Katy I.S.D.’s Center Of Truth Defenders In Full Scale “Diversionary Public Relations Mode’: That’s When The Crap Has Hit The Fan & Is Blowing In Your Direction, Try To Change The Direction Of The Fan - It Won’t Work This Time
February 10, 2012 by George
Filed under Featured Posts, Local
It is my prediction that Katy I.S.D.’s commander in chief of the Center of Truth - Alton Frailey - and his chief autamoton Katy I.S.D. school board president Joe “Robo-Call, Fined By the Texas Ethics Commission for Campaign Violations” Adams have officially kicked a hornets’ nest left best unkicked in this matter involving Frailey’s grand vision involving tax collection contracts for the school district.
Trust me on this. It’s not easy for two school board members like Dr. Bill Proctor and Terry Huckaby to stand up to the educational industrial complex’s power that includes the awarding of contracts to vendors. Frailey wants to privatize the current collections contract by awarding it to whomever is the district’s delinquent tax law firm.
Proctor and Huckaby have been fighting for a more transparent process from day one. They each wanted a process that included the opportunity to give serious consideration to treating the delinquent tax contract on its own merits while giving serious consideration to allowing the respective county tax offices of Harris, Fort Bend, and Waller Counties do what they already do - collect current taxes on properties located in their respect parts of the school district.
The public should understand the persepective of school superintendents like Frailey and pathetic public policy sycophants like Joe Adams. Proctor and Huckaby stand in the way of the status quo. They asked too damned many questions. They demand too damned many answers. It’s been that way since Proctor and Huckaby went on the board last May because the voters of Katy I.S.D. wanted them there.
So now we come to the matter of the Request For Proposal (RFP) process that brought proposals from two laws firms: Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson LLP and Perdue Brandon Fielder Collins & Mott LLP.
Proctor and Huckaby thought the process of developing the RFP and the method by which it was launched was fatally flawed from the very beginning. Rightly or wrongly, it seemed to them that the process was a train on a track headed to a predictable destination - the awarding of the contract to the Linebarger firm.
The RFP did not give any consideration or opportunity for the board to consider allowing Harris, Fort Bend, and Waller Counties to collect current taxes.
On the night of the workshop meeting at which the district’s chosen consultant ‘evaluated’ the proposals from the two firms, the very process and standards the district’s chosen evaluator used to rate the two law firms’ proposals came under intense assault by both Proctor and Huckaby. I was there. Solid punches were landed by both Proctor and Huckaby.
Then that night, Huckaby dropped a bomb shell. He said he had been given information that the private RFP of the Perdue firm had been given to Linebarger firm. The political foundations shook. The world of Katy I.S.D. changed that night. Proctor and Huckaby the irritants morphed immediately to Proctor and Huckaby the serious threats to the status quo.
Let me make this clear. I do not know whether the RFP of the Perdue firm worked its way to the Linebarger firm. I do not know. Thus, I do not allege that it happened. I have no conclusion about that subject.
What I do know is that a senior official with the Perdue firm that I have known for over 25 years personally told me that his firm had concluded on the basis of evidence it concluded was viable that there had been a breech of the RFP process.
Now, there is apparently a provision in the RFP that the law firms were not allowed to contact school board members. Some how and some way and at some time, Huckaby apparently became aware of the serious allegation that Perdue’s proposal had gone to Linebarger. Thus, it is theoretically possible that there may have been a strict violation of the ‘no contact’ provision of the RFP.
So now we come back to my headline regarding “Diversionary Public Relations.”
It’s been a bad public relations year or two for Commander Frailey and his Center of Truth sycophants including Adams. From Frailey’s Center of Truth intellectual gibberish well over a year ago to last year’s Frailey-centric budget debacle in the face of financial challenges, Frailey’s hold on the Center of Gravity of his Center of Truth is slipping.
Everybody involved in this tax collection contract issue is an adult. If there were indeed a policy violation, there may well be business consequences to come. So be it. We need the Hubble Telescope to see the importance of that comparable to the bigger issues involved in Katy I.S.D. in general and the tax collection bid process in particular.
If Perdue is sitting on actual evidence that their RFP was breached and Linebarger got a copy or verbal readings of provisions while Terry Huckaby is taking heat for his courage from the Center of Truth, then screw Perdue. Shame on them. Shame, shame, triple shame on them.
However, let’s keep this in mind. If there has been a mistake made, it does not change the basic fact that Proctor and Huckaby are doing the very best they can do to open up to the public the processes that have been historically out of public view.
There are three more points to close out this column:
- For years, I have been warning people in my abbrasive style about the nature of the educational industrial complex. I have made a lot of people uncomfortable doing this. Given or not, I accept your apologies for the harsh criticisms you have launched at me. It is past time to get real. And getting real means understanding the underbelly of the system that Proctor and Huckaby have exposed.
- For years, I have said that the first thing I would do if elected to the school board would be to retain a private attorney to help guide me. There are very few people who understand this system better than me. If I acknowledge that I would need legal help, it is time to use this episode as proof that I am right again. We need to create a fund to get these reformers some continuing legal help along the way.
- Let me tell you about Joe Adams and my reaction to his ‘high-horse’ pontifications on the possible violation of a provision of an RFP. Years back when Adams was the leader once again and there was another superintendent, the school board approved an annuity payment to that superintendent. But, they did not do it in public session. Another board member who felt queasy about the process but was not sure of the law told me about it. I hired and personally paid a prestigious law firm (expensive too) in Texas to represent me. We forced the board to come back in public session and vote publicly on the annuity payment. While not admitting any wrongdoing, Adams backed down because he knew I would have his ass in court the next week. To this day, I am sorry they backed down. I would have loved to have had Joe under oath in a court of law. Stop the pontification Joe.
The hornets are flying Joe and company. They don’t care who they sting; they just like to sting.
It would be nice to have the quote of the provision in the RFP that describes the situation where “there is apparently a provision in the RFP that the law firms were not allowed to contact school board members” (and I would want an exact quote). You don’t say anything about whether the board members can contact THEM. I ask about this because I can’t imagine that there is an RFP that says board members cannot contact a vendor! No board that had good sense would ever agree to such a provision.
In what you have indicated above, there is just the restriction on the vendor. The vendor, as I understand it, didn’t initiate the call with Huckaby. Huckaby called THEM.
I would think it would be illegal for a vendor RFP to try to restrict the authority of a board member to do his due diligence. Had I been that board member, I would have raised Cain about such a provision. And I can’t imagine that it is the vendors who put this provision in the RFP.
It’s not up to Joe Adams, who can’t write a sentence where the verb and the subject agree, to interpret board policy for others. That’s why the District pays TASB thousands and thousands of dollars to do it for them. Joe Adams may think he’s the King, but he is not, in my opinion, and he should not tell other elected board members who have equal standing what they can and cannot do!
NOTE: This is a situation in which I don’t automatically know what exactly prevails in terms of procedure on this matter. It is clear, however, that the administration wants to change the focus of the subject. I don’t think it’s going to work for them this time.
If Terry broke some kind of benighted policy, more power to him. Maybe they will send him to time out. If Mr. Huckaby believed there were shenanigans going on, should he be censored for his thoughts? I believe he should be honored for his courage. The biggest joke is that Ethically flawed Joe Adam’s makes the rules.
NOTE: Golly gee AD, it’s good to know you are still alive. Can detent be that far away? If I announced for the school board, would you support me publicly and wholeheartedly?
George
Here is the clause;
Contact with District
Beginning with the receipt of this document and during the proposal process, firms submitting proposals
are not permitted to contact any District Board of Trustees member, officer or employee other than as
listed below. Violation of these conditions will subject any proposing firm to immediate disqualification.
Firms shall submit any questions or concerns regarding this project in writing to:
Regina M. Stephenson, Director of Purchasing reginamstephenson@katysd.org
All questions will be answered in writing and responses provided to all interested parties.
Nothing in there about a BOT member contacting the firms!!
Here is the clause:
Contact with District
Beginning with the receipt of this document and during the proposal process, firms submitting proposals
are not permitted to contact any District Board of Trustees member, officer or employee other than as
listed below. Violation of these conditions will subject any proposing firm to immediate disqualification.
Firms shall submit any questions or concerns regarding this project in writing to:
Regina M. Stephenson, Director of Purchasing reginamstephenson@katysd.org
All questions will be answered in writing and responses provided to all interested parties.
Joe Ethics is wrong again.
I would recommend you attend the work study meeting on Monday, Feb 20 and the regular BOT on the 27th.
I would like to see everything… Stop the confusion and poop throwing now!
The RFP.
The Linebarger proposal.
The Perdue proposal.
Then seat and think which way would I vote if I was on the BOT or recommend to our elected BOTs.
If 30 yrs of Linebarger has greased toooo many hands and pockets in this district, it is high time to look for some ethical firms that do collection work.
Why,Why,Why….
NOTE: Here’s the deal Steve. I posted your comment on me. So, you can feel free to sit in your underwear at home and launch your anonymous assaults against my integrity. You have taken the fact that I have known a person for 25 years and extrapolated that to he’s my friend whose pocket I want to help line. I am glad that you didn’t teach my children math. In your class 1+1 would equal 11. However, you cannot make allegations against the actual integrity of others on this website and remain anonymous. People who put themselves in the public arena have courage and so far, you have exhibited none. Go somewhere else that allows it for this kind of stuff.
George
Sorry..You have shown your true colors and want to line the pockets of your friends!
NOTE: Pathetic. That’s the best you got?
George
George,
You have hit the nail on the head. I back your school board candidacy 100%. We need to end the underhanded financial dealings of the superintendent and his buddy Joe Adams. We also need to end the gotcha and bullying mentality of some of the school administrators toward teachers, parents, and students. I will do whatever I can to help you and Ms. Majors swing the majority of the board toward a positive change.
Sorry Steve. It doesn’t work that way. You can attack me all you want in your underwear at your home computer. To attack the actual integrity of others, you need to get dressed; come out of the closet; and let the world know who you are.
I put my name on everything I write. If you want to talk issues, you can be anonymous. If you want to talk personal destruction, you need to have courage on this website.
How dare you claim the fear of retaliation. Every morning, my wife goes to work in Katy I.S.D. as one of the very few teachers on the planet earth who has a husband who wakes up every morning trying to figure out new words to express the academic corruption of her central administration’s hiearchy. Don’t talk to me about the fear of retaliation as an excuse to hide the DNA of your gutlessness.
George
STEVE: You are out here. You have lost your privilege to be on this website. You are of course free to take your act to a website that will tolerate your bs. I complimented you on your initial posts even though I did not agree with them. But your latest indicate a person who has lost control of his ability to reason; your emotions have taken over along with the intellectual gibberish that now consumes you.
George