RE: Hotel expenditures for our school district

[Guest guest]

How can I view our district's and our coop's check registers?  The coop is ending at the end of the school year.  They do not pu tit on line and when I asked for the books a couple of years ago, it took me six months to get a copy of some junk that made it impossible to see who the money was really going to and what for.

Can I request to view the checkbook ledgers via the FOIA???Regarding the hotel expenditures for Conroe.  It is absurd!!! Add this to the money the districts spend on attorneys fighting special ed parents and our kids could be well-served if this waste stopped!

[Guest guest]

Which district?   I have a link of all the school districts in

Texas and whether or not they have check registers on-line. 

If they are not on-line, then yes, you can view checkbook ledgers by Texas

Public Information Act request.   Once you have submitted a request in writing,

citing this law, they have 10 days to respond or ask the Office of the Attorney

General for an opinion if they feel that they do not want to release that

information to you.  With just check ledgers, they would not do that.   Getting

more detailed information sometimes though winds up there. 

Hilda

From:

Texas-Autism-Advocacy [mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy ]

On Behalf Of Haven DeLay

Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2010 3:54 PM

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

Subject: Re: Hotel expenditures for our school

district

How can I view our district's and our coop's check registers? The coop

is ending at the end of the school year. They do not pu tit on line and

when I asked for the books a couple of years ago, it took me six months to get

a copy of some junk that made it impossible to see who the money was really

going to and what for.

Can I request to view the checkbook ledgers via the FOIA???

Regarding the hotel expenditures for Conroe. It is absurd!!! Add this to

the money the districts spend on attorneys fighting special ed parents and our

kids could be well-served if this waste stopped!

[Guest guest]

Melody:

I am 46 and I went to school in New York, New Jersey, Nebraska,

Missouri and Florida.

To this day, my high school still does not have a fancy athletic

field for football. It does not mean they haven't produced excellent

football players or other sports stars. It is about the coaching and the

talent, not the building you are in. Our school in New York excelled in promoting

academics. There was great pride in extracurricular activities as well.

One's pride in their own academic achievement improved grades and scores and

healthy competition between peers vying for the same Ivy League schools slots

was enough incentive.

I am still in contact with my vice-president of my high

school. He has been my sounding board for things school-related in

Texas. He is disgusted by the way these educators in Texas treat kids

with disabilities and their parents. He also confirmed I am correct in my

perception about the things school did and did not pay for. And he only

recently retired, so things were still that way up until he left.

Hilda

From:

Texas-Autism-Advocacy

[mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy ] On Behalf Of Melody

Latimer

Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2010 8:27 AM

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

Subject: Re: Hotel expenditures for our school

district

Hilda,

Plain curiosity, how old are you and what state did you live in growing up?

While I was in school and my mother was in school, all of the things offered

now were offered then. I'm a 4th generation Texan, so as far as I'm aware,

those are regular expenditures.

If you did not grow up in Texas, I have a feeling you don't understand the

pride that surrounds extracurricular activities and how offering them improves

grades and scores. If you don't like it, then find others that don't like it

and complain like hell, but don't be surprised if you have twice as many

parents on the other side stating their story as well.

Melody

Tonya:

Thanks for your input. I have great trouble for the school districts

paying for hotel expenditures kids and competitions that are considered

extracurricular activities. As I recall when I went to school, parents

had to pay if students were going anywhere overnight. They also had to

pay for their travel expenses. Field trips also were paid for by the

parents, even when the " class " was going on one. When did this

switch occur where we are using tax dollars for this? I had to pay for

all chorus competitions (they were school buses and they broke down the cost of

what it cost the club to rent the school bus for the time period and then

divided it among how many individuals were going, or as a group we did

fundraising). That was actually part of my chorus grade, so it wasn't an

extracurricular activity but a school subject, and we had to pay our own

way. Yes, I do need to do more checking, that was just a cursory

examination of the ledger. They don't put explanations in; there are

codes and I have now received those codes so I'll be able to scrutinize it a

bit better.

And they wouldn't spend $800 for a

teacher training that was necessary for my son's program last year (despite the

fact they got $9 million in the special federal funding). I know they

also pay for cell phones for district employees and I'm going through the list

right now seeing how much they are paying to the cell phone companies. My

son did not do so well this year because of it and they are trying to now

change his program for next year. I'm at 20 hours of ARDing right now and

we had 20 hours prior to the meeting to write goals and they just aren't

getting it. On top of likely 80+ hours I've gone through to prepare for

the ARD and all the crap they are putting me through right now. It's a

long story. I do have an advocate with me.

I haven't even gotten through all the

's Deli and Quiznos' (which aren't part of the lunch menu) yet. And

what's up with violin repairs? Again, when I went to school, kids either

had to purchase or rent their instruments from an outside source and they could

buy insurance from that vendor to fix the equipment, but school never paid for

it. More than $10,000 in violin repairs? I doubt instructors would

have to repair that much of their equipment. It's not that big of a

district as compared to Houston ISD. I have to add it up to get the exact

number. Then there are things for uniforms, and stuff like

that. Again, EVERYTHING that we did school was paid for by the parents,

including football uniforms, cheerleading outfits, band outfits, choir

robes.

Hilda

From: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

[mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy ] On

Behalf Of Tonya Hettler

Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 11:23 PM

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

Subject: RE: Hotel expenditures for our school

district

I commend you for checking this but do you have enough

details to make an informed decision? I know at least one of these hotels

could have been related to attending the State Autism Conference, which is a

good thing. In Dec 2008, it was at the Sheraton Arlington, in 2009 it was

the Corpus Christi Omni Bayfront. Neither were an excessively fancy hotel

and everyone attending the conference got the state rate of $85/night. I

think the Austin Doubletree was the sight of the State Transition

Conference. I know it was the year before and again we got the state rate

of $85.

In my job we travel to a lot of conferences and stay in

some real high-end hotels but generally only pay the Federal approved

rates. (You can check them at http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?contentType=GSA_BASIC & contentId=17943).

The large conferences usually make a rate deal with the hotel to do this

in exchange for getting the majority of, if not all of, their rooms booked.

Another possible reason for hotel bills is student

travel. I know our oldest son and several others have spent more nights away

from home for FFA Competitions in the last 3 weeks than he has been in

here. There were two weeks that I don’t even think he was in school

over an hour. The competitions were all over TX and Nationals was in

Oklahoma, all of which the school paid for. My guess is they do the same

for the kids competing in UIL and other organizations too.

Of course, none of this means your district isn’t

being excessive. Personally, I’d take the numbers and dates you

looked at to the administration building and ask for details. If you

don’t get answers, take it to the school board.

Tonya

From:

Texas-Autism-Advocacy [mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy ]

On Behalf Of hildabowen

Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 1:13 PM

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

Subject: Hotel expenditures for our school

district

Been going through the on-line check register for our school district. From

September 2009 until April 2010, they've spent $40,211.15 on hotels. Now, I do

understand that sending people to conferences and such there are going to be

hotel expenses, but here are the list of the hotels they stayed at:

Embassy Suites (which would be okay by me)

Wyndham Hotel (various places)

Mark

Omni Mandalay Hotel (Dallas) which has 2 black swans you can feed in the lobby.

Sheraton Dallas

Omni Hotel

Sheraton Arlington

Omni Hotel Bayfront Corpus Christi

Omni Marina Hotel

Driskill Hotel

Hotel (one check alone for $11,428.80 -- it is a fancy

" boutique " hotel in San )

Courtyard (which is okay by me)

Marriott Riverwalk

Worthington Hotel

Drury Inn (this would be okay)

Double Tree Austin

Menger Hotel San

My husband works for a utility company that is still state-regulated -- which

means taxpayer money is used to in their company. He said they are only

allowed, if they travel on business, to stay at a Courtyard or that other type

of pool.

Still working my way through this. This is Conroe ISD and is available on-line

for anyone to see.

Hilda

[Guest guest]

Hilda,

That's what I figured. Unless you have grown up down here, it's very

hard to understand. If you look at Texas students who participate in

all of these extracurriculars, they are some of the best students in

the nation. I don't say that because it's where I grew up. It gives

students a much more rounded education than most other states.

The problems you have with them paying for all of this stuff is really

in vain. They aren't taking money out of the Special Education dollars

to put into these programs. If you find where they are, then it's

illegal, and I say fight it. However, being on the Spectrum, I am very

happy to say that it was because of the ability to participate in these

activities that school has such fond memories. The mental health issues

I have today aren't because of bullying in school, but because of an

abusive father.

There is a much higher sense of community within the schools because of

the extracurriculars that are available. It wasn't purely about

competition amongst students, but also about being a team player and

pushing your boundaries for the greater good. Many students wouldn't

have that opportunity if the parents had to pay for everything.

Take for instance the UIL event I did from middle school on. Caculator

applications required a calculator that did a lot of calculations

efficiently, most if not ALL were within the $200-500 range. I checked

after I left high school because I loved the calculator I used that

much. That's just one thing I did in my years of school.

I'm also very thankful these are available because they are a great

place to culture social skills in the higher functioning Autistic

population. I plan on encouraging both of my boys to do

extracurriculars in the areas that they can excel. While your child may

not be able to do this, there are many that can and it's a great

opportunity for them to learn to work with others.

I could keep going on, but I have a feeling that all of this will fall

on deaf ears anyways. But I find extracurricular activities to be quite

bleak in other areas of the country. I'm happy to be back here in Texas

so my boys are given the same opportunities I got.

Melody

Melody:

I am 46 and I went

to school in New York, New Jersey, Nebraska,

Missouri and Florida.

To this day, my high

school still does not have a fancy athletic

field for football. It does not mean they haven't produced excellent

football players or other sports stars. It is about the coaching and

the

talent, not the building you are in. Our school in New York excelled

in promoting

academics. There was great pride in extracurricular activities as

well.

One's pride in their own academic achievement improved grades and

scores and

healthy competition between peers vying for the same Ivy League schools

slots

was enough incentive.

I am still in

contact with my vice-president of my high

school. He has been my sounding board for things school-related in

Texas. He is disgusted by the way these educators in Texas treat kids

with disabilities and their parents. He also confirmed I am correct in

my

perception about the things school did and did not pay for. And he

only

recently retired, so things were still that way up until he left.

Hilda

[Guest guest]

I

understand about the extracurricular aspect, but FFA (Future Farmers of

America) and UIL (University Interscholastic League) aren’t considered extracurricular

here in TX. I know my son’s FFA was always in Ag class, for which

he got a grade. Call me biased, but I’d a whole lot rather schools

sink dollars into these type activities than some of the things they do. My

son’s FFA team was 4 kids, 3 seniors and one sophomore. Two of the

kids have already started farming. To me, that is what school should be

about, preparing kids for a viable profession. Of course, like I said, I’m

probably real biased here. Smile

Tonya

From:

Texas-Autism-Advocacy

[mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy ] On Behalf Of Hilda Bowen

Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2010 12:09 AM

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

Subject: RE: Hotel expenditures for our school

district

Tonya:

Thanks for your input. I have great trouble for the school districts

paying for hotel expenditures kids and competitions that are considered

extracurricular activities. As I recall when I went to school, parents

had to pay if students were going anywhere overnight. They also had to

pay for their travel expenses. Field trips also were paid for by the

parents, even when the " class " was going on one. When did this

switch occur where we are using tax dollars for this? I had to pay for

all chorus competitions (they were school buses and they broke down the cost of

what it cost the club to rent the school bus for the time period and then

divided it among how many individuals were going, or as a group we did

fundraising). That was actually part of my chorus grade, so it wasn't an

extracurricular activity but a school subject, and we had to pay our own

way. Yes, I do need to do more checking, that was just a cursory

examination of the ledger. They don't put explanations in; there are

codes and I have now received those codes so I'll be able to scrutinize it a

bit better.

And they wouldn't spend $800 for a

teacher training that was necessary for my son's program last year (despite the

fact they got $9 million in the special federal funding). I know they

also pay for cell phones for district employees and I'm going through the list

right now seeing how much they are paying to the cell phone companies. My

son did not do so well this year because of it and they are trying to now

change his program for next year. I'm at 20 hours of ARDing right now and

we had 20 hours prior to the meeting to write goals and they just aren't

getting it. On top of likely 80+ hours I've gone through to prepare for

the ARD and all the crap they are putting me through right now. It's a

long story. I do have an advocate with me.

I haven't even gotten through all the

's Deli and Quiznos' (which aren't part of the lunch menu) yet. And

what's up with violin repairs? Again, when I went to school, kids either

had to purchase or rent their instruments from an outside source and they could

buy insurance from that vendor to fix the equipment, but school never paid for

it. More than $10,000 in violin repairs? I doubt instructors would

have to repair that much of their equipment. It's not that big of a

district as compared to Houston ISD. I have to add it up to get the exact

number. Then there are things for uniforms, and stuff like

that. Again, EVERYTHING that we did school was paid for by the parents,

including football uniforms, cheerleading outfits, band outfits, choir robes.

Hilda

From:

Texas-Autism-Advocacy [mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy ]

On Behalf Of Tonya Hettler

Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 11:23 PM

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

Subject: RE: Hotel expenditures for our school

district

I commend you for checking this but do you have enough

details to make an informed decision? I know at least one of these hotels

could have been related to attending the State Autism Conference, which is a

good thing. In Dec 2008, it was at the Sheraton Arlington, in 2009 it was

the Corpus Christi Omni Bayfront. Neither were an excessively fancy hotel

and everyone attending the conference got the state rate of $85/night. I

think the Austin Doubletree was the sight of the State Transition

Conference. I know it was the year before and again we got the state rate

of $85.

In my job we travel to a lot of conferences and stay in

some real high-end hotels but generally only pay the Federal approved

rates. (You can check them at http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?contentType=GSA_BASIC & contentId=17943).

The large conferences usually make a rate deal with the hotel to do this

in exchange for getting the majority of, if not all of, their rooms booked.

Another possible reason for hotel bills is student

travel. I know our oldest son and several others have spent more nights

away from home for FFA Competitions in the last 3 weeks than he has been in

here. There were two weeks that I don’t even think he was in school

over an hour. The competitions were all over TX and Nationals was in

Oklahoma, all of which the school paid for. My guess is they do the same

for the kids competing in UIL and other organizations too.

Of course, none of this means your district isn’t

being excessive. Personally, I’d take the numbers and dates you

looked at to the administration building and ask for details. If you

don’t get answers, take it to the school board.

Tonya

From:

Texas-Autism-Advocacy [mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy ]

On Behalf Of hildabowen

Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 1:13 PM

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

Subject: Hotel expenditures for our school

district

Been going through the on-line check register for our school district. From

September 2009 until April 2010, they've spent $40,211.15 on hotels. Now, I do

understand that sending people to conferences and such there are going to be

hotel expenses, but here are the list of the hotels they stayed at:

Embassy Suites (which would be okay by me)

Wyndham Hotel (various places)

Mark

Omni Mandalay Hotel (Dallas) which has 2 black swans you can feed in the lobby.

Sheraton Dallas

Omni Hotel

Sheraton Arlington

Omni Hotel Bayfront Corpus Christi

Omni Marina Hotel

Driskill Hotel

Hotel (one check alone for $11,428.80 -- it is a fancy

" boutique " hotel in San )

Courtyard (which is okay by me)

Marriott Riverwalk

Worthington Hotel

Drury Inn (this would be okay)

Double Tree Austin

Menger Hotel San

My husband works for a utility company that is still state-regulated -- which

means taxpayer money is used to in their company. He said they are only

allowed, if they travel on business, to stay at a Courtyard or that other type

of pool.

Still working my way through this. This is Conroe ISD and is available on-line

for anyone to see.

Hilda

[Guest guest]

Tonya:

I understand that. We had Future Business Leaders of

America FBLA (mainly involved in things such as state and district

championships, fundraising activities, and service to the business

community). ROTC, DECA (provided opportunities for students enrolled in

marketing courses to utilize their knowledge in regional, state and national

championships, and also had a work-experience program), WSCM (a radio station),

an AV club, a TV club (who produced that produced TV shows), a theater group

(for which some people went on to become actors and crew), chorus (from which

people went on to be successful singers, one was the lead in Phantom of the

Opera for many years on Broadway), Band, Jazz band, Drum Corp, and Orchestra (who

had people go on to join orchestras or be musicians) which was also offered as

a grade, Industrial Arts (which people went on to be the people who make things

go), the math team who went on to become mathematicians (we had some of the

first early models of computers, which were paid for by taxpayers, which was

fine. There is a caption in our yearbook that has a picture of the

computer and says, " No, this computer does not perform dating

service. " Ah, if they only knew in just a decade everything would

change. Also driver's ed was offered as a graded class, but we still had

to pay a fee. Then there was a vocational training program called BOCES (that

offered training in fields such as agriculture, business, communications,

construction, health services and transportation and they have pictures of

students learning how to be a butcher, or a hair cutter, or a chef, or animal

care). It was Board of ative Educational Services. The

school store ran like a business and they called it Kavity Korner. There

were also service organizations, like every school (Anchor, Key and Leo clubs

that I can recall). There were school-level governmental bodies, and then a

general organization over the entire school.

I do not mind them putting tax dollars into these things, but I

do want them to exhibit as much restraint as my husband's utility company in

using the tax dollars sensibly and a 5-star hotel is not sensible when a 3-star

or 4-star hotel for half the cost would have been totally appropriate.

I'll find out for sure when I do a bit more digging.

If you took the class in school (and we could pick our classes)

and you knew there was a fee attached to it in order to get a grade, you knew

that going into the class. When I decided to take a mini-course in how to

fly an airplane, the school wasn't going to dish up tax dollars for me to fly a

plane. Of course, once we realized how much money that was going to

involve, I had to choose something else. I did take the first class

before I switched, and I realized my thoughts of being a pilot weren't going to

pan out for me. It was not where my passion was. So it wound up

being okay. I did take debate though (explains some stuff, huh?) I

had to argue that the Consumer Product Safety Commission was not a good agency

for the United States to have. Yep, I pulled it from the hat, but I got

an A, so despite thinking it was a great agency, I had to argue it

wasn't. Fortunately competition-level at a local or state level was

not part of my grade and I decided it was too much work for the load I carried that

year.

I'll cease talking about this now. We can just agree

to disagree.

Out of curiosity, what things upset you that schools waste money

on, so I can check to see if our district is doing these things?

Thanks for the dialogue.

Hilda

From:

Texas-Autism-Advocacy

[mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy ] On Behalf Of Tonya

Hettler

Sent: Monday, May 24, 2010 1:23 AM

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

Subject: RE: Hotel expenditures for our school

district

I understand about the extracurricular aspect, but FFA

(Future Farmers of America) and UIL (University Interscholastic League)

aren’t considered extracurricular here in TX. I know my son’s

FFA was always in Ag class, for which he got a grade. Call me biased, but

I’d a whole lot rather schools sink dollars into these type activities

than some of the things they do. My son’s FFA team was 4 kids, 3

seniors and one sophomore. Two of the kids have already started farming.

To me, that is what school should be about, preparing kids for a viable

profession. Of course, like I said, I’m probably real biased here.

Smile

Tonya

From:

Texas-Autism-Advocacy [mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy ]

On Behalf Of Hilda Bowen

Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2010 12:09 AM

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

Subject: RE: Hotel expenditures for our school

district

Tonya:

Thanks for your input. I have great trouble for the school districts

paying for hotel expenditures kids and competitions that are considered

extracurricular activities. As I recall when I went to school, parents

had to pay if students were going anywhere overnight. They also had to

pay for their travel expenses. Field trips also were paid for by the

parents, even when the " class " was going on one. When did this

switch occur where we are using tax dollars for this? I had to pay for

all chorus competitions (they were school buses and they broke down the cost of

what it cost the club to rent the school bus for the time period and then

divided it among how many individuals were going, or as a group we did

fundraising). That was actually part of my chorus grade, so it wasn't an

extracurricular activity but a school subject, and we had to pay our own

way. Yes, I do need to do more checking, that was just a cursory

examination of the ledger. They don't put explanations in; there are

codes and I have now received those codes so I'll be able to scrutinize it a

bit better.

And they wouldn't spend $800 for a

teacher training that was necessary for my son's program last year (despite the

fact they got $9 million in the special federal funding). I know they

also pay for cell phones for district employees and I'm going through the list

right now seeing how much they are paying to the cell phone companies. My

son did not do so well this year because of it and they are trying to now

change his program for next year. I'm at 20 hours of ARDing right now and

we had 20 hours prior to the meeting to write goals and they just aren't

getting it. On top of likely 80+ hours I've gone through to prepare for

the ARD and all the crap they are putting me through right now. It's a

long story. I do have an advocate with me.

I haven't even gotten through all the

's Deli and Quiznos' (which aren't part of the lunch menu) yet. And

what's up with violin repairs? Again, when I went to school, kids either

had to purchase or rent their instruments from an outside source and they could

buy insurance from that vendor to fix the equipment, but school never paid for

it. More than $10,000 in violin repairs? I doubt instructors would

have to repair that much of their equipment. It's not that big of a

district as compared to Houston ISD. I have to add it up to get the exact

number. Then there are things for uniforms, and stuff like

that. Again, EVERYTHING that we did school was paid for by the parents,

including football uniforms, cheerleading outfits, band outfits, choir

robes.

Hilda

From:

Texas-Autism-Advocacy [mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy ]

On Behalf Of Tonya Hettler

Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 11:23 PM

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

Subject: RE: Hotel expenditures for our school

district

I commend you for checking this but do you have enough

details to make an informed decision? I know at least one of these hotels

could have been related to attending the State Autism Conference, which is a

good thing. In Dec 2008, it was at the Sheraton Arlington, in 2009 it was

the Corpus Christi Omni Bayfront. Neither were an excessively fancy hotel

and everyone attending the conference got the state rate of $85/night. I

think the Austin Doubletree was the sight of the State Transition Conference.

I know it was the year before and again we got the state rate of $85.

In my job we travel to a lot of conferences and stay in

some real high-end hotels but generally only pay the Federal approved

rates. (You can check them at http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?contentType=GSA_BASIC & contentId=17943).

The large conferences usually make a rate deal with the hotel to do this

in exchange for getting the majority of, if not all of, their rooms booked.

Another possible reason for hotel bills is student

travel. I know our oldest son and several others have spent more nights

away from home for FFA Competitions in the last 3 weeks than he has been in

here. There were two weeks that I don’t even think he was in school

over an hour. The competitions were all over TX and Nationals was in

Oklahoma, all of which the school paid for. My guess is they do the same

for the kids competing in UIL and other organizations too.

Of course, none of this means your district isn’t

being excessive. Personally, I’d take the numbers and dates you

looked at to the administration building and ask for details. If you

don’t get answers, take it to the school board.

Tonya

From:

Texas-Autism-Advocacy [mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy ]

On Behalf Of hildabowen

Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 1:13 PM

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

Subject: Hotel expenditures for our school

district

Been going through the on-line check register for our school district. From

September 2009 until April 2010, they've spent $40,211.15 on hotels. Now, I do

understand that sending people to conferences and such there are going to be

hotel expenses, but here are the list of the hotels they stayed at:

Embassy Suites (which would be okay by me)

Wyndham Hotel (various places)

Mark

Omni Mandalay Hotel (Dallas) which has 2 black swans you can feed in the lobby.

Sheraton Dallas

Omni Hotel

Sheraton Arlington

Omni Hotel Bayfront Corpus Christi

Omni Marina Hotel

Driskill Hotel

Hotel (one check alone for $11,428.80 -- it is a fancy

" boutique " hotel in San )

Courtyard (which is okay by me)

Marriott Riverwalk

Worthington Hotel

Drury Inn (this would be okay)

Double Tree Austin

Menger Hotel San

My husband works for a utility company that is still state-regulated -- which

means taxpayer money is used to in their company. He said they are only

allowed, if they travel on business, to stay at a Courtyard or that other type

of pool.

Still working my way through this. This is Conroe ISD and is available on-line

for anyone to see.

Hilda

[Guest guest]

Thanks

Hilda! Yes, we can agree to disagree and I really appreciate you saying

it. My apologies, I should have said it earlier!!

Locally,

my pet peeves are things like the elementary principal that supplies donuts in

the teacher’s lounge, yet the teachers have to fill out their room

supplies out of their pocket and of course the amount spent on athletics.

I don’t mind them having teams, but proportionately there is a whole lot

more spent on athletics than any other organization. I think the funding

for the programs that involve travel should be based on how many kids went into

that profession the year before or received college scholarships in it.

Of course, that would cause an accounting nightmare, so I don’t see it

happening.

One

year when my kids were in elementary they cut all the classroom aides back from

one to a room to one per grade but the football field got a new sprinkler

system and a guy hired to maintain the field. Granted, track also used

the field but if you look at how many kids go into professional sports (or even

play in college) compared to how many our area has going into agriculture, I’d

sure switch the funding around. Of course, athletics (an particularly football)

are sacred cows in TX.

Our

little school is a perfect example of that. The boys basketball team made

it to state this year. They dismissed school early one day and totally

called it off the next day so folks could go to Austin to watch them. We’ve

also had early dismissals for track going to regional yet, here is my kid who

was the highest score in the region in FFA’s Wildlife (team was also #1),

then in Range, the team individually got 1, 2, & 4 at Regional and won as a

team, got 4th as a team at state & 2nd in the nation

and school wasn’t even going to welcome them back. As one-sided as

that is, kids in spec ed get even less recognition but I’m sure I’m

preaching to the choir on that one! (grin)

Another

thing that really gets my blood boiling is how they divert Medicaid

funding. A school employee told me a few years ago that they had “gotten

some Medicaid money released” and that the principal that housed the sp

ed co-op talked the sp ed director out of $100,000 for a new gym floor because our

kids use it too. Of course, that is the same year that they put a time

clock that operates off finger prints in the office. Now, maybe I’m

a hot-head, but if you can’t trust your employees to be honest on their

time sheet, why in the h*** are they working with my kid???

Tonya

From:

Texas-Autism-Advocacy

[mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy ] On Behalf Of Hilda Bowen

Sent: Monday, May 24, 2010 1:54 AM

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

Subject: RE: Hotel expenditures for our school

district

Tonya:

I understand that. We had Future

Business Leaders of America FBLA (mainly involved in things such as state and

district championships, fundraising activities, and service to the business

community). ROTC, DECA (provided opportunities for students enrolled in

marketing courses to utilize their knowledge in regional, state and national

championships, and also had a work-experience program), WSCM (a radio station),

an AV club, a TV club (who produced that produced TV shows), a theater group

(for which some people went on to become actors and crew), chorus (from which

people went on to be successful singers, one was the lead in Phantom of the

Opera for many years on Broadway), Band, Jazz band, Drum Corp, and Orchestra

(who had people go on to join orchestras or be musicians) which was also

offered as a grade, Industrial Arts (which people went on to be the people who

make things go), the math team who went on to become mathematicians (we had

some of the first early models of computers, which were paid for by taxpayers,

which was fine. There is a caption in our yearbook that has a picture of

the computer and says, " No, this computer does not perform dating

service. " Ah, if they only knew in just a decade everything would

change. Also driver's ed was offered as a graded class, but we still had

to pay a fee. Then there was a vocational training program called BOCES

(that offered training in fields such as agriculture, business, communications,

construction, health services and transportation and they have pictures of

students learning how to be a butcher, or a hair cutter, or a chef, or animal

care). It was Board of ative Educational Services. The

school store ran like a business and they called it Kavity Korner.

There were also service organizations, like every school (Anchor, Key and

Leo clubs that I can recall). There were school-level governmental bodies, and

then a general organization over the entire school.

I do not mind them putting tax dollars

into these things, but I do want them to exhibit as much restraint as my

husband's utility company in using the tax dollars sensibly and a 5-star hotel

is not sensible when a 3-star or 4-star hotel for half the cost would have been

totally appropriate. I'll find out for sure when I do a bit more

digging.

If you took the class in school (and we

could pick our classes) and you knew there was a fee attached to it in order to

get a grade, you knew that going into the class. When I decided to take a

mini-course in how to fly an airplane, the school wasn't going to dish up tax

dollars for me to fly a plane. Of course, once we realized how much money

that was going to involve, I had to choose something else. I did take the

first class before I switched, and I realized my thoughts of being a pilot

weren't going to pan out for me. It was not where my passion was.

So it wound up being okay. I did take debate though (explains some stuff,

huh?) I had to argue that the Consumer Product Safety Commission was not

a good agency for the United States to have. Yep, I pulled it from the

hat, but I got an A, so despite thinking it was a great agency, I had to argue

it wasn't. Fortunately competition-level at a local or state level

was not part of my grade and I decided it was too much work for the load I

carried that year.

I'll cease talking about this

now. We can just agree to disagree.

Out of curiosity, what things upset you

that schools waste money on, so I can check to see if our district is doing

these things?

Thanks for the dialogue.

Hilda

From:

Texas-Autism-Advocacy [mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy ]

On Behalf Of Tonya Hettler

Sent: Monday, May 24, 2010 1:23 AM

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

Subject: RE: Hotel expenditures for our school

district

I understand about the extracurricular aspect, but FFA

(Future Farmers of America) and UIL (University Interscholastic League)

aren’t considered extracurricular here in TX. I know my son’s

FFA was always in Ag class, for which he got a grade. Call me biased, but

I’d a whole lot rather schools sink dollars into these type activities

than some of the things they do. My son’s FFA team was 4 kids, 3

seniors and one sophomore. Two of the kids have already started

farming. To me, that is what school should be about, preparing kids for a

viable profession. Of course, like I said, I’m probably real biased

here. Smile

Tonya

From:

Texas-Autism-Advocacy [mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy ]

On Behalf Of Hilda Bowen

Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2010 12:09 AM

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

Subject: RE: Hotel expenditures for our school

district

Tonya:

Thanks for your input. I have great trouble for the school districts

paying for hotel expenditures kids and competitions that are considered

extracurricular activities. As I recall when I went to school, parents

had to pay if students were going anywhere overnight. They also had to

pay for their travel expenses. Field trips also were paid for by the

parents, even when the " class " was going on one. When did this

switch occur where we are using tax dollars for this? I had to pay for

all chorus competitions (they were school buses and they broke down the cost of

what it cost the club to rent the school bus for the time period and then

divided it among how many individuals were going, or as a group we did

fundraising). That was actually part of my chorus grade, so it wasn't an

extracurricular activity but a school subject, and we had to pay our own

way. Yes, I do need to do more checking, that was just a cursory

examination of the ledger. They don't put explanations in; there are

codes and I have now received those codes so I'll be able to scrutinize it a

bit better.

And they wouldn't spend $800 for a

teacher training that was necessary for my son's program last year (despite the

fact they got $9 million in the special federal funding). I know they

also pay for cell phones for district employees and I'm going through the list

right now seeing how much they are paying to the cell phone companies. My

son did not do so well this year because of it and they are trying to now

change his program for next year. I'm at 20 hours of ARDing right now and

we had 20 hours prior to the meeting to write goals and they just aren't

getting it. On top of likely 80+ hours I've gone through to prepare for

the ARD and all the crap they are putting me through right now. It's a

long story. I do have an advocate with me.

I haven't even gotten through all the

's Deli and Quiznos' (which aren't part of the lunch menu) yet. And

what's up with violin repairs? Again, when I went to school, kids either

had to purchase or rent their instruments from an outside source and they could

buy insurance from that vendor to fix the equipment, but school never paid for

it. More than $10,000 in violin repairs? I doubt instructors would

have to repair that much of their equipment. It's not that big of a

district as compared to Houston ISD. I have to add it up to get the exact

number. Then there are things for uniforms, and stuff like

that. Again, EVERYTHING that we did school was paid for by the parents,

including football uniforms, cheerleading outfits, band outfits, choir

robes.

Hilda

From:

Texas-Autism-Advocacy [mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy ]

On Behalf Of Tonya Hettler

Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 11:23 PM

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

Subject: RE: Hotel expenditures for our school

district

I commend you for checking this but do you have enough

details to make an informed decision? I know at least one of these hotels

could have been related to attending the State Autism Conference, which is a

good thing. In Dec 2008, it was at the Sheraton Arlington, in 2009 it was

the Corpus Christi Omni Bayfront. Neither were an excessively fancy hotel

and everyone attending the conference got the state rate of $85/night. I

think the Austin Doubletree was the sight of the State Transition

Conference. I know it was the year before and again we got the state rate

of $85.

In my job we travel to a lot of conferences and stay in

some real high-end hotels but generally only pay the Federal approved rates.

(You can check them at http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?contentType=GSA_BASIC & contentId=17943).

The large conferences usually make a rate deal with the hotel to do this

in exchange for getting the majority of, if not all of, their rooms booked.

Another possible reason for hotel bills is student

travel. I know our oldest son and several others have spent more nights away

from home for FFA Competitions in the last 3 weeks than he has been in

here. There were two weeks that I don’t even think he was in school

over an hour. The competitions were all over TX and Nationals was in

Oklahoma, all of which the school paid for. My guess is they do the same

for the kids competing in UIL and other organizations too.

Of course, none of this means your district isn’t

being excessive. Personally, I’d take the numbers and dates you

looked at to the administration building and ask for details. If you

don’t get answers, take it to the school board.

Tonya

From:

Texas-Autism-Advocacy [mailto:Texas-Autism-Advocacy ]

On Behalf Of hildabowen

Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 1:13 PM

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

Subject: Hotel expenditures for our school

district

Been going through the on-line check register for our school district. From

September 2009 until April 2010, they've spent $40,211.15 on hotels. Now, I do

understand that sending people to conferences and such there are going to be

hotel expenses, but here are the list of the hotels they stayed at:

Embassy Suites (which would be okay by me)

Wyndham Hotel (various places)

Mark

Omni Mandalay Hotel (Dallas) which has 2 black swans you can feed in the lobby.

Sheraton Dallas

Omni Hotel

Sheraton Arlington

Omni Hotel Bayfront Corpus Christi

Omni Marina Hotel

Driskill Hotel

Hotel (one check alone for $11,428.80 -- it is a fancy

" boutique " hotel in San )

Courtyard (which is okay by me)

Marriott Riverwalk

Worthington Hotel

Drury Inn (this would be okay)

Double Tree Austin

Menger Hotel San

My husband works for a utility company that is still state-regulated -- which

means taxpayer money is used to in their company. He said they are only

allowed, if they travel on business, to stay at a Courtyard or that other type

of pool.

Still working my way through this. This is Conroe ISD and is available on-line

for anyone to see.

Hilda

[Guest guest]

Wow, those are biggies. The one about the Medicaid money and the

gym and time-clock fingerprint ID would tick me off, too. I don't have

any other children in the district so things that are going on in the rest of

the school are generally unknown to me other than what I've been told by

parents of those kids.

Hard to sort it all out and unfortunately it will have to wait

since I have part 5 of my ARD (now going on 20 hours), 20 hours pre-ARD

meetings, and more than 80 hour of prep work of my time. The more we meet

and talk, the more I'm finding out that the program they agreed would

have when he came back to the school district in 2007 is not what it looks like

now. I'm transcribing some of the incredulous statements made during the

last meeting on May 17th, like the speech therapist saying that even 10 sign

language words per year might be too much for my son. I told her since he

already had a baseline of having achieved 70 signs in 1 year when he was in the

proper program with a highly qualified teacher using the appropriate ABA and

verbal behavior techniques. When I mentioned that the program

attended for 8 months (that the school paid for as an " extended functional

behavioral assessment), did at least 100 trials per day on requesting and that that

the teacher in the year he learned 70 signs did about 300 requests per day

(documented on data sheets), she said loudly, 100?????? No wonder

he didn't make as much progress this year. We are still on the crappy

communication goals they wrote. They are awful. They also want to

change his maintenance program. It's just a nightmare. One member

of the team is a BCBA with no clinical experience (I think she might have put

down her experience was in the school district). No one at that table has

seen what his program looked like (i.e., what they are supposed to be

replicating because the special education director denied my request in an ARD

(yes, a noncensensus member, which was parroted by the teacher saying that

" we " feel " we " can handle the training) that the new staff

at the new school be directly trained by the staff from the private facility as

the previous teacher in the previous year was (which appropriate follow up on a

monthly and then every 2-month basis). And then there is the whole

melodrama going on underneath where the special education director accused me

of writing the report that our consultant wrote (the consultant she paid for 8

months).

So if I seem a little punchy, I apologize for it.

Hilda