Following the publication of my March 8, 2011, Letter to the Editor in the Carteret News Times titled “Where is our Education Money Going?” I began to write a follow-up letter to the editor titled “Kudos to the Carteret County Board of Education, and Superintendent Novey.” I wanted to congratulate the BOE and Mr. Novey because of their quick response and achievement in raising the Carteret County School’s transparency grade from a “D” to an “A” on the NCTransparency web site. However, before I finished the letter, Mr. Novey launched a personal attack in the News Times on March 16, 2011 in which he made false accusations concerning statements contained in my original letter.
Mr. Novey said that I made “misguided statements.” I disagree. I had a goal, I presented FACTS (most provided by the school board at the Board of Commissioners (BOC) meeting in February 2011), I expressed my opinion of the FACTS, and I achieved my objectives, which were (1) to call attention to the lack of school board transparency on a particular web site, and to get that grade improved, and (2) to put school officials on notice that the goal stated at the BOC meeting of “spending the money” is not an acceptable way to manage taxpayer money. I accomplished my goals, along with a bonus showing how some public officials react when defending their failures by using personal attacks and disinformation.
Mr. Novey launched his personal attack by incorrectly stating that I “falsely accused the school system of not making data available.” Mr. Novey either didn’t pay close attention when he read my letter, or he made a “misstatement” like some public officials are prone to do now days. FACT: Quoting from my editorial “But if anyone needs even more data to persuade anyone but a liberal that more spending is not better, THERE ARE PLENTY OF DATA AVAILABLE TO ANALYZE, ALTHOUGH THE CARTERET COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION DOESN’T MAKE IT EASY TO FIND.” Another quote, “the data is there. You just have to pry it out of them.” So Mr. Novey, please tell me where I “falsely” accused the school system of not making data available? Please tell me how making the data hard to obtain is in any way equivalent to “not making data available.” Sir, it is your statement that is “misguided.”
Mr. Novey then proceeded to mis-characterized the basis for my conclusion that “the data were hard to find” by saying that I based my statements on an “out dated web site.” Mr. Novey is wrong again. FACT: I made my determination that the data was available but hard to find by trying to find the information on the BOE web site. I then determined that the school system had a grade of “D” on the NC Transparency web site by looking at the web site, and observing that the data were not there.
After understanding that Mr. Novey made misstatements and mis-characterizations about my editorial thus far, one might wonder if Mr. Novey’s response might contain more “misstatements.” The answer is yes.
Contrary to what Mr. Novey said, the BOE was, in FACT, contacted by another Carteret County taxpayer some 6 to 8 weeks prior to my editorial. That person reported the grade of “D” on the NC Transparency web site, and asked if the BOE could check it out. However, absolutely nothing was done by Mr. Novey in response to that telephone inquiry. Maybe he didn’t know of the inquiry, or maybe he just did nothing; I don’t know. What I do know is that Mr. Novey misrepresented the facts in his response. What else did Mr. Novey get wrong.
Mr. Novey said that I had never contacted the BOE requesting information [on salaries of school’s administrative staff]. But it is Mr. Novey who continues to bend the truth and who doesn’t check the facts. Following the BOC’s meeting on February 21st, I asked one of the Commissioners if the BOC had administrative salary information for the school system. He said he did not, but would get it for me. It took about two weeks for me to receive the information. If that information were as readily available on the BOE web site as claimed by Mr. Novey, wouldn’t it seem reasonable that the link to the information on the BOE web site would be something less than two weeks, or even five days? The FACT is, that document was not on the BOE web site when it was requested. The BOE told me that Mr. Novey received the request from the acting County Manager and asked that the list be compiled. Then Mr. Novey wanted to review the table before it was sent to the County Manager. Both actions reasonable unless the document was already available on the web site as he implied, in which case Mr. Novey should have already approved the list prior to posting.
Mr. Novey stated that the BOE’s web site is “functional not fancy” and “is loaded with information.” Well he is right about everything but the “functional” part. Don’t take my word for it, go to the BOE site and judge for yourself. How easy it is to find any of the documents they have since posted on NC Transparency? If you visit NC Transparency, you will now find 14 documents that you can access with a single click. These documents include budget, proposed budget, contracts, test scores, employee salaries and the like. If you have the time to wade through the documents on the BOE site, see if you can find any of those documents or the document detailing the salaries of the school’s administrative staff. Some, or all may be there, but note how long it takes you to find them. I am not asking the BOE to change its web site, just to make information more easily accessible. After all, they provided much of the information to NC Transparency in less than four days. What is still missing on NC Transparency? Checkbook, Capital Improvement Plan, School Spending and Needs, NAEP Scores, EVAAS (Individual Teacher Performance). See if you can find these documents on the BOE web site. Some you might, but some I haven’t been able to find. Look, it’s not whether or not the information is available, it’s how many hoops you, the taxpayer, have to jump through to get the information. It’s whether you have to wade through tons of documents on the BOE web site, or call the BOE and have to wait two weeks (or five days) to get what you asked for, or whether you’re a member of a “special” group that has easy access to the Superintendent because you support him and the BOE.
Mr. Novey also was critical of what he called “negative comments” I made about the Chair of the BOE. However, the “negative comments” were direct quotes that Ms Neagle made at the BOC meeting in February. I expressed my concern about her statement hat the BOE’s “goal was to spend the money.” I, quite frankly, am concerned when any public employee makes a statement at a public meeting that their “goal is to spend the money.” Now, perhaps Ms. Neagle “misspoke,” but for Mr. Novey to tell me I don’t have the right to be concerned about a pronouncement like that, misspoken or not, is out of line even for a public employee who makes $142,400/year plus benefits.
Mr. Novey then made “misguided statements” of his own when he said that “Mrs Neagle wants to spend the money in a way the taxpayer’s overwhelmingly authorized in Nov. 2005.” FACT, that is not what she said at the BOC meeting. But what is more disturbing than her proclamation “to spend the money” is Mr. Novey’s rewriting of history claiming that “the taxpayer’s overwhelmingly authorized” the project. FACT: According to a BOE spokesman at the BOC meeting, the voters actually voted for a plan to build new buildings at Eastern Carteret High School, and to demolish the old buildings located in the flood plain. The current work being done is to refurbish the old buildings instead of demolishing them, not what the voters approved in 2005. I said in my letter to the editor that I made no judgment on the change in plans, but that I questioned the mind-set of anyone stating that the “goal was to spend the money.” I standby that comment, and Mr. Novey’s spinning the truth does not change my mind. I echo Mr. Novey’s statement, “I simply request that before public statements are made that facts be verified.” That standard should apply to Mr. Novey as well as anyone else.