In Facebook conversations, Douglas blasted the Turner Report for reporting that he and former board president Brett Day were making decisions without consulting their fellow board members and that change orders for the Junior High building project did not go through the board.
"There was a great deal of misinformation in his blog post," Douglas told one constituent. "Specifically, to the "Change Orders"...we followed all Board Policies on approval of Change Orders."
Douglas' version of what happened with change orders did not square with another statement made by a board member- Steve Douglas.
Before the Turner Report revealed the lack of board approval for change orders, Douglas confided in a Facebook conversation with a district patron that mistakes were made.
"Some change orders were not voted upon individually," Douglas said. "I believe the policy says they must be if they are $10,000 or more. Those in charge of the project at the Central Office weren't aware of that policy.
"We are exploring how to fix that in the future."
When a Facebook friend asked Douglas to explain what was inaccurate in the Turner Report, Douglas declined to answer, referring the friend to a power point presentation that was created last year to explain why, contrary to any numbers that had been released to the public, the Junior High project came in under budget.
The power point presentation also failed to explain why all five members of the Finance Department with a total of 47 years of service to the district were gone shortly after questioning what they perceived as unethical practices and a lack of transparency with district patrons or why the district signed a non-disparagement agreement with the architectural firm for the project after it was discovered that the project was well above budget.
Douglas said he was too busy to deal with all of that.
"I don't have time this evening to go point by point through Turner's Blog and writing a rebuttal here would be lengthy."
Twenty-two days have passed since Douglas wrote those words. The people of the Neosho R-5 School District are still waiting to hear his point-by-point rebuttal.
Previous Posts
Carver Elementary principal's administrative leave, removal of Finance Department illustrate toxic atmosphere at Neosho R-5
Neosho Superintendent signed non-disparagement contract, agreed to $150,000 "donation" from architectural firm
Former Neosho R-5 accountant: Finance Department told to keep quiet about Junior High project funding errors
Neosho R-5 administrators say there are things they can't tell staff, but they will be transparent about it
Neosho Daily News on junior high investigation: We report news, not speculation or gossip
Neosho R-5 School Board President: There was no trickery with our lovely junior high
State investigators examining discrepancies, lack of transparency in Neosho Junior High building project
12 comments:
This is the guy who does the Access Family ads I thought he was an Employee and a physician?! Didn't realize he was a Neosho schools representative Employee Board member .. whichever he is I hope they get things resolved in a open manner and fix what needs fixing and be above reproach
Ignorance is no excuse, especially when it's your JOB to be informed. Ignoring a situation doesn't make it go away. Unless you're a toddler, you shouldn't believe you're hiding when you close your eyes. Folks are learning R. Turner has a long memory and a penchant for sunlight!
WOW!! It is very apparent that Mr. Douglas, who is board president, didn't know his own board policies. I believe in a previous post it was stated that he attended all the JH meetings and he was aware of all the change orders over $10,000 and he didn't know to take those to the entire board for approval? Did he honestly think that because he and Brett Day were there that it was ok? He seems to want to place the blame on others (those in charge at the CO weren't aware of the policy?) So the whole group was incompetent? How about its' time he take some ownership in this mess!! It is the responsibility of the board, especially the board president, to know their own policies. That is one of their two main responsibilities, make policies!! The other is to hire the Supt. And if Mr. Decker put someone in place as the "project manager" (Tim Crawley) and he didn't know what he was doing or know the policies then they both need to be held accountable. Why did we bring back this project manager as a consultant for finance when he left the district finances and JH finances in a mess? And those that found their mistake are gone? Whether the board wants to own this huge mistake or not it is obvious things were not transparent and a cover up has taken place. I wonder what other dealings this board has covered up and not been transparent with the community about? This community wants transparency not just talk and misinformation! This boards behavior is not ok!! Dan Decker's behavior is not ok! We deserve better then this Neosho!!
Teachers are written up for not following board policy & considered a liability to the district, even though the district is not out one cent. Those not following board policy & who have direct control of the purse strings are offended & outraged but still remain in charge. Good 'Ol boy network alive & well. Where do these kids go if there's an active shooter in this glass cathedral?
8:29 - Maybe the "glass cathedral" was what they thought "transparency" meant ...
Our PR Director and Supt's secretary trained us on our new lock down system! No worries if we have an active shooter in this "glass cathedral." I mean really...what other district puts their PR director and a secretary in charge of school safety and training? I hope if something, God forbid, happens and this system is needed these two are prepared to take responsibility is something goes wrong. Why would the Supt, who took over buildings and grounds, not do the training or our resource officer? Just another example of incompetence and complete dysfunction on the hill!!!
Maybe Steve Douglas thinks -- accurately -- that you will censor or edit any responses he makes to your sundry accusations and lies.
It isn't as if you don't censor or lie Turner.
The best thing to do when the Fourth Estate / Fifth Column comes around is to say absolutely nothing and let you fake-news liars run wild on your own discarded blogs. While there may be something in your blog every so often, your victims know that most of what appears here is malicious twisting of facts and overt bias. There is no upside to feeding the hyenas and buzzards anything so it is best to not even try.
Steve needs to respond with the truth. He is human and imperfect like the rest of us. He should quit blowing smoke up our rears and man up with the truth. I along with many others will find it easier to forgive the boards mistakes if they'd own up to them. Silence will not fix the problem, only the truth will. What say you Mr. Douglas?
Haha. I think that Douglas might have written this comment. Let’s go over it. Fake News Liars: pictures of documents have been provided with every story Randy has written. So how is that fake? Let’s talk about the non disclosure document that Randy provided for Sapp Architect that was signed Dan Decker. That looked very real to me. I don’t think that it is normal practice for an Architect to donate a large sum of money and sign a non disclosure statement. However, it did help them to get the Goodman building project even after screwing up the JH project. Don’t think there is any way to say this was a “twisting of facts”. It’s obvious that the board agreed to do the last set of alternates on the JH because they were told by Crawley and Architect that they were under budget and had money to do it. When it fact they were over budget and many things were still needed to finish the building that was suppose to be a turn key project. Douglas can try and paint a picture that all is good but how can he when so much documented information has been provided by Randy. I am really disturbed by your comment about being a victim. Are you so blind that you can’t see who the victims really are? Let’s talk about all the employees that have resigned or were forced to resign. The entire Finance department which consisted of 5 people who took care of all Finance, Payroll and Benefits for the district, former Curriculum Director, Building & Grounds Director, Special Ed Director, Process Coordinators & Secretary, Food Svc Director, Food Svc Managers and some Food Svc workers, Principals, Secretaries and that doesn’t include teachers and other staff that have left. Next we have current staff that have made comments about how bad things are and how fearful they are of speaking out and loosing their job. Then there are all the other staff members that are too afraid to comment. These are the VICTIMS, people who were/are trying to do their job. Plus I consider the students victims too. They are trying to get an education and are now caught in the middle of this mess that the administration has caused. Dan Decker and his CO entourage, Steve Douglas, Brett Day, Kari Collingsworth, Stuart Puckett, Phil Wise, Jonathan Russell & Kim Woods are to blame for allowing all of this to happen and are clearly not victims in any of this. You can’t dispute all of the documentation that Randy has provided.
I am very angry about the comment claiming Steve Douglas is a victim. The victims in this mess are the employees who had to leave. It is normal to have some staff resign each year, but it IS NOT normal to have this many, in Administrative positions that had worked many years for the school district to suddenly leave. These employees bled Black & Gold, they were dedicated employees who went above & beyond to get their jobs done. These employees stood up for what was right and wouldn’t look the other way, they had a voice & an opinion. Not being a Puppet & a “yes person” under Hitler’s reign cost them their jobs. Every Administrave Dept at Central Office has been adversely affected by the loss of staff during Decker’s term. The school district paid for Decker to be a trainer for the John Maxwell Program. Administrators & Staff have been made to participate in the Maxwell book studies. Decker is leading this book study but certainly doesn’t practice what he is preaching. John Maxwell is all about teaching someone to be a good leader & team member. Communicating, being honest & upfront is a big part of it & Decker certainly doesn’t do that. One of Maxwell’s quotes is “Teamwork Makes the Dream Work”. Before Decker came to Neosho grievances didn’t exist. Now, grievances are a daily word in Wildcat Nation. Decker persuades employees to file grievances, especially against those “Opinionated Old Timers” to give him ammo to push them out the door. Clearly not a good example of teamwork. Another Maxwell quote, “Everything Rises & Falls on Leadership”. Heck yes it does!!! Rumor is that he destroyed Aurora and was forced to leave. He has now destroyed Neosho and needs to leave. Never in the history of Neosho has there been such a huge turnover of staff, especially those who had many years of service with the district. I am one of these victims, starting over after many years of service. This has been a devasting, life change. Not only for me but for my family & friends. I have moved on, but the wounds are still raw & painful. As for Douglas and the other board members, I don’t see you as a victim. Your job was to hire & watch over Decker. To make sure that he was a good leader, that he made good decisions. Things have happened that you refused to deal with, you refused to go against Decker & you allowed transparency to be thrown out the window. You have allowed him to destroy our school. I am very thankful for Mr. Turner. His stories have brought out truths & allowed current & former staff to voice their concerns. I just truly hope you listen. I hope all of this has opened people’s eyes & changes will be made.
Anonymous 7:52am - it is obvious that something went wrong. Douglas painted himself into a corner. I must prefer elected officials who will own up to mistakes to those that deny them. I have worked in construction a very long time. Change orders have a running total on them. Current total - amount of change order - new total. Had the board members been looking, they would have seen the numbers. When things went off the rails, the board was in the dark. Douglas and Decker knew. Then the blame game started. They really messed up a good thing then tried to cover it up.
8:38 Well said! I'd be curious to know how those who have had to attend John Maxwell training really feel about it. Has it made a difference? Sure doesn't appear to have so is it worth continuing? Or is Decker using the district as a training ground for future endeavors for himself? Victims...8:49 construction worker... I believe you have got it figured out! Change orders happen, they are tracked and had they(the entire board) been looking and had the architect(who apparently was fired immediately when the mistake was found) and Tim Crawley given them the correct numbers it doesn't seem the project would have derailed!! Had they know where they really were I would think they wouldn't have approved another 1.6M in change orders on top of all the other change orders that seemed to only be approved from Decker, Crawley, Day and Douglas. Far from following their own board policies!! From the information that has come out so far Douglas, Day, Decker all knew but apparently the rest of the board was clueless where the JH project was. I have looked back at board minutes and I cannot find anywhere where the project dollar projection was discussed. No discussions seemed to take place as far as cost to date vs bond proceeds. Wouldn't you think our board would have wanted that monthly? (Keep in mind Tim Crawley was in charge of this project, he now consults with the finance department, another Decker move) Douglas wants to throw a spreadsheet together with numbers to try to cover and confuse the community and I'm sure he hopes everyone will give up trying to understand his conglomerated mess!! Honesty and transparency always wins Neosho not covering up and then playing the victims!! From what I understand there is a lot more information about this project that has yet to come out. Hopefully Randy has that documentation and can continue to educate this community on what really took place. I encourage our community to visit with faculty and staff. Ask questions about what is really going on in the district. I say that knowing most of them are scared to say anything because they are afraid Decker, Douglas and Day will found them out and they will lose their job too! I do not believe its just the JH derailment but there seems to be a whole lot of wrong going on and I'm afraid this district has become the place no one wants to work at or be associated with. Sad for our community! April election is coming...change is needed!!! Vote, Vote, Vote!!
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