Board Members Ethics
Dallas ISD trustees approve audit on hiring practices and moving expenses-DMN-1-10-13I will consistently uphold all applicable laws, rules, policies, and governance procedures. BBF (Local)
("Dallas school Trustees on Thursday approved a final internal audit that found senior management did not follow certain procedures, mainly dealing with hiring and relocation expenses. For about 90 minutes, trustees asked various questions, which were mostly answered by Miles and interim internal auditor LaNita Ray"). This was an open meeting.
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Dallas ISD Trustees will meet in secret tomorrow to discuss the Final Investigation Report prepared by Attorney Paul Coggins relating to a complaint made by former Dallas ISD employee Rebecca Rodriguez against Superintendent Mike Miles.
This Final Investigation Report is clearly a public document under the Texas Public Information Act.
The Report is already fully public and has been discussed throughout the Dallas community.
The Board Meeting is not called to discuss a personnel matter. It is called to discuss a public investigative report as stated in the Texas Public Information Act.
This appears to be a potential violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act to hold the discussion of a public report in a session closed to the public.
Presently, Trustees will have a private discussion and the meeting will be adjourned with no action. We will not even be able to set a meeting to make a decision.
The public is paying up to $100,000.00 for this important report.
The public ought to hear the discussion of a public investigative report.
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Texas Government Code - Chapter 552. Public Information
"Sec. 552.022. CATEGORIES OF PUBLIC INFORMATION; EXAMPLES
"(a) without limiting the amount or kind of information that is public information under this chapter, the following information is public information and not excepted from required disclosure unless made confidential under this chapter or other law:
" (1) a completed report, audit, evaluation, or investigation made of, for, or by a governmental body, except as provided by Section 552.108 (Exception: Certain Law Enforcement, Corrections, and Prosecutorial Information)"------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fraud reports by Dallas city auditor don’t tell a full story By RUDOLPH BUSH-DMN-1-31-13
"Under state law, government auditors may withhold from the public draft audits, along with investigative files. Only the final report is subject to public disclosure. Citizens must rely on that document for an understanding of what the auditor found.
That’s what makes the lack of detail in Kinton’s reports so troubling, said Wayne Shaw, a professor at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business and an expert in corporate governance.
“You’re defeating the purpose of the law if you allow the final report to basically say nothing. It means we are going to protect everything that happened in the process and the public will never know,” he said.
Auditors’ reports, in the public and private spheres, should name names and detail events, Shaw said.
Bill Aleshire, a former deputy comptroller for the state, wondered why a public auditor would want to withhold pertinent material in a final public report.
“I would think that a public auditor would be so instilled with the principles that these are public funds, and the public had a right to know,” Aleshire said."
