Lynn Walsh

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

HISD trustees approve $1.6 billion budget
Fri Jun 25 13:49:41 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

Houston Independent School District trustees unanimously approved a $1.6 billion budget for next year Thursday. Trustees Harvin Moore and Larry Marshall were not at the meeting.

The budget for next year, $1.61 billion, represents almost a one percent decrease from last year’s budget of $1.62 billion.

Before the vote, the public had an opportunity to share their opinions with HISD trustees and Superintendent Terry Grier at the public hearing, which was held immediately before trustees voted to adopt the 2010-11 budget. More on this topic, and salary increases, on School Zone, a Houston Chronicle blog.

Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Former HISD employees accused of wrongdoing in E-Rate technology program named
Thu Jun 24 20:30:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

William Edwards, Steve Kim and Laura Palmer.
These former Houston Independent School District employees’ identities have been closely guarded by the school district. HISD administrator Richard Patton, who is in charge of compliance with certain ethics rules that federal officials accused the trio of employees of violating, named them Thursday in an interview with Texas Watchdog.

The information technology workers were accused of taking meals and gifts from vendors under the federal technology program called E-Rate, violating ethics rules that spurred a federal investigation and halted funding to HISD under E-Rate in 2006. The district has lost millions of dollars, and earlier this year settled a lawsuit brought by the federal government. Neither HISD nor any of its employees admitted to any wrongdoing, according to the settlement documents.
The employees were named after Texas Watchdog filed a public information request in March for details surrounding the employees involved with the E-Rate scandal. E-Rate is a federally funded program that brings cut-rate telecommunications services to public schools, nonprofit private schools and libraries.

Texas Watchdog was unable to reach the former employees immediately Thursday afternoon. We’ll keep trying, and we’ll update our site if we are able to reach them.

Within months of the federal government’s freezing of HISD’s E-Rate funding in 2006, Palmer got a 45 percent pay increase and promotion, according to HISD salary records acquired by Texas Watchdog through a Texas Public Information Act request. Employee Laura M. Palmer was listed as an assistant superintendent for technology and information systems as of September 2006, earning more than $122,000, a big boost over her previous salary of about $84,000 in 2005. She was earning more than $126,000 in fall 2007, and had worked with the district since 1994.

Palmer retired as of October 2007, according to an HISD database of retirees since 2005. Edwards and Kim, however, do not show up in the same retiree database, and it is unclear precisely when they stopped working for the school system.

Employee William L. Edwards worked in the Technology and Information department, earning more than $132,000 as an assistant superintendent in the Technology and Information Systems Department as of 2004, salary records show. He was hired in 1993.

Steve K. Kim worked as a manager of network operations in the networking department and as of 2006 he earned more than $89,000 annually. He had worked for HISD since 1997.

Edwards, Kim and Palmer do not show up in the salary databases Texas Watchdog has obtained from HISD in 2008 or 2009. Thursday, Patton said he believed that all three employees resigned from the Houston district, though other HISD officials have previously described their departures as firings.

After Texas Watchdog’s public information request for the employee names, HISD asked the Texas Attorney General to allow the names to remain secret. The AG disagreed and said in a letter that the information must be released.

Texas Watchdog is still waiting on those documents to be made public.

The Federal Communications Commission filed a lawsuit against the district in 2006. More than three years later, the district paid $850,000 to settle the suit, and is receiving money again under the program.

The subsequent compliance agreement required HISD to hire an E-Rate compliance officer, who makes $150,000 annually. HISD hired Patton in February using a headhunting firm that reportedly charged $67,200.

Patton has spent hours training employees and board members on stricter ethics rules to avoid a repeat of the earlier problems. He has recommended HISD spend an additional $10,000 a year on monitoring software.

Freezing the funding under the E-Rate technology program has caused the district to lose $105 million in federal funding.

A voicemail message left for a Steve Kim in Sugar Land was not returned. Texas Watchdog was not able to immediately find a phone number for Edwards and Palmer.

As recently as a few months ago, an HISD press official said the investigation by federal officials was still open. Thursday, Patton said, “the investigation is over.”

Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Employees involved in HISD E-Rate scandal that cost district $105 million plus will remain secret
Wed Jun 2 12:42:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

Three Houston Independent School District employees cost the district millions of dollars after violating the ethics rules governing a federal technology program in 2006.

Who are they? Houston Independent School District says that information is confidential, and the Texas Attorney General has agreed with them.

A public records request asking for the names of the three HISD employees accused by the Federal Communications Commission of accepting meals and other gifts from E-Rate vendors was submitted to HISD by Texas Watchdog on March 29.

HISD responded and asked the Texas Attorney General to allow the district to withhold the names of employees because the information is “confidential under the privacy protections” of certain Freedom of Information Act exemptions. The district says the FCC has requested the names be kept secret, saying naming them would invade the fired employees’ personal privacy.

In a letter the AG’s office agreed with HISD and said:

“The fact that HISD is in possession of information that is confidential under (federal law) does not in and of itself protect the information from disclosure under (state law), as those federal statutes pertain to disclosure of information held by a federal agency. However, if an agency of the federal government shares its information with a Texas governmental entity, the Texas entity must withhold the information that the federal agency determines to be confidential under federal law. …

“In addition, HISD has demonstrated a compelling reason to withhold the Requested Information by showing the same is made confidential by another source of law, thereby permitting HISD to withhold the Requested Information.”

At Texas Watchdog, we believe the names of the three HISD employees involved should be released.

The actions of these three HISD employees have resulted in unnecessary cost for the Houston Independent School District, so much so that the district fired them. Funding under the E-Rate technology program was frozen, causing the district to lose $105 million in federal funding.

E-Rate is a federally funded program that brings cut-rate telecommunications services to public schools, nonprofit private schools and libraries.

The Federal Communications Commission filed a lawsuit against the district in 2006. More than three years later, the district paid $850,000 to settle the suit with the FCC.

A subsequent compliance agreement required HISD to hire an E-Rate compliance officer, who makes $150,000. HISD hired Richard Patton in February using a headhunting firm that reportedly charged $67,200.
Patton has spent hours training employees and board members on stricter ethics rules to avoid a repeat of the earlier problems. He recommends HISD spend an additional $10,000 a year on monitoring software.

The fallout has been somewhat dizzying. But after the almost million-dollar settlement, costly staff additions and the need to purchase additional resources, the law is apparently not on the side of knowing whose actions may have triggered all this.
Contact Lynn Walsh at lynn@texaswatchdog.org or 713-228-2850.

Photo of Keep Out by flickr user Leo Reynolds, used via a Creative Commons license.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Justice Department OKs closure of Kendleton ISD
Thu May 27 15:02:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

A Houston-area school district is being closed due to chronic academic problems, after the U.S. Department of Justice OKed the move.

Kendleton Independent School District will officially close July 1, with Kendleton students to be served by Lamar Consolidated Independent School District, according to a Texas Education Agency press release.

The move was expected, after the TEA revoked Kendleton’s accreditation earlier this year.

“Closing a school district is a somber moment,” Education Commissioner Robert Scott said via the news release. “It is an action I take only when all other efforts to revive a district have failed.”

According to the TEA, Kendleton ISD received an academic rating of “Academically Unacceptable,” from 2006-2009, and this school year, 2009-10, was deemed “Not Accredited-Revoked.” Kendelton ISD is located outside of Houston in Fort Bend County and, according to the press release, serves students at one elementary school, Powell Point Elementary.

Middle school and high school students located in the Kendelton district already attend classes at Lamar Consolidated ISD campuses.

Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org. On Twitter: @lwalsh.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

HISD votes to fire Key administrators named in investigation of price gouging of students, unauthorized fundraisers, cheating and missing equipment
Fri Apr 9 00:39:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

Looks like HISD may forward an investigation report into Key Middle School to the district attorney’s office. The Houston Chronicle reports that Grier has referred the report to HISD officials, who would consider whether it should be forwarded to the DA’s office.

The Houston school board voted Thursday to fire the former principal of Key Middle School and five other employees implicated in a wide-ranging investigation that found evidence of cheating on state tests, profiting off student fund raisers and nepotism. …

HISD Superintendent Terry Grier said he now plans to forward the 2-inch-thick investigative report on Key to the school board’s Audit Committee and to the district’s inspector general to decide whether to turn it over to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.

Related video: On April 1, Grier sidesteps a reporter’s question about whether the school district will forward the Key Middle School investigation report to the DA.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Who’s following up on the Key Middle School investigation report?
Thu Apr 1 14:10:17 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

An investigation report into misspending at an HISD middle school has not been requested by the Harris County district attorney’s office, HISD Superintendent Terry Grier said Thursday.

But the DA’s office says its process of handling complaints begins with someone bringing the issue to them, not the other way around.

“The DA’s office normally responds to investigations or complaints that are presented to us directly,” Terese Buess, head of the public integrity division, said by e-mail. Buess said her division is small, so they “respond, for the most part, to law enforcement who are completing investigations or to formal complaints that are made directly to us.”

But Grier said he wasn’t aware of that process, and said he hadn’t discussed it with the trustees.

The Texas Education Agency is reviewing HISD’s investigation report, which also detailed testing improprieties. The private investigation conducted by the law firm Martin Disiere Jefferson & Wisdom also found multiple examples of price gouging of snacks for students, unauthorized fundraisers aimed at students, and thousands of dollars of missing equipment.

Two employees identified in the investigation report have submitted response letters to the HISD school board. Former Kashmere High Assistant Principal Dolores Westmoreland and former Key Middle Principal Mable Caleb have responded with notices they will retire. HISD trustees went into a closed session Thursday after the board workshop meeting to discuss their employment status, as well as that of others listed in the report.

The Houston Press has also been reporting on the question of whether the district attorney’s office may pursue a case.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Houston ISD school administrator named in Key misspending report says she did nothing wrong; view response/retirement letter here
Wed Mar 31 20:41:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

A school administrator named in an investigation report into misspending at Key Middle School said in a letter she is retiring from HISD, effective March 31.

Dolores Westmoreland, who is listed in an HISD employee database as an assistant principal at Kashmere High School, submitted her notice within a response letter dated March 22 to the Houston Independent School District. At a meeting with news reporters Tuesday morning Superintendent Terry Grier said Westmoreland was resigning.

In the response letter Westmoreland said she did not violate any laws: “I violated no law of the State of Texas or any policy or procedures of the Houston Independent School District.”

An internal investigation done by a private firm for the school district found that Westmoreland failed to make sure testing guidelines were followed during administration of the TAKS standardized test, and misused an HISD-issued credit card known as a procard. The investigation report said Westmoreland used another employee’s procard at Wal-Mart between December 2007 and January 2008, signing her own name on the receipts.

“I did sign my name on the charge slip, because I was told this was the protocol at Key,” Westmoreland said in her response letter.

She also said she never made several of the purchases referenced in the investigation report:

When I had a card issued in my name in 2008-2009, it was kept in [administrator Peggy Collins'] office. I noticed that there are charges on there for food and other things in the documents. I did not make those purchases myself. The two main vendors that I used for the Procard were Office Depot and Wal-Mart.

The investigation report names Collins as one of three people involved in the “gross mismanagement and abuse of authority by Key administration.” Peggy L. Collins is listed as a school business manager at Key in a database of HISD worker salaries Texas Watchdog acquired from the school district earlier this year.

Westmoreland also said no testing procedures were breached.

Another employee named in the investigation, former Key Principal Mable Caleb, had submitted a March 22 letter of retirement, to begin Aug. 31.

The investigation at Key Middle School began after HISD received an anonymous tip suggesting officials look at surveillance video from Key and Kashmere High. The video showed several people removing computers and other equipment out of one school and into the other. The private investigation conducted by the law firm Martin Disiere Jefferson & Wisdom found multiple examples of price gouging of snacks for students, unauthorized fundraisers aimed at students, and thousands of dollars of missing equipment.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Houston ISD administrator to resign following Key Middle School investigation into misspending; view purchases on administrator’s HISD procard here
Tue Mar 30 21:27:00 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

The investigation at Key Middle School began after HISD received an anonymous tip to look at surveillance video from Key and Kashmere High. The video showed several people removing computers and other equipment out of one school and into the other. The private investigation conducted by the law firm Martin Disiere Jefferson & Wisdom found multiple examples of price gouging of snacks for students, unauthorized fundraisers aimed at students, and thousands of dollars of missing equipment.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

New ethics rules going into effect for Houston ISD trustees, employees working with E-Rate vendors
Thu Mar 25 19:39:26 2010 CST
By Lynn Walsh

Houston ISD trustees are banned from accepting gifts — including certain campaign contributions — from technology vendors doing business with the school district under a federal program called E-Rate.

The new ethics rules on gifts also apply to the more than 200 employees and consultants who have contact with E-Rate vendors, the new HISD official in charge of E-Rate compliance said Thursday. The rules come after the district paid $850,000 to settle a lawsuit with the Federal Communications Commission, which was brought after HISD employees were accused of improperly accepting gifts from technology vendors in 2006. The school district also agreed to adhere to a compliance agreement drafted by HISD and the Department of Justice.

The compliance agreement prohibits any E-Rate program employee and HISD trustees from accepting certain gifts — specifically, “any gifts, meals, entertainment, or any other thing of value from any outside entity (or any consultant or other individual representing such an entity) that provides or seeks to provide goods or services pursuant to the E-Rate Program either directly or through a joint venture or resale arrangement.”

But the details on the rules are still fuzzy, and the official in charge of compliance, Richard Patton, punted on many of the answers board members had about the specifics during a training session for the board members on the rules. Patton said he’d have to get HISD’s lawyers to answer questions such as: Can a phone company donate to a golf tournament a trustee organizes? Can a trustee accept a meal from an HISD parent employed by the school’s phone company? What about stock holdings?

“We are trying to anticipate and establish controls so we can react in a positive way and comply with the compliance agreement,” Patton said. “The agreement is very gray. Do the same policies apply to sister companies of HISD E-Rate Vendors?”

The ceiling on a campaign donation — at $500 a year — is much higher than the cap for other gifts — described as anything that would be worth more than a greeting card or a writing pen, a detail that elicited some laughter from the trustees.

Trustees are also banned from doing more than $2,000 in business with any individual or company on the list of E-Rate vendors Patton provided. He said the list would be updated.

“Once a name is on the list, it will not be taken off,” Patton said. “If someone was the head of a company last year but is not two years from now, their name will still remain on the list because they are still considered an E-Rate vendor.”

Patton said HISD would establish controls to help board members meet the requirements.

One recommendation is for trustees to allow HISD to research each individual campaign contribution before a trustee formally accepts it by depositing the money or cashing the check.

But that could bring with it a heavy administrative cost, one legal expert said.

University of Texas School of Law Adjunct Professor Steve Bickerstaff also said he has not heard of any other school district overseeing individual campaign donations.

“I understand why, given the history with the program, that HISD would want the board to be very careful of accepting money,” Bickerstaff said. “I will not say whether it is good or bad. But, whether it is legal, I am not aware of any precedent.”

Bickerstaff is a former election law litigator and said school boards have a fair amount of power to allow their campaign donations to be regulated in this way. But the tab could get expensive, he said.

Trustee Harvin Moore said his campaign treasurer could do the research for him as long as an updated electronic list is provided. No decision on how trustees would hold themselves accountable to the policy was made, but trustees ultimately have the final say on whether HISD will scrutinize every campaign donation.

HISD hired Patton in February. Patton was an auditor with Duke Energy and was recruited by a headhunting firm that reportedly charged $67,200.

E-Rate funding was frozen in 2006 after three HISD employees were accused of of accepting meals and other gifts from E-Rate vendors. Patton said due to this prior incident the compliance policy for HISD is much more stringent.

Patton said he was glad to see so many questions raised by the trustees.

“It shows that they are taking it seriously,” Patton said. “That is a positive sign.”

HISD trustees have to sign the certification form by the end of this month, Patton said.

Contact Lynn Walsh at 713-228-2850 or lynn@texaswatchdog.org.

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Video: Texas Watchdog and the Center for Public Integrity examine ‘undetected rapists’ on college campuses
Fri Feb 26 13:29:18 2010 CST
By Trent Seibert

Texas Watchdog’s latest investigative report is online this morning — published by the Center for Public Integrity, who we partnered with for the story.

The case of a former Texas A&M student who was accused in court testimony of sexually assaulting five women — four of them fellow A&M undergraduates — is the subject of the latest installment in the Center’s year-long investigation into rape on college campuses. Texas Watchdog is proud to have been a part of this newest batch of stories.

Watch our video of Jennifer Peebles, the Texas Watchdog reporter behind the investigation, as she discusses the story behind the story.