Information is currency for democracy.
- Thomas Jefferson
A day without sunshine is like, you know,
night. -
Steve Martin
Education is unique among consumer products;
when it fails to work as advertised, it's the customer that gets labeled as
defective. - Kevin
Killion
Please
download for best results in using
this website.
Courage is the most important of all
the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other
virtues consistently. You can't be consistently kind or fair or
humane or generous, not without courage, because if you don't have
it, sooner or later you will stop and say, "The threat is too much.
The difficulty is ...too high. The challenge is too great. ~ Maya
Angelou
The use of Eanes
ISD facilities is one of the first areas researched by KeepEanesInformed.
Excerpt from
KeepEanesInformed audit: April 29,
2003 - An e-mail between
Carolyn Ryder & Cheryl
Barrios shows the problems
with WYBA “They use our
facilities and don’t like to
monitor the parent[s] of
their kids, who bring in
food & drink despite signs
we’ve posted. They also take
keys we issue to them and
have them cut for whomever
they wish against our
instructions.”
KeepEanesInformed asked
Eanes ISD leadership:
Why
are we giving priority 9
renters keys to our
buildings at all?
Isn't this a safety and
security risk?
Later, KeepEanesInformed
learned that this problem is long-standing and the board was
notified in 2001. From
December 18, 2001 Board
Meeting Minutes:
KeepEanesInformed requested and obtained
facilities information through open records
beginning in December of 2003 and after review, initiated a district review of this issue. These links provide a sample of the
documents obtained through the Texas Public Information Act. The documents will provide a context and
overview of the polices as well as the practices in our school district.
- How much revenue could be generated by following current
board policy?
- Who is benefiting financially
from the current EISD practice?
- Are groups such as churches, boy scouts, and outside
athletics organizations treated equitably?
A rental schedule used to determine how to bill Westlake
Youth Basketball Association (WYBA) for 2001-02 shows they were only billed
$20/day. Furthermore, they were billed on “approximate days usage each
month” and there was no monitoring by Eanes ISD to
confirm
“actual days usage each month. The Hill
Country Middle School gym was used
virtually every night. Renting all our facilities
at $20/day brought $14,640 in revenue. If Eanes
ISD had charged
exactly per the district schedule (Business Operating Guidelines 1.02.00) we would
have made: $207,716 or 14.2 times the actual revenue.
This
does not account for custodial charges, which would bring the total revenue
to $222,356 (A 15.2-fold increase in revenue).
Note: Additional
concerns included the "breakout" of the school board into
committees such as a "Eanes ISD Board Facilities Committee"
(board minutes available only on KeepEanesInformed)
headed by Jim Strickland (sports marketing - does that
include uniforms?) to sports groups.
The rental of EISD facilities is a
current board study session issue. Please visit the "Board of
Trustees" page or "Open Records" page of this site for more information.
Revisions to Facilities Summary of Tiers and Rate Structure -
Distributed at September 20, 2004 Board Study Session. Includes:
updated Summary of Tiers, and Rate Structure. For full handout from this
meeting, please scroll down to "Board Meeting Handouts" section of this page.
Revisions to Facility Use Policy GKD Local - This documentation is
the handout from September 13, 2004 board study session: includes Section B:
Draft of Tiers for Facility Use, Section C: Draft of Facility Use Charges and
Addendum of Information for Section B and C.
Comparison information gathered by KeepEanesInformed:
Facility fees in Plano may rise
Currently, Plano charges $19 an hour to rent out an
elementary school gym to nonprofit groups, plus custodial and other fees. In a
district survey of seven area districts, including Plano, the average fee was
$69.11. Three charge $100 or more. [ View Article ]
Oct 12, 2004
Plano Facility Use Policy GKD
- NOTE: Click on links (see blue bar at bottom of screen) to access all
associated information: 1) legal framework 2)local policy 3)
Administrative Regulations and 4) Forms/Exhibits. Please note that items
2, 3, 4 vary across school districts.
Also, see the June 14,
2004 Board Study Session handout
on this Webpage.
Also see article by Dane Anderson on this
issue and work by KeepEanesInformed - Westlake Picayune, September 23, page 22.
