Transparency News 8/4/15

Tuesday, August 4, 2015



State and Local Stories


Think of it as an “Easy” button for Richmond Public Schools. A shortcut on the district’s homepage soon will lead to a menu listing the city’s nine School Board members. With a click, that member’s individual homepage will pop up with a box where users may submit comments and questions. From there, things can get more complicated, the School Board learned at a training session at Huguenot High School on Monday. Board members may prioritize, tag and sort the submissions, called “dialogues” by the program developer, Herndon-based consulting firm K12 Insight. Dubbed “Let’s Talk,” the program is designed to help “identify opportunities for engagement, spot potential crises and build stronger relationships with key stakeholders,” said system spokesman Richard Davis.
Times-Dispatch

The current BVU Authority board of directors has taken multiple steps to improve accountability and feels no need to resign, two members said Monday. Board members Doug Weberling and Don Ashley, along with CEO Don Bowman, outlined a series of changes that have occurred during the past 13 months. Their comments came during a meeting with the Bristol Herald Courier editorial board. On Sunday, a newspaper editorial called for the current board to resign in the wake of a federal corruption investigation involving former BVU executives and contractors. Board member Doug Fleenor called for other board members to resign last week shortly after City Council voted 3-2 to reappoint him.
Herald Courier

A former substitute nurse has filed a $1 million lawsuit against former and current members of Petersburg City Public Schools. Jackie Green, the former nurse, filed a lawsuit July 20 against former school division public information officer Nicole Bell-Van Patten, superintendent Joseph C. Melvin and Robert E. Lee Elementary School assistant principal Leslie Steele for $650,000 in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages along with additional fees and interest. The lawsuit states that Green believes she was the victim of defamation after school officials released a statement during a television story blaming Green for a 6-year-old girl being released to someone who wasn’t her parent or emergency contact, according to court documents.
Progress-Index


Editorials/Columns

We sympathize with Greene County’s dilemma, but manipulating public comment and muzzling speakers is a disturbing attempt at a solution. Especially egregious is the new rule allowing the Board of Supervisors chairman to take a look at a list of proposed speakers and topics and decide whom to reject. That puts far too much power in one man’s hands. Supervisors want to douse public dissent? This is a way to inflame it instead.
Daily Progress

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