School board member Ed Mortimer has made several requests for information from the Baraboo School District. He recently paid the district $387 in advance to fulfill the requests, which remain unfulfilled as of March 22.
Baraboo School Board Vice-President Judd Maxwell sent an e-mail to Mortimer and copied board President Kevin Vodak on March 21 at 12:28 a.m. Maxwell's message falsely alleges Mortimer's "information requests were not just for you, but instead for other(s) in the public, so they may use them as resources for writing Mailbag letters. Pretty clever Mort".
The letter concludes, "PS: Please do me a favor in your next round of requests from the administration: Ask them how many public tax dollars were spent copying each board member a full ream or more of paper, so we can have the same vitally important information as you. Oh yeah, you might want to ask for records of all the staff time it takes our employees to gather these requests, as you and I both know they have nothing better to do. Keep up the good work!"
Board policy 161.1, board access to information, states: "Responses to requests for information from individual board members shall be sent to all Board members by the District Administrator." The policy was unanimously adopted by the board on Jan. 12, 2009.
Why would a board member have to pay $387 for district information? Although initially requested by Mortimer as a board member, Mortimer received nothing until he made a second request over 30 days later and as a taxpayer under the Open Records Law. It is unknown why the board received copies of information requested under the Open Records Law. Maxwell should direct his concern about receiving a ream of paper to the district administrator or himself. He was part of the unanimous vote on policy 161.1.
The school board considered Board Governing Principles, board policy 150 on Monday. Item 2 states: "The board agrees to be respectful to all points of view, to communicate openly with others by voicing opinions in a non-threatening way as well as by actively listening to each other." Item 5 reads: "The board agrees to take responsibility for the actions brought forward by the group, and agrees that the responsibility for taking this risk includes advocating for the ideas decided upon by it."
To me, board policy 150 means once the board decides something, dissenters should shut up and go along with the program. How actively have other board members listened to Mortimer? How actively should Mortimer listen to Maxwell after his e-mail? Mortimer has previously received communications from a majority of other board members, including Maxwell, suggesting Mortimer should meet with someone. To date, Mortimer has not. Why not is for another time. Besides, what is Mortimer's official obligation to meet with anyone outside of district meetings?
Obstruction, intimidation and retribution embolden. If Maxwell's e-mail is any indication of how he or other school district officials communicate, they need to try something else. What they're doing isn't working.
John Meegan, Baraboo