Tis the week to blog about ethics violations by current/former law enforcement! This one seems blatantly obvious!!!! And from the School Board President no less.
So, I have a hard enough time keeping up with the city (plan commission, finance, council meetings) and county board (personnel and finance, public protection and judiciary, public works and transportation) on Mondays and Tuesdays that I often don’t watch school board meetings too. This week alone there was Judge Doyle Square, the assessors reorg, voting on police in schools and investigating what happened with the not being able to add floors to the jail, as promised. Plus, the school administration makes everything related to schools impossible to figure out. I want to know where I can get my secret decoder ring (usually its just called TJ Mertz) However, since the school board meeting was less than 5 minutes, I took a look and blogged it.
And ugh! There’s a reason I don’t watch. The all woman school board acted just like any other school board. The disdain for the public and their input prevails, the secret society mentality showed through brightly. No comment by any elected official about the final vote on having cops in schools? And . . . of course, ethics . . . they are just a joke.
WHAT THE SCHOOL BOARD ETHICS RULES ARE
They have two sets of ethics policies at the school board level.
Ethics, Expectations for School Board Members – Policy 1540
These rules say school board members should:
1. Understand and comply with the Code of Ethics for local government officials as set forth in sections 19.41 to 19.59 of the Wisconsin Statutes;
17. Avoid conflicts of interest and the appearance of conflicts of interest, including conflicts of interest as set forth in Wisconsin Stat. sec 19.46 and BOARD POLICY 9000 (Code of Conduct). A conflict of interest generally arises when aBOARD MEMBER’S private interest, either personal or employment-related, would benefit from or be harmed by his/her actions as a member of the BOARD. When a conflict of interest arises during a closed session or a WORK GROUP meeting, the affected BOARD MEMBER will state the nature and extent of the conflict or appearance of the conflict, shall physically remove him/herself from the table during the portion of the meeting during which the issue is being discussed, and refrain from participating in any discussion of or voting on the issue giving rise to the conflict. The member may also choose to remove him/herself from the room. When a conflict of interest arises during a REGULAR meeting, the affected BOARD MEMBER will state the nature and extent of the conflict or appearance of the conflict, shall physically remove him/herself from the table during the portion of the meeting during which the issue is being discussed, and refrain from participating in any discussion of or voting on the issue giving rise to the conflict
Ethics, Code of Conduct – Policy 9000
Conflict of Interest
2. No employee or member of the BOARD OF EDUCATION whose non-DISTRICT employment or independent contracting is compensated by a DISTRICT vendor shall participate in or attempt to influence the DISTRICT’S purchasing process in matters involving such vendor.
WHAT SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT DID, AND DID NOT DO
1. Gloria Reyes continues to work for the City of Madison. She works in the Community Development Division. I just looked this up today.
2. The city is the vendor in this case.
3. She is not allowed to “participate in” the districts purchasing process. However, she made the motion to accept the contract! You can watch the video or read my transcription yourself here.
4. And in the very least, she should have at least disclosed! Plus physically removed herself from the table and refrained from participating or voting. Technically, we’re dealing with some more shitty language and the policy only addresses conficts in “closed session or a WORKGROUP” meeting and during a “REGULAR” meeting. This was a “Special Board of Education Meeting in Open Session – WORKSHOP” None of these words are included in the definitions section of the policy.
NOW WHAT?
What are the remedies?
Ethics, Expectations for School Board Members – Policy 1540
The BOARD shall be responsible for the BOARD’S performance and will monitor and regularly discuss the BOARD’S involvement in continuous improvement and adherence to the BOARD’S Code of Ethics.
Ethics, Code of Conduct – Policy 9000
Sanctions
Employees violating this policy or procedure are subject to discipline, up to and including dismissal.
The rules also say:
An employee or member of the BOARD OF EDUCATION who enters into an employment or independent contractor agreement with a DISTRICT vendor shall file a disclosure form with the ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT FOR BUSINESS SERVICES, or her/his designee, within 30 days after entering into that agreement, and annually thereafter while such agreement remains in effect.
and:
The SUPERINTENDENT, the ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT FOR BUSINESS SERVICES, and all employees with DISTRICT purchasing authority shall (1) file a Statement of Economic Interests with the LEGAL COUNSEL OF THE BOARD prior to April 30th of each year and (2) file a disclosure form with the ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT FOR BUSINESS SERVICES or her/his designee within 30 days after entering into an employment or independent contractor agreement contemplating annual compensation of $1,000.00 or more.
I’ve done an open records requests for these items. Not sure I did it right, it was clear as mud. Neither of those titles was in the Staff Directory. I never found anyone with a title “LEGAL COUNSEL OF THE BOARD”, so I sent it to their General Counsel.
from: Brenda Konkel <brendakonkel@gmail.com>to: Matthew Bell <mwbell@madison.k12.wi.us>
date: Jun 12, 2019, 11:53 AM
subject: open records request
mailed-by: gmail.com
Please send me the Statement of Economic Interests forms for the current School Board Members. Any questions, please let me know!
Brenda Konkel
I couldn’t figure out who the “ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT FOR BUSINESS SERVICES” was either. 
So I sent that open records request to Atty. Bell as well. They don’t have an open records request policy in their policies, so I’m not sure what kind of a response I will get.
from: Brenda Konkel <brendakonkel@gmail.com>to: Matthew Bell <mwbell@madison.k12.wi.us>
date: Jun 12, 2019, 12:07 PM
subject: Re: open records request
mailed-by: gmail.com
Second open records request.
This request is for all school board members as well. It is for the required form that all employees with DISTRICT purchasing authority are required to fill out. The policy says they should “file a disclosure form with the ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT FOR BUSINESS SERVICES or her/his designee within 30 days after entering into an employment or independent contractor agreement contemplating annual compensation of $1,000.00 or more. ”
I couldn’t find anyone in the staff directory with the title ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT FOR BUSINESS SERVICES, so I am sending this to you as the legal council.
Any questions, let me know.
STATE VIOLATION?
So, here’s what the state laws say . . .
19.46 Conflict of interest prohibited; exception.
19.46(1)(1) Except in accordance with the commission’s advice under sub. (2) and except as otherwise provided in sub. (3), no state public official may:
(a) Take any official action substantially affecting a matter in which the official, a member of his or her immediate family, or an organization with which the official is associated has a substantial financial interest.
but that doesn’t seem to apply
(2) “Associated,” when used with reference to an organization, includes any organization in which an individual or a member of his or her immediate family is a director, officer, or trustee, or owns or controls, directly or indirectly, and severally or in the aggregate, at least 10 percent of the outstanding equity or of which an individual or a member of his or her immediate family is an authorized representative or agent.
CONCLUSION?
- There was a violation of the school board policy by the school board president in that she works for the vendor (city) and participated in deciding if that vendor got a contract.
- It’s unclear how to file a complaint
- It’s unclear what the consequences of filing a complaint would be
- The state of ethics in local government needs to be taken seriously and addressed
- Does anyone care? Ethics?
