School Board Members Don’t File Statement of Interest Forms?

June 26, 2019 10:09 pm

City Council Candidates, County Board Candidates, resident members of City Committees and even “citizen members” of School Board Committee have to fill out Statement of Interest forms . . . but school board members do not? They sure hate transparency in the Madison School District.

So, this is seriously messed up. If there are no Statement of Interest forms filled out by elected officials, the public has no reasonable way of knowing if they have conflicts of interest when they do business on behalf of the public. There’s nothing wrong with having conflicts of interest from time to time, as long as everyone is transparent and people refrain from acting on items they have conflicts on. Happens all the time in local government – especially where you have engaged community members with full time jobs. The important thing is disclosure and being above board. Seems the school board plays by different rules. And I think that is why Gloria didn’t feel the need to disclose her conflict of interest, after all, most people didn’t know she still worked for the city. Here’s the results of my open records requests so far.

OPEN RECORDS REQUEST ONE

from: Brenda Konkel <brendakonkel@gmail.com>to: Matthew Bell <mwbell@madison.k12.wi.us>
date: Jun 12, 2019, 11:53 AM
subject: open records request
mailed-by: gmail.com

Please send me the Statement of Economic Interests forms for the current School Board Members. Any questions, please let me know!

Brenda Konkel

OPEN RECORDS REQUEST TWO

from: Brenda Konkel <brendakonkel@gmail.com>to: Matthew Bell <mwbell@madison.k12.wi.us>
date: Jun 12, 2019, 12:07 PM
subject: Re: open records request
mailed-by: gmail.com

Second open records request.

This request is for all school board members as well. It is for the required form that all employees with DISTRICT purchasing authority are required to fill out. The policy says they should “file a disclosure form with the ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT FOR BUSINESS SERVICES or her/his designee within 30 days after entering into an employment or independent contractor agreement contemplating annual compensation of $1,000.00 or more. ”

I couldn’t find anyone in the staff directory with the title ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT FOR BUSINESS SERVICES, so I am sending this to you as the legal council.

Any questions, let me know.

OPEN RECORDS REQUEST THREE

Please send me any correspondence (electronic, written, etc) from or to Gloria Reyes regarding any possible conflict of interest with her position as a City of Madison employee and voting on the SRO contract or other city related matters that come before the school board from before and since she was elected.

Thank you, any questions let me know!

ATTORNEY BELL RESPONSE

Dear Ms. Konkel:

I am assuming you are referencing BOE Policy 9000 when making your first two requests. That Policy states the following:

The SUPERINTENDENT, the ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT FOR BUSINESS SERVICES, and all employees with DISTRICT purchasing authority shall (1) file a Statement of Economic Interests with the LEGAL COUNSEL OF THE BOARD prior to April 30th of each year and (2) file a disclosure form with the ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT FOR BUSINESS SERVICES or her/his designee within 30 days after entering into an employment or independent contractor agreement contemplating annual compensation of $1,000.00 or more.

Please note that the above Policy references “all employees.” “Employees” is further defined within that same Policy and does not include Board Members. Consequently, Board Members are not required to submit a Statement of Economic Interest and no such records exist.

With regard to your second request, the “disclosure form” completed by Board Members, the same rationale set forth above also applies. Board Members are not required to submit such a form and no such records exist.

Thank you,
Matt Bell

MY REBUTTAL

from: Brenda Konkel
to: “Matthew W Bell (staff)”
cc: Andy Heidt, Andy Olsen
date: Jun 26, 2019, 9:52 PM
subject: Re: open records request
mailed-by: gmail.com

Thank you for your response. May I inquire about the third request as well?

Your policies are quite confusing. I can see the distinction you are making, however the language also says:

Regarding the first request:

“Employee” is defined as citizen members (except students) of SCHOOL BOARD committees, and all persons who receive wages from the DISTRICT who are under any contract for hire, express or implied, oral or written, where the employer has the power or right to control and direct the employee in the material details of how the work is to be performed.

Citizen member is not defined. If “citizen members” of committees are required to file the form, why would Board Members be exempt? Board members serve on School Board Committees. Again, the policies are extremely difficult to parse, but it seems the intent was to include everyone with purchasing power. It would make no sense to include employees, and “citizen members” but not Board Members. What reason would there be for that loophole?

Regarding the second request:

An employee or member of the BOARD OF EDUCATION who enters into an employment or independent contractor agreement with a DISTRICT vendor shall file a disclosure form with the ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT FOR BUSINESS SERVICES, or her/his designee, within 30 days after entering into that agreement, and annually thereafter while such agreement remains in effect.

Without disclosure I don’t know who might be required to fill this out, but we know School Board President Gloria Reyes is in and has been in employment with a DISTRICT vendor. I have no idea how she switched from Deputy Mayor to working in the Community Development Division, but wouldn’t she have been required to fill out this form within 30 days of that new employment agreement? Or at least initially when she started her term on the school board? Are you saying she has not filled out this form? Again, thank you for your response.

Photo by Nick Youngson, Alpha Stock Images