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terrybankert
F L I N T O I D
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Cellphone tab tops $3,000
Flint schools get bill of Board of Ed chief
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-43/1177514755235210.xml&coll=5
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITIONWednesday, April 25, 2007
By Melissa Burdenmburden@flintjournal.com • 810.766.6316
From the Flint Journal article cited above and found below I offer the following discussion.
[Comments of Terry Bankert in brackets-trb]
FLINT - Board of Education President Stephanie Robb Martin's district-issued cellphone has cost the cash-strapped Flint School District $3,055 this school year, an analysis of school cellphone records shows.
[What an outrage, the district is 12,000 million in debt , our Board President is running her business from a publicly paid for cell phone and our Superintendent has abandoned ship. Its time for a change.-trb ]
[Elect
For the 1 year term: (one person to be elected)
-DILLARD–DILLARD–DILLARD
Jennifer Dillard
For the 2 year term: (one person to be elected)
-CROSS-CROSS-CROSS-
Michael Cross
For the four year term (three to be elected)
-BASHIR-BASHIR-BASHIR-
Fred Bashir
-LOCKETT-LOCKETT-LOCKETT
Antoinette Lockett
-TOPPING-TOPPING-TOPPING-
John Topping
-trb]
Robb Martin's cellphone bill was the highest in five of six billing periods reviewed among the dozens of cellphones and walkie-talkies issued by the district.
In one 31-day period, Robb Martin used the phone an average of 5.5 hours a day. She also used it on holidays, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving, although it's unclear whether those calls were personal or business.
Robb Martin said she has used the cellphone for both personal and business-related reasons.
[This is an admission. There should be an audit and she should reimburse the district -trb]
"My life is extremely busy," she said last week. "I work my Board of Education president role like a full-time job. It's not something I do for one or two hours a day.
"Today alone, I've talked to the district office seven times. I have talked to other board members four times."
Robb Martin's phone tab is more than double outgoing School Superintendent Walter Milton Jr.'s $1,260 cellphone bill during the same period and dwarfs other administrators' phone costs, records show.
Many other school employees' cellphone or walkie-talkie bills range from only about $23 to $200 per billing period.
In only one monthly billing period did a school district employee have a higher bill than Robb Martin - master plumber Vickie Taylor.
The Journal obtained the cellphone bills, records and call details through the Freedom of Information Act.
Robb Martin, a
children's therapist
who was appointed to the board in 2005, is seeking to retain her seat in the May 8 election.
[This bill alone in a district she has helped to near bankruptcy is just cause to not reelect her.ITS TIME FOR A CHANGE -trb]
She said she started using the cellphone when calls to her began "going through the roof" about the time when former school administrator Julius B. Anthony resigned over a sexual misconduct conviction, which subsequently has been set aside by a Georgia court.
Robb Martin said she and other board members had access to the phone, but she was encouraged by administrators to take it in order to be reachable. She said she let other board members know that she was using it.
[ There is no justification for the business use -trb]
It's unclear who authorized her to use the cellphone, but Robb Martin said she had conversations about it with Milton and Carl Johnson, the district's interim chief financial officer.
She said she initially asked Johnson or Milton how she should handle calls that didn't pertain to board-related business and was told, "We just need to be able to reach you."
[There is no excuse for using a Board phone for PRIVATE business, this speaks to the financial incompetence of the Superintendent, this board member and possibly others. -trb]
"The intent and the expectation was for accessibility of the leadership to the community," Milton said in a statement to The Journal.
[ This guy has no credibility. Its time for a change -trb]
He and Johnson could not be reached for further comment.
Sheila Henderson, the district's assistant chief financial officer, said top administrators and some program directors have cellphones.
[But I bet they do not use them for their private business -trb]
Department leaders can submit a request to the business office for their staffers to have a cellphone, she said. Phone costs then come out of the departments' budgets, Henderson added.
It's unclear if those procedures were followed in Robb Martin's case.
In the six billing periods reviewed, Robb Martin logged more than 44,000 minutes and had more than $360 in directory assistance charges.
[ She was running her business on a publicly paid phone. -trb]
Robb Martin said she will be more mindful of her cellphone use now that she has been informed of the bill and her minute usage.
[ The Citizens of Flint demand to be repaid and for criminal charges to be explored -trb]
"I'll definitely have to be more aware," she said.
Some board members say they didn't know she was using a district-paid cellphone, and at least one said the matter should have first gone before the board for a vote.
"I believe this board needs to know everything that comes up that's dealing with taxpayers' dollars," said board Treasurer Vera J. Perry, who said she didn't know about the cellphone. "We're not spending our own money - we're spending taxpayers' dollars."
[ Ms Perry should be the next Board President -trb]
Board member Erica Leverette said she recalls being asked if it was all right if the board president used the phone.
"I'm OK with whoever serves as the president having a cellphone," she said. "The level of communication, especially in this district ... the need is very high."
[She does not get it and should be removed from the board also. -trb]
But the two most recent former board presidents said they did not have district-paid cellphones, questioned the expense and criticized the failure to get board approval.
Former President Marvin "Skip" Harbin, who resigned from the board last July, questioned the cost to taxpayers.
"I didn't feel there was a need for me to have one," he said, adding he was reachable at work, at home and on his personal cellphone.
Chris Martin, who preceded Harbin in the post, said it wouldn't have been appropriate for him to have a district-paid cellphone when he was president.
"Not in the climate we're in. The district is in trouble," said Martin, a school employee who also has a district-issued cellphone.
"When layoffs are looming, the board has to be the first to set an example of tightening the belt."
The Board of Education's bylaws allow for "reasonable, necessary and actual expenses" for board members' telephone calls, but the board must vote and approve reimbursements before payment is made.
Robb Martin, who said she is paid an average of about $90 a month for her board service, said she feels the district is getting its money's worth.
[ Ms. Robb Martin the Citizens of Flint do not feel that way and we will show you May 8th -trb]
"I think anyone who knows me knows I'm working hard on behalf of kids, and they know my heart and they know my heart is for the community and for a positive difference," she said.
She said she had never seen her cellphone bills.
"If anyone had contacted me to say, 'Hey, there's an issue,' then I would have adjusted accordingly," she said. "This is the first discussion that I've had with anyone about the detail."
Robb Martin said she has had the number printed on her personal business card for months.
"I give my business cards to everybody," she said. "If you talk to people in the community, it's how everybody knows how to reach me."
Robb Martin said she could turn the phone back in, but she then might not be reachable.
"I'm not going to carry around two and three and four phones," she said. "I can be accessible to the community, and it's my goal to be accessible."
[ She is insisting that she be able to conduct her PRIVATE business and personal affairs on this public phone. She does not get it. -trb]
-
ITS TIME FOR A CHANGE.
Elect
For the 1 year term: (one person to be elected)
-DILLARD–DILLARD–DILLARD
. Jennifer Dillard
For the 2 year term: (one person to be elected)
-
CROSS-CROSS-CROSS-
Michael Cross
For the four year term (three to be elected)
-BASHIR-BASHIR-BASHIR-
Fred Bashir
LOCKETT-LOCKETT-LOCKETT-
Antoinette Lockett
-TOPPING-TOPPING-TOPPING-
John Topping-
trb]
Posted Here by
Terry Bankert
attorneybankert@yahoo.com
http://bankertsvoterguide.blogspot.com |
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Wed Apr 25, 2007 1:45 pm |
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jackson
F L I N T O I D
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| Interesting phone bills: as a State Rep -- calling across a fairly large district and to Lansing most mornings while driving to the House; I rarely exceed my $50 per month call allottment. That certainly included an occasional call back home - but the $50 per month was "normal". There is virtually no basis whatsoever for bills the size of Robb-Martin's. I agree with Bankert that it's time for a complete change on this Board of Education. AND, listening to candidates at the League of Women Voters' Forum, I'd say the Great Schools Candidates are all worthy of our votes |
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Wed Apr 25, 2007 6:24 pm |
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JBToolFist
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Here's my problem with the Phone Fiasco story:
Stephanie Robb-Martin knew darn well that she was racking up outrageous bills on her cell phone. She thought nothing about dialing directory assistance at a whim (which typically costs more than $1.00 per inquiry). She knew it wasn't her money - so she didn't care.
My first concern is that "she didn't care" that it was the taxpayer's money.
Secondly, she didn't even stop to think that her phone bill would be public knowledge under the freedom of information act. As a public official, that is just sheer stupidity.
So in a nutshell, the president of the board of education:
#1) Is careless with taxpayer money
#2) Is too ignorant of public policy to know that she's going to get caught.
Sounds like great qualifications for a school board president. ONLY in Flint would you get such incompetence.
My advice to public officials or public official want-to-be's in Flint.........it's ALL public record. So behave like the taxpayer is watching at ALL times. |
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07pLGIgyfjw
"If you ain't from Flint, then it's like straight up F*&^ You!" - The Dayton Family
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiV_ue-PbL4 |
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Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:17 pm |
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Biggie9
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Incredible.
Its called hubris. First she says the phone was others idea so she be "reachable". Like she didn't have any way to be contacted BEFORE they gave her a cell phone? What? smoke signals?
She WAS in business for cripes sake...she wasn't reachable? How did she do business? Smoke signals?
Then, the savvy business leader, ?professional? goes all childlike....what can I do with this cell phone, can I use it personally?
WE JUST YOU TO BE REACHABLE>>>WINK WINK WINK...[Milton to Johnson, "what other perks can we give her to "buy" her compliance and support"...WINK WINK WINK..." I don't need no independent board pres watching me and directing me...I need to co=opt her... keep her busy with HER OWN personal issues/business"....how beautiful, Miltie, I give you credit, you are a con-man's CON-MAN. Distract the potential bosses, buy them off with perks.
NOTE, the previous Board presidents had no need for such a perk. Other board members apparently did not NEED to be "REACHABLE"??? Huh, imagine that?
Then we have the stooge, Erica "Go along to get along" Leverette claiming she recalled some discussion. Apparenetly not officially, because then there would be minutes reflecting it and the other Board would have also been included, which Ms Perry indicated she was not. So it probably went like this:
E. Leverette: "Hello?"
Robber-martin: "Say girlfriend, guess what I'm calling you on"
EL "What?"
RM: "My NEW, school-supplied cell phone"
EL: "Get out, girl, where'dugetthatfrom?"
RM: "My man Miltie said I needed to be reachable"
EL: "get out"
RM" Oops, got to go, time to call my hairdresser ON MY FREE cellphone and make an appointment, then I have clients to call back..and then I'm booking my next vacation..."
EL: "Girl, why don't tell Miltie I need to be reachable too.."
RM: "I will, next time he needs to "reach" me...hahahahaha"
EL: "hahahahahaha"
click
Ms Perry has CONSISTENTLY been the only board member to have displayed clear thinking and action throughout. She does indeed deserve consideration to lead the new board [I presume even IF Robber-Martin is re-elected, the Board could re-constitute itself with positions?]
Sadly, though, I predict this pathetic behavior by Robb-Martin won't even make a ripple in the average Flint-school family neighborhoods.
The only place it will spark outrage is here on FT.com and FT forums on M-Live.
and so it goes.
and they scratch their heads and wonder why things aren't getting better. because the people they elect are only too eager to dip their beaks into the schools well...until it runs dry then they're outta here..just like Miltie. |
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Biggie |
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Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:41 pm |
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Ryan Eashoo
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WOW. Thats a lot of cheese. I want to know how much has her cell phone bill been since she was elected???
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Flint Michigan Resident, Tax Payer, Flint Nutt - Local REALTOR - Activist. www.FlintTown.com |
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Wed Apr 25, 2007 9:35 pm |
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