I saw the following post recently, and wanted to respond with more questions:
My questions:
1. Why would an Alderman want to get information about Germantown schools (specifically about teachers who have resigned, as shown in a follow up comment)?
2. Why would this Alderman, an elected City Hall official, think he could get this information from City Hall?
But I couldn’t pose these questions in response because I’m . . . you guessed it . .. well, not technically “blocked,” but “muted” on this public page, meaning I can see posts but cannot comment on them. We started this blog to give a voice to those who are blocked (and muted), so I’m going to use that voice.
Does Alderman Massey know that City Hall and GMSD are separate entities? That other than approving a budget, City Hall has no oversight over GMSD?
This prompted me to look back at something I recalled from a Board of Mayor and Alderman (“BMA”) meeting earlier this year.
On February 12, 2018, a $100,000 allocation to the Germantown Education Foundation (a separate, private 501(c)(3) charitable organization), was up for a vote by the BMA. Alderman Massey did not want to allocate the money to GEF and instead suggested that it would be better just to allocate it directly to the schools, cutting out the “middleman.” Putting aside several other problems with this (such as that the allocation to GEF helps support an organization that is very good at fundraising and every dollar allocated to GEF likely results in many more dollars raised for our schools), it quickly became apparent that Alderman Massey did not understand the concept of Maintenance of Effort. It is not unreasonable for an ordinary citizen to not understand this concept, but he is an elected official and this concept has serious implications for the city’s finances. In short, every operational dollar allocated directly from the city to the school system is considered Maintenance of Effort and must be added to all future operational fund allocations to the school system. So, an allocation of $100,000 to the school system in 2018 results in mandated additional allocations of $100,000 in 2019, 2020, and so on. This was mentioned a few times but did not seem to sink in.
In that same meeting, Alderman (and now Mayoral Candidate) John Barzizza suggested that it would be prudent to have the Germantown Education Commission* have direct oversight over GEF. The city attorney pointed out that GEF is an independent Non-Profit, and as such, is required to provide financial information to the public. Alderman Barzizza again suggested having a city Commission provide direct oversight over an independent 501(c)(3) entity. That would be like saying the city should have it’s wellness commission oversee the Board of Directors of St. Jude or LeBonheur if it is going to donate any funds to those charities.
Does Alderman Massey think that GMSD is governed by City Hall? That it is within his role as city Alderman to request and obtain personnel records from GMSD? That City Hall maintains such records for a wholly separate government entity (GMSD)? That even if there were something untoward found in such records, it would be the role of the BMA to address it as opposed to the GMSD Superintendent or School Board?
Does Alderman Barzizza think that GEF, a private charitable organization, is a city agency? Does he think the city can exercise direct oversight over the board of an independent Non-Profit charitable organization?
*full disclosure: I am a member of the Germantown Education Commission, which is an advisory commission, having no oversight over any school, school district, or independent education non-profit.
Germantown Voice 