Barr's presentation included details of how the donations that poured into the district after the May 22, 2011, tornado, were spent.
Of course, there was absolutely no reason for any of the concern people had about the donations not being used as the donors had intended.
Why, not a single donation was used improperly.
Forgive me if I remain skeptical.
Barr says $6.8 million came in donations, yet a Joplin Globe report indicated that $8 million was donated and district officials were the source of information for that article.
If the $6.8 million figure is accurate, why in the world did more than $5 million go through the obscure Joplin R-8 Foundation? Donations were tax deductible whether they were sent directly to the school or the foundation. It is much more likely than those wanting to give money, having heard about the plight of the school district, would send their money directly to the district rather than a foundation even people from Joplin were probably not aware existed.
Instead, approximately three-fourths of the money went to the foundation. The reason offered is that the foundation offered another layer of protection to make sure the donations were spent properly.
According to board member Ron Gatz, who also serves on the Foundation Board, records have been kept of each donor and the use of the donations. If that is the case, then please allay our fears and let's open those records to the public.
Turner Report sources have indicated donation money that was not specifically designated was kept in the district treasury while all other money was sent to the foundation.
The same sources told me before the state audit there was a fear in the Administration Building that it was only a matter of time before problems were uncovered with the use of the donations. That fear subsided when it was learned that the auditors would not be able to comb through the foundation's records, since it is a private entity.
Barr's presentation smacks more of the continuing effort to "move forward" and not be concerned about anything that happened in the past. This is not the first time we have had a presentation assuring us that no donation money was improperly spent.
It most likely will not be the last.
Paul Barr's presentation can be found at this link.
14 comments:
My sources tell me that unless you have proof something was done improperly then your sources are all wet.
I was told that contributions to the school district are NOT tax deductible, only ones to the foundation.
Donations to school districts are tax deductible. Who told you they weren't?
If I click the links won't the district have a record of the access and what the IP address was?
Can you repost the linked documents here at Turner Report?
I can compare the documents with the IRS filings which I already have. The IRS filings show approx $5.7 million into the foundation in three years.
My information about the foundation actually came from those same tax documents. The presentation, as it is presented on that link, does not contain the information about the foundation. That came during the discussions at Tuesday night's board work session and I posted that video Tuesday night. The video also shows the information Barr was talking about throughout his presentation.
Thanks for the add'l info.
I'll check out that video.
If I click the links won't the district have a record of the access and what the IP address was?
Yes, but it's very unlikely your ISP, which I'm assuming is AT&T or Cable One, would connect the time+IP address to your identity without a request from a law enforcement agency.
If you're really worried about that sort of thing, you can add another cut-out level by using a VPN service.
If I send you to the store to buy a loaf of bread and you return with the item, the recejpt, and my change, there are no questions to be asked. If you do not provide a receipt with the matching change, I will ask questions. Sources are immaterial, We want answers in the form of proof,..not lame presentations.
The R8's budgeting and financial accounting should be audited throroughly for the past seven years. I have never heard of budgeting based on anticipated revenues, that is like budgeting on vapors. Revenue must be assured and based on facts/school data. I have listened to Barr talk about the R8 financials and it's more like a shell game...and any school district worth it's salt would spend at the least 80% on salaries and benefits - and 20% on student programs. To retain good teachers you must pay them a living salary. Kids are not going to teach themselves. A school district should have reserves of 7-10% maximum. You need to find an honest and trustworthy CFO that will do what is right for the students and the staff to get this school district out of the mud and find some financial transparency.
Yes, but it's very unlikely your ISP, which I'm assuming is AT&T or Cable One, would connect the time+IP address to your identity without a request from a law enforcement agency.
Yes, but suppose someone has logged into the website (as a student, parent of a student, or an employee) from the same IP address.
Can you see the potential issue yet?
11:41 AM: Yes, if you want to be more sure, you have to follow proper trade-craft.
For example, use a tool like traceroute (tracert on Windows, as I recall) to find out your public facing IP address, reset your modem, and then confirm you've been allocated a new dynamic IP address after it rebooted.
Remove or put to the side your cookies for the site, including any put their by other sources like analytics or advertising. Or use a command line utility like wget or curl to grab the file. Etc.
Or get someone you trust to download it and send it to you.
12:59
The advantage of having the documents posted here is that I feel comfortable that no additional trade-craft is needed.
Paul Barr has manipulated and moved money around using shell games for years. Restricted funding for Special Education was removed and spent in other places, going back to the time of Janet Earl, and Vernon Hudson. A full audit of Paul Barr and his department should happen....... You can't put all the blame on CJ, when it was Paul Barr moving the funds around and not giving accurate figures to begin with..... He had an accomplice who has done it for years.....
Follow the money trails......
How is it possible that a public entity turned over funds to a private entity and there can be no auditing???
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