YOU BE THE JUDGE

It is with interest that I read the comments of Board President Grover and VP Renken regarding the appeals that I have made to the Commissioner of Education attempting to right the wrongs that have been done to both the students and the residents of the Freeport School District. In December of 1994, after trying for months to get various Freedom of Information requests answered, I filed an appeal against the district for squandering the estate of Jeanette Kaskell, whose last wish in life was to leave the bulk of her estate to the school district to establish scholarships for Freeport HS students. After months of research, with the help of many community members and the indispensable openness of Judge Radigan’s Court, all the papers were filed.

In July of 1995 the Commissioner issued his ruling. In brief, he stated the following. "Although I am constrained to dismiss the appeal for untimeliness, I must comment on some of the actions taken by respondents. I am concerned that the respondents would proceed with very substantial construction work without the approval of the Bureau of Facilities Planning of the State Education Department, and I caution them with respect to any such project in the future." The Commissioner then went on to say, "I am even more deeply concerned that respondent took it upon themselves to interpret the Kaskell will in such a way that only approximately $30,000 out of the total bequest of approximately $223,000 would have been devoted to the awarding of a prize each year to a graduating student, while the district used the rest for its own construction project. --- The actions of the respondents (the Board) in this matter open them to considerable, and justifiable, criticism." I didn’t agree that the petition was untimely, however, I was satisfied that the last wishes of Jeanette Kaskell were finally granted. Now, Freeport students are the recipients of scholarship moneys that otherwise would have been squandered by the Freeport School Board. This surely is not "frivolous."

In the last edition of the Leader, VP Renken commented, "Mr. Lilker files quite a few of them (appeals), causing us to spend about $200,000 of taxpayers’ money to defend frivolous lawsuits."

At the conclusion of last Wednesday’s (Feb., 16, 2000) School Board meeting, when I asked VP Renken how he came up with the $200,000 amount he said, "we had to utilize clerical and administrative help. We've had to hire our attorneys every time you've filed a petition with the commissioner." When I mentioned the Kaskell appeal and the scholarships that were awarded as a result, he said that didn’t count.

It would appear that the "quite a few of them" to which VP Renken is referring, is the appeal regarding Dorothy Fox filed May 6, 1997 and "dismissed as moot" on April 15, 1998; the appeal regarding the alleged unlawful adoption of the 1999 District Policy Manual, which has not been decided and the present appeal regarding alleged unlawful secret meetings of the School Board with the Village Attorney, Harrison Edwards, and a secret executive session. The relevant portions of the "secret meeting" appeal can be found on the Internet at www.FreeportNYnews.com. Some of the removed Policies that are under appeal can also be found at FreeportNYNews.com by going to "Policies Removed By The Board That Affect Your Children And You."

A look at these "frivolous lawsuits" (appeals) that VP Renken claims cost the district $200,000 in administrative and legal fees reveals the following. The Fox appeal contained 28 double spaced pages of relatively simple legal work and three pages of letters that could have been FOILed by anybody for seventy five cents. The Policy appeal contained 16 pages of simple legal work; a seven sentence affidavit by clerk Denise Elmore; a 13 paragraph affidavit from the District Clerk; 9 pages of minutes that could be obtained at the Freeport library for ninety cents and a twenty sentence affidavit written by Board President Dante Grover. The current Secret Meeting appeal contains 18 pages of double spaced legal work; two pages of Board minutes, which could be copied at the Freeport library for twenty cents and a nine sentence affidavit written by Board President Grover. In essence, not counting Mr. Grover's twenty nine sentences (he reminded the community many times that the Board works without pay) and the seven sentences by clerk Denise Elmore, we have a total of 62 pages of real legal work by the school district attorney. That is $200,000 for 62 relatively simple double spaced pages. That equals $3,225.80 a page, or using the hourly rate of $150 dollars an hour, approximately 21 hours of time spent per page.

You be the judge. Some of these page will be posted on the Internet at www.FreeportNYnews.com by the time this letter is published. These amounts are difficult to believe. If indeed, VP Renken’s figures are correct, it has recently cost the taxpayers three thousand dollars a page for the district counsel’s law work. This certainly speaks volumes about the stewardship of the district by the present School Board.

Dated: February 18, 2000

by: Stewart S. Lilker