A First Amendment battle has erupted between a prominent South Florida developer and a blogger, who so far has only been identified as “John Doe.”

Raanan Katz, a minority owner of the Miami Heat, and his family-owned company R.K. Associates are suing the anonymous blogger for defamation and libel for reports he claims are false and malicious.

The blogger’s Fort Lauderdale attorney, Robert Kain, argues in court papers that his client is a “citizen journalist” deserving of First Amendment protection because his reporting on Katz is about “matters of public concern.”

“Doe is an anonymous citizen journalist critically reporting what he considers to be abusive litigation tactics and prior criminal convictions by a well know public person Raanan Katz and Katz’ companies,” the papers say.

Katz’s filed the case in state court in June, but it has since been removed to federal court in Miami. Katz dropped an additional claim for false advertising against the blogger last week.

“The true thrust of our case is defamation,” said Todd Levine, a Miami lawyer for Katz and the company.

Kain calls Katz’s litigation a “classic slap suit” by a big developer seeking to suppress a critic.

“There is no defamation, you can read it,” Kain said in an interview. “Mr. Katz needs to realize that sometimes in doing business you will be criticized.”

In the blogger’s defense, Kain includes the assertion that his client has a First Amendment right to “maintain his anonymous status.”

Levine calls the nameless blogger a “coward hiding behind the cloak of the Internet.”

Katz’s son, Daniel Katz, vice president and owner of the company, is also a plaintiff against John Doe. The blog details previous legal battles and activities involving Raanan, his son and their real estate company.

KATZ AND HIS PROMINENCE ARGUED

R.K. Associates owns over six million square feet of commercial space in Florida and New England, including 14 shopping centers in South Florida,the company website says. Their properties include two in Hallandale Beach and the landmark Searstown Plaza in Fort Lauderdale.

The privately-held company was founded by the elder Katz, who remains the principal owner of the company. (View the South Florida properties owned by R.K. Associates in the map below.)

View Raanan Katz in South Florida in a larger map

Katz, an Israeli immigrant, has a street named after him in Sunny Isles Beach, according to news articles. The renaming of Northeast 170th Street at Collins Avenue was done as part of a $7 million eminent domain settlement with the city.

The elder Katz was called “one of the most prolific real estate owners in Miami-Dade” in a 2008 article in Miami New Times.

John Doe publishes articles about the Katz’ and their real estate company in the blog in called “RK Associates.” It is published free on blogspot.com, a Google-owned company. The domain is RKAssociatesUSA and the information is also posted on a second website based in the United Kingdom.

The archive on the US site shows 22 posts about Katz and his company starting in May.

“There are some things that are taken from other people’s claims that may not be defamation,” Levine acknowledged. “But there are other parts that really surpass opinions and come out to be a conclusion or moral of a story…to [falsely] show that the company and my clients are ‘criminals’…a clear indication that my clients are bad people.”

The blog details previous legal battles and activities involving Raanan, Daniel and their real estate company. A recent post claims the company “ripped off the single mother of a special needs child.”

According to a post dated July 24: “RK Associates, Raanan Katz, and Daniel Katz automatically renewed her lease, without her knowledge and consent, from January 1, 2009 for the next five years and filed legal action against her claiming damages for five years in advance in the amount of about quarter a million dollars.”

Levine said some content posted by John Doe is accurate, but the lawyer did not elaborate on what was true.

TRUTH AS A DEFENSE

Attorney Jon Kaney, a board member of the Florida First Amendment Foundation, said the blogger has a First Amendment right to publish stories if what is being said can be supported by facts.

“The blogger’s opinion, if it is based on facts that he has disclosed or in this case linked to, and he tells the reader what the company is doing and then shares his opinion that he believes it is inappropriate or whatever the case may be, then that’s protected.”

Kaney is a partner at Cobb & Cole in Daytona Beach.

“Truth is always a defense to defamation,” Levine acknowledged. “But (the blogger) would have to prove this. And this person signs off every post with ‘always true.’ He is saying, this is the only spot where you are going to find information about my client.”

Other articles on the blog discus alleged racketeering charges against the Katz’ and their company and allegations of falsely asking for rental reimbursement associated with a property the company owns.

Levine says the blogger and his lawyer are trying to make people believe Raanan Katz is a public figure, which would require Katz to offer a higher level of proof to win in court. The Katz’ “are not Donald Trump-type businessmen that make themselves out to be celebrities. He owns shopping centers; he doesn’t have a radio show; he doesn’t have a magazine like Oprah;, he isn’t on red carpets.”

Having Sunny Isles Beach name a street after the developer isn’t enough to make him a public figure, Levine argues.

“If I told someone to meet me at Raanan Katz Boulevard they wouldn’t know where that was,” Levine said, comparing the street named after Katz to a school driveway.

Sunny Isles Beach has also named a public gymnasium after Katz and his wife.

Raanan Katz was an original partner of the expansion franchise for the Heat and has “been a fixture at courtside” games since the team’s inaugural season in 1988, according to the company website.

WHO IS JOHN DOE?

While much is publicly known about Raanan Katz, that can’t be said for his critic.

On one of his blogs, Doe identifies himself only a male living in Boston.

The Katz complaint initially accused “John Doe” of being a competitor. But Levine has backed away from that contention, and now says he believes Doe “is a disgruntled employee or disgruntled tenant,” he said.

Either way, Levine intends to find out precisely.

He said a subpoena has been issued to Google in an attempt to unmask John Doe.

Neighbors fear ‘eyesores’ if HISD closes four schools; old Bastian Elementary to be bulldozed
Thursday, May 12, 2011, 11:30AM CST
By Lynn Walsh

The proposed closures of four Houston elementary schools could leave those neighborhoods with more eyesores and create safe havens for illegal activity, some neighbors have said — but school district administrators said they’re taking steps to prevent that from happening.

As Houston Independent School District trustees consider closing four elementary schools, community members are reminding them of the forlorn condition of another campus, the old Bastian Elementary building on Calhoun Road.

“The fact that an unoccupied, unused, raggedy, unmonitored, closed school … sits within 1.3 miles of Grimes Elementary School and only 3 miles away from Rhoads Elementary School is very unsettling,” Tristan Washington told HISD Superintendent Terry Grier and trustees in an e-mail. “We don’t need another school closure which results in another ‘old Bastian Elementary’ situation.”

Washington is a deacon at the Berean Missionary Baptist Church, about a mile down the road from Rhoads, which faces possible closure along with Grimes, Stevenson and McDade elementaries.

HISD’s chief operating officer, Leo Bobadilla, said he has “heard those concerns, too.”

“The last thing we want is an eyesore in the neighborhood,” he said. “We want to be a good neighbor in the community.”

Bastian sites, four schools
Red balloons: Four schools HISD trustees may vote to close.
Blue balloon: Current Bastian Elementary School site.
Blue pin: Old Bastian Elementary site.

View HISD elementary schools in a larger map

The old Bastian building was left vacant in 2007 when HISD built the new Bastian Elementary on Bellfort Avenue in Sunnyside. The new school was financed by bonds approved by voters in 2002, according to HISD’s website, and it combined students from the old Bastian building and Thornton Fairchild Elementary.

HISD still owns the building and the land that the old elementary school occupies, said Issa Dadoush, the district’s general manager of construction and facilities. It was put up for sale a couple of years ago, but the district did not receive any offers on it, Dadoush said. (View video of the old Bastian site in a YouTube clip Sunnyside community members created recently.)

The land and buildings are appraised at $2.2 million for tax purposes, according to the Harris County Appraisal District’s Web site this week — $1.3 million for the buildings and $900,000 for the land. At one point, the property was listed for sale for $825,000, according to an online multiple listings service search, or slightly more than a third of the county’s appraised value for it. (“6-acre tract of land located in Southeast Houston,” the listing said. “Ideally located for redevelopment as a part of the Southeast/Hwy 610 South Corridor.”)

To make it more attractive to possible buyers, HISD plans to bulldoze the 55,000-plus-square-foot building, something Dadoush said should be complete by the second week of July.

Washington calls the Bastian demolition plans a “small victory,” but says there is still more to do.

“The bigger task at hand is upcoming,” Washington said in an e-mail. The possible school closures “must be thought out carefully.”

HISD has only hinted at what the future of the Grimes, Rhoads, Stevenson and McDade campuses may look like if trustees close those schools.

At a recent school board meeting, trustees discussed turning Rhoads’ building into a school that would help “over-age” middle-schoolers move on to high school.

Meanwhile, HISD has had real estate appraisals done for at least two of the other three schools, Grimes and McDade.

HISD has not said it plans on selling either school site, but Bobadilla says that “going forward,” the district wants to make sure its police department is aware of all vacant properties so they can be added to officers’ regular patrol routes for monitoring.

The district also wants to make sure the vacant buildings receive a “certain level of maintenance,” Bobadilla said, so there are not any “rodents, broken windows or fences that need (to be) replaced.”

The 44,000-plus-square-foot building at Grimes, plus the 16 acres of land that surrounds it at Grimes Park, is worth more than $3.7 million, Integra Realty Resources, a real estate appraisal firm in Houston, said in a report completed in late March. The building was built in 1959 and renovated in 2004.

The firm does not recommend razing the property, saying that its value “is significantly greater” with the building in place than it would be as a vacant lot.

McDade Elementary School is worth less than Grimes, according to an appraisal completed by T.N. Edmonds and Associates in Houston. The real estate appraisal company estimates the school building and the more than eight acres of land it occupies is worth a little more than $3.1 million. McDade was built in 1962, and an addition was built three years later.

Old Bastian Elementary: Video
The old school appears in this video made by Sunnyside residents to appeal to HISD to keep Grimes and Rhoads open.

In the report, the company estimates the land is worth a little more than $1 million. It also recommends that the property be used for “public educational facilities…private charter schools/academies, institutional, religious or community centers.” (View the documents here. View Grimes’ documents here.)

HISD also had an appraisal done for Love Elementary School in the Houston Heights, which was at one point being considered for closure along with Grimes, McDade and Rhoads. You can view more details about the Love appraisal here. Texas Watchdog did not include Stevenson Elementary in its public information request because Stevenson was not being considered for closure then.

In response to a Texas Public Information Act request, HISD said that no similar appraisal documents existed for Rhoads Elementary.

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

Audit report recommends axing nearly half of Houston ISD’s magnet schools
Friday, Jan 07, 2011, 04:56PM CST
By Lynn Walsh

Almost half of the Houston public schools’ 113 magnet programs have been recommended for the chopping block by an outside group brought in by the school district.

The final report from Magnet Schools of America highlights 55 magnet programs the third-party national education group believes the Houston Independent School District should eliminate — a move that would save the district nearly $8 million in magnet funding. HISD spends $17 million a year on magnet programs.

“This is just a springboard,” HISD Superintendent Terry Grier said Friday. “Trustees and staff have to look at where we are, be honest and analyze that what we are doing is best for all kids in the district. There will be some tweaks to this. These are all just recommendations.”

MSA recommended eliminating magnet programs that do not meet its requirements for a magnet program, schools having limited building capacity and schools that are part of the district’s school turn-around program, Apollo 20.

HISD trustees will ultimately have the final say on what changes, if any, happen with HISD’s magnet program.

MSA recommends that changes start in the 2011-12 school year — during that year, HISD school buses would continue to ferry students back and forth to the magnet programs recommended for elimination, and those schools would continue to receive 40% of their total magnet funding that year. But when that school year ends, all funding to those programs would cease, according to MSA’s recommendations.

(View all of the documents associated with the MSA review here. Texas Watchdog has also created a database with funding information, MSA recommendations and state accountability ratings here.)

Criticism over the amount of money HISD spends on magnet programs — some of which are at failing schools — coupled with the overall effectiveness of the programs and the funding discrepancies between the programs prompted the MSA review process, which began in October.

“We have magnets that were never authorized to be magnets,” Grier said Friday. “I believe to be a magnet school, you ought to be an exemplary school.”
Houston ISD 2011 magnet school audit documentstexaswatchdog

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HISD MSA magnet review Individual School Summaries From: texaswatchdog Reads: 104
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Outside Consultants Suggest Plan for HISD Magnet Schools From: texaswatchdog Reads: 112
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Houston ISD 2011 magnet audit – current proposed magnet schools 2011 From: texaswatchdog Reads: 65
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Houston ISD 2011 magnet school audit — attachment Phase I/Phase II/Interim From: texaswatchdog Reads: 46
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Houston ISD magnet school audit final report Jan. 6, 2011 From: texaswatchdog Reads: 56
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Houston ISD 2011 magnet school audit Magnet Demographics Charts From: texaswatchdog Reads: 48
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Houston ISD 2011 magnet school audit magnet letter- parents From: texaswatchdog Reads: 35
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Houston ISD 2011 magnet school audit FAQ From: texaswatchdog Reads: 38
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Houston ISD 2011 magnet school audit principal’s meeting briefing From: texaswatchdog Reads: 46
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HISD 2011 Magnet School Audit School Feedback Form From: texaswatchdog Reads: 26

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Grier also said that some of the schools are spending magnet money on non-magnet expenses like school nurses. When asked how this could have happened, Grier said he wants to focus on the future.

“We need to develop a better accountability system, and we will do that,” Grier said. “MSA recommends a magnet review every five years. Frankly, I think it should be every three years.”

This MSA review cost the district $269,000, the school district said.

Grier said some principals have said the information and data used by MSA was inaccurate. While he does not suspect widespread data problems, Grier said there could be some.

“Help us correct it,” Grier said. “Let us know so we can fix it.” Most of the errors, he said, were due to incomplete data and data-entry flaws.

According to HISD, 42,000 students are enrolled in magnet programs this year. HISD says it plans on holding community forums in different areas of the city to obtain feedback from parents and community members.

HISD trustees are also set to discuss the magnet review at a board workshop Monday. Follow @TexasWatchdog on Twitter for live updates during the meeting or search for #HISD.

Is your child’s magnet school one of the 55 on the list recommended for closure in the new magnet audit? Texas Watchdog wants to hear from you. Contact Lynn Walsh, Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or @LWalsh on Twitter.

Local Democrat questions GOP turkey-and-bike give away at Houston public school
Thursday, Jan 06, 2011, 05:55PM CST
By Lynn Walsh

A program by local Republicans to give free turkeys and bikes to kids at a Houston elementary school crossed the line into a political event and should be stopped, a local Democratic activist and blogger says.

The Harris County Republican Party has donated turkeys to students at J.R. Harris Elementary in southeast Houston for the past nine years, according to a complaint filed with the district by John Cobarruvias of Houston.

“There needs to be an investigation,” said Cobarruvias, who has filed a formal complaint with the Houston Independent School District. “Bringing candidates into a school and having the students make banners for the Republican candidates is not OK.”

According to county GOP newsletters, more than 200 bicycles were given to third, fourth and fifth graders who passed all three sections of state achievement tests. The bikes were distributed in May 2009.

In December 2009, the party continued its “tradition of donating holiday turkeys to economically disadvantaged families” at Harris, according to one newsletter.

“First and foremost this activity must stop immediately,” Cobarruvias wrote in a letter to HISD trustees and Superintendent Terry Grier. “Partisan political activity in a public school is illegal. And second, I am requesting the HISD board to call for an investigation into this activity to determine if rules and/or laws were broken with appropriate action being taken.”

HISD Trustee Manuel Rodriguez said he has been told by the district that nothing was against the law.

“After checking with the district, there was probably some gray area, but nothing that was illegal,” Rodriguez told Texas Watchdog. “They were not handing out GOP literature. They made posters, but that was not, per se, a political event.”

Cobarruvias, who blogs at Bay Area Houston, disagrees. “We cannot have them listen to the president of the United States, but they can bring their candidates into the school and everything is OK?” he asked, referring to how some parents in Houston and elsewhere objected to allowing public school students to hear a live talk by President Obama on the importance of education in 2009 . “It’s about more than political differences.” (For an opposing blogger viewpoint on the giveaways, here’s a piece sharply critical of Cobarruvias at Rhymes with Right.)

In an e-mail to Cobarruvias, Sam Sarabia, head of HISD’s elementary schools said:

“There was no such activity this year at JR Harris. As you are aware, we do accept partnerships which are willing to assist our children. At no times do we allow political banners inside the school or promote one political party over another one.”

“No turkeys were given out this school year,” Sarabia told Texas Watchdog. He said HISD would accept bicycle donations from the county GOP again this year or in the future.

Dem Cries Foul Over Free GOP Turkeys: MyFoxHOUSTON.com

“At this point, yes,” Sarabia said. “This is a 10-year partnership. If they were to offer any incentives for student performance, we would accept them. It is almost like a scholarship for these students,” he said.

In the past, he said, the bicycles were handed out during school assemblies. But because of a new state law, now and in the future, the bike donations or other incentives for students in HISD would be handled with a voucher system.

“If there are 100 students at the end of the year that qualify for an incentive, each would receive a letter and a coupon for the bike in a sealed envelope,” Sarabia said. “In the past, yes, there was an assembly, but not anymore.”

At press time, neither the Harris County Republican Party nor the principal of J.R. Harris Elementary responded to phone calls from Texas Watchdog. However, blogger Rhymes With Right has published here a spirited defense of the GOP incentive program.

Do you think it’s acceptable for a local political group to give turkeys and bikes to elementary school students? Texas Watchdog wants to hear from you. Contact Lynn Walsh, Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter @LWalsh.

Juliet Stipeche bests Judith Cruz — by 44 votes — in Houston ISD board race
Wednesday, Dec 01, 2010, 04:17PM CST
By Lynn Walsh

Local lawyer Juliet Stipeche will fill the vacant seat on the Houston Independent School District board of trustees.
RazorRazor-thin margin: 44 votes decide school board seat in nation’s 7th-largest school district

A graduate of HISD’s High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, Stipeche defeated Judith Cruz by less than 50 votes in Tuesday’s run-off election. According to HISD, Stipeche received 1,048 votes and Cruz received 1,004, for a 51%-49% split in votes cast.

Stipeche will fill the District 8 seat on the HISD board, which was left vacant when former Diana Davilla resigned from her position in July with more than a year left in her term. Stipeche is expected to be sworn in next Thursday.

Cruz and Stipeche were forced into a runoff after neither candidate managed to receive more than 50% of the total votes in the Nov. 2 election. The two women outpolled competitors Dorothy Olmos, Peter Schwethelm and Roberto Centeno.

Check out the links below for more information on the HISD District 8 race:

* Juliet Stipeche campaign finance report.
* Judith Cruz campaign finance report.
* Roberto Centeno campaign finance report.
* Peter Schwethelm campaign finance report.
* Dorothy Olmos campaign finance report.
* Video: Cruz, Stipeche and Centeno discuss parent involvement at a candidate forum sponsored by Parents for Public Schools of Houston.
* Parents for Public Schools of Houston Q&A with candidates.

Contact Lynn Walsh at Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter @LWalsh.

Review of HISD’s magnet schools states the obvious: Problems with funding, standards in Houston’s public schools

Monday, Nov 01, 2010, 04:38PM CST
By Lynn Walsh

The Houston public schools’ 100-plus magnet programs suffer from funding discrepancies, a lack of standard guidelines and requirements for programs and no district-wide answer to what being a “successful” magnet means, according to a preliminary review of the district’s magnet programs.

All three observations have been previously made by Houston Independent School District trustees and staff, parents and the media.

The report by Magnet Schools of America outlines 10 “emerging themes” the education nonprofit has found in HISD’s $17 million magnet program. After meeting with HISD trustees and administration and holding parent and community forums throughout October, MSA, which will receive up to $275,000 for the magnet review, has come to the following “preliminary” conclusions:

* HISD magnet programs lack equitable funding.
* There are no standard magnet guidelines or requirements in place for HISD magnet programs.
* HISD is not able to define what being a “successful” magnet school means.
* HISD magnet programs have strong parent involvement and district leadership support.
* There is concern over the inconsistent quality of magnet programs in HISD.

Last month, former HISD magnet chief Dottie Bonner, told Texas Watchdog that “there is not a written formula at all, and even back then, there was not a whole lot of sense to how it was given.” Bonner served as the head of HISD’s magnets for seven years.

To see the funding discrepancies for yourself, Texas Watchdog published the most recent funding data for HISD magnet programs here.

According to MSA, the next report will include more detailed information including data collected during the community and parent forums.

“All information collected was catalogued by MSA consultants and will be included in the Phase I report on November 1, 2010 as raw data in the attachments section; this includes survey question cards collected from individuals and the group discussion notes from each table.”

The next report with the data is due Monday and, according to an HISD spokeswoman, the report will be made available on this page of the district’s website.

What do you think of the MSA magnet review findings? Texas Watchdog wants to hear from you. Contact Lynn Walsh at Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter @LWalsh.

Former magnets chief: No sense to HISD magnet funding patterns
Tuesday, Oct 26, 2010, 02:00PM CST
By Lynn Walsh

The method of funding for the 100-plus magnet programs in the Houston Independent School District does not make any sense, the former head of the district’s magnet programs said.
Magnet

“The problem is that they established a funding formula at a time well before any money was being given to programs for gifted students or special ed students,” said Dottie Bonner, who retired in August after seven years as head of HISD’s magnets.

“There is not a written formula at all, and even back then, there was not a whole lot of sense to how it was given,” she said. (Texas Watchdog published the most recent funding data for magnet programs in HISD at this link.)

Bonner began working in HISD in 1981 as an English teacher at Yates High School and was also involved in developing the district’s English curricula.

The hope is that the discrepancies will be ironed out as a national education nonprofit, Magnet Schools of America, finishes a review of the 113 magnet programs in the district. The review, which will cost the district up to $275,000, is expected to be complete in December.

Bonner recalled that magnet funding dates back to the early 1970’s, when school systems, HISD included, provided additional money to campuses for after-school programs. The after-school programs soon began to make their way into the classrooms during regular school hours — the origins of the first magnet programs.

“The funding makes no sense. I can guarantee that if you ask the schools, ‘Why are you getting this money?’ they do not even know why,” Bonner said.

Most of the magnet money a school receives must go toward personnel costs, Bonner said. “If the school is making the magnet program a priority, then they have to make classes and teachers available to the students,” Bonner said.

There are also administrative costs associated with magnet schools that are used to fund a magnet coordinator for the magnet program. Last year HISD spent more than $5.6 million paying the salaries of more than 90 magnet coordinators, according to an HISD salary database obtained by Texas Watchdog through the Texas Public Information Act.

“I have been in education for 40 years and I know money does not make a good school. It really does depend on the quality of the teachers and the quality of the classroom,” Bonner said.

What do you think of the way magnet programs are being funded in HISD? Texas Watchdog wants to hear from you. Contact Lynn Walsh at Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter @LWalsh.

HISD launches $25K website on having an effective teacher in every classroom; site does not disclose how many current teachers aren’t effective
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2010, 09:49AM CST
By Lynn Walsh

The Houston public school system has a new $25,000 website up and running to update the public on the district’s goal of having an effective teacher in every classroom within 5 years.
Web site

What you won’t find on the site: An assessment of how many current teachers are less than effective, or how much progress the district has made on getting rid of them.

Nor will readers find data from the surveys taken this summer of the district’s principals and teachers, asking them for their views on teacher effectiveness and how the school system could address it — data the Houston Independent School District released months ago and which Texas Watchdog has already published.

But readers will find PowerPoint presentations including strategic plans and blue-sky thinking on how the school district can improve the quality of its teaching.

The site, www.HISDeffectiveteachers.org, which went live Friday, also includes a service where readers can subscribe to e-mail updates, a feedback section for parents and community members and dates of upcoming meetings at which committees will debate broad questions such as, what is an effective teacher?

The estimated cost for the site is $25,684.95, HISD spokesman Norm Uhl said. That will cover “the cost for the initial development, domain registration, hosting and maintenance of the effective teacher portal over the 5 year project,” he said in an e-mail.

The costs are being covered by a donation from the Houston Endowment. The nonprofit has previously given the district $250,000 for its effective-teacher initiative.

The site was built by a New York-based education nonprofit, The New Teacher Project, which has been consulting HISD since late last year on its hiring practices.

The website is part of TNTP’s four-phase, $8.4-million project that aims to help HISD attract and retain the best teachers with the hope of boosting student achievement. Phases one and two of the project are complete; the results of the surveys and the data the group has collected can be viewed here.

The HISD communications team and district leadership helped design the website with help from TNTP staff, Uhl said.

Last month, the district was awarded a $31.5 million five-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education that will primarily fund performance pay for principals and teachers. Days before the money was awarded to HISD, a national study was published showing that rewarding teachers with cash bonuses does not necessarily mean higher test scores or better academic performance by students.

Have you used the new site yet? What do you think? Texas Watchdog wants to hear from you. Contact Lynn Walsh at Lynn@Texaswatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter @LWalsh.

School board to take final vote on ban on HISD employees taking gifts from vendors
Thursday, Oct 14, 2010, 02:05PM CST
By Lynn Walsh

All Houston Independent School District employees may soon have to sign conflict-of-interest forms prohibiting them from accepting gifts from current or prospective district vendors — a requirement currently imposed only on HISD’s high-level administrators.
Gift pic

The ethics proposal bans employees from accepting “any gift, favor, service, entertainment or anything of more than token value.” If approved by trustees Thursday, all employees would sign the statements twice a year.

The proposal is one of two measures aimed at accountability that HISD trustees will take up this week. The new rules come in the wake of allegations that district employees got cash and other freebies from potential vendors in a scandal that cost the district $105 million in federal technology funding, plus another $850,000 in federal fines.

The other ethics-related proposal on Thursday’s agenda would prohibit employees who work closely with vendor contracts from communicating with bidders after the district requests a vendor’s services.

This “code of silence” would ban any communication “regarding a request for proposal (RFP), bid or other competitive solicitation” between any company or individual seeking work from the district and certain HISD staffers, including any:

“… Board member, the superintendent of schools, and any senior staff member, principal, department head, director, manager, or other district representative who has influence in the evaluation or selection process.”

The proposal will allow others to see the school system is being transparent, HISD Chief Financial Officer Melinda Garrett said. “We (HISD) are not going off in some back room and signing contracts,” she said.

But HISD Superintendent Terry Grier, who has been at the helm of the nation’s seventh-largest school district for about a year now, has called the district’s contracting process into question.

“I have seen a procurement department made up of independent folks rate bids from a variety of different companies across the district to do a lot of different work,” Grier said in May. “And then I’ve seen staff — just for whatever reason — pull names off of a list and put other names back on a list, (with) no rhyme or reason except, quite frankly, influence where influence has no business coming from.” View his entire comment in the video below.

Grier said the goal of the two policies is to inform vendors trying to do business with HISD that the Houston district operates differently than some other school systems.

“In school districts across the country, vendors will come into a district and offer sport jerseys to district employees in exchange for computer contracts. Don’t think it doesn’t happen because it does,” Grier said. “HISD will not allow for this type of behavior, so we are banning all gifts.”

The proposed new conflict-of-interest policy allows for “items of token value” to be given as gifts. According to the proposal that includes “coffee mugs, key chains, caps, and the like.”

The policy does not consider plaques or other commemorative items as gifts, but it bans any meals from a single person or vendor worth more than $100 single calendar year. Any meals given in the $50-$100 range in one calendar year can be accepted, but must be disclosed on the biannual statements.

In 2008, HISD employees and the district were at the center of a federal investigation following allegations of employees accepting gifts, meals and entertainment from vendors associated with a federal technology program, E-Rate. Three HISD technology employees at the time allegedly accepted meals, birthday parties and cash from E-Rate vendors that were doing business with HISD at the time.

Those three former HISD employees all signed conflict-of-interest statements with HISD stating they did not receive any gifts or meals worth $100 — even though public records said they did accept meals and gifts worth more than that amount. The three former employees also did not report receiving any meals worth $50-$100.

The individuals subject to the “code of silence” would be notified when the quiet period is to begin for each contract process. The period of no communication would continue until HISD trustees have approved the bid or awarded the contract.

According to HISD, if a vendor broke the rules by contacting a board member or employee during the quiet period, that company would be banned from doing business with the school system for at least two years.

Thursday is the second time HISD trustees will take a vote on these proposals. The HISD trustees approved both of them unanimously last month. The policy change requires two votes by the trustees before it can be put into effect.

The trustees will meet after a public meeting on the district’s financial accountability rating that begins at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Hattie Mae White Building on West 18th Street.

Contact Lynn Walsh at Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter: @LWalsh.

Learn how to investigate schools and school districts on next Tuesday’s TrentTV webinar
Thursday, Sep 23, 2010, 02:16PM CST
By Lynn Walsh

Investigating education can be overwhelming. With all of the meetings, lots of staff turnover and complicated budgets, it can be hard to know where to start.

That is why Texas Watchdog is dedicating the next episode of “TrentTV” to education. Learn some tricks of the trade that I’ve picked up while covering the Houston Independent School District.

From understanding the different allocations of funds to scanning over school board members’ conflict-of-interest forms, TrentTV is going to cover it all. Join us for our broadcast at 11:30 a.m. CDT Tuesday, Sept. 28, on www.newmediatv.org.

Trent TV is a free monthly webinar for journalists, citizen-journalists, activists and bloggers. The episodes are streamed live in partnership with New Media TV. All previous episodes are available on our YouTube channel.

Follow along in the discussion on Twitter — follow us at @TexasWatchdog or search for “#TrentTV.” Contact me with any questions or topics ideas you would like to see discussed on Twitter @LWalsh, Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org or 713-228-2850.