend a meeting on Title One at the Minnesota Department of Education.
