Norreese L. Haynes

 

Dr. Mark Elgart

President/CEO

ADVANCED Advancing Excellence in Education

1866 Southern Lane

Decatur, Georgia  30033-4097

 

OFFICIAL RESPONSE – December 8, 2007

 

Dear Dr. Elgart:

 

   I feel that it is ironic that I have to respond to you on matters of micromanaging when I have been the person on the school board warning my colleagues about micromanaging.  Please note Exhibit One, a document which I gave out to my colleagues at the July 30, 2007 school board meeting.  I was reminding my colleagues they could only vote “yea” or “nay” to a recommendation of the superintendent.  In this case, what was under consideration was the Alternative Education program.  Dr. Pulliam had recommended the Community Education Partners (CEP) to be the vendor to provide this service for the school system.  I have been the most vocal advocate on the school board for stronger discipline in the school system – even before I took office.  Please note my Swearing-in speech (Exhibit Two).  I had been hearing about the Superintendent’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Discipline before I assumed office.  I believe that it was in December of 2006 that the school system had a community-wide meeting at the Eula Ponds Perry Center about the findings and recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Discipline.  The Blue Ribbon Commission on Discipline recommended that the school board adopt CEP as the vendor to provide Alternative Education and published this recommendation.  (See Exhibit Three.)  Richard Marable, a former State Senator from Rome, Georgia served as Master of Ceremonies of this meeting.  Mr. Marable was effusive in his praise for CEP.  Ms. Ericka Davis, our board chair, appeared also to be excited about CEP and asked her colleagues on the board if they wanted to visit one of CEP’s site locations.  Dr. Rick Maddox, the  District Liaison for CEP, was standing nearby when Ms. Davis asked us if we wanted to visit, and he approached us after the meeting about planning a visit.  (The year before, board members Eddie White, Yolanda Everett, Lois Baines-Hunter, LaToya Walker, and I believe Connie Kitchens had visited a CEP site location.  Representative Darryl Jordan had also visited one of the locations.)  Some board members had scheduling conflicts, but Ms. Baines-Hunter and I, along with some community leaders, visited the location in Orlando on March 1 and March 2, 2007.  (I also attended another meeting of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Discipline.  I was thinking at the time that this commission had the authority to provide its recommendations to the school board, just like the recently-commissioned Superintendent Search Committee will provide its recommendations to the school board.)

 

   At the time, I did not know anything about “RFPs” or “RFQs.”  I had never heard of these terms.  I just assumed since the Superintendent’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Discipline had recommended CEP for the Alternative Education program, then Dr. Pulliam would in a pro forma manner recommend CEP to the school board, and then the school board would vote the matter up or down.  It was in a matter of time that the school board attorney at the time, Mr. Harold Eddy, probably explained the RFQ process to us who were new on the school board.  Therefore, I respected the process and made sure that I did not ever advocate for any particular vendor in both public meetings and in private.  However, I notice that my accuser, Rod Johnson, provided you with some school board minutes.  Just the other day, I had time to read the minutes, and I was wondering why he sent these minutes to you since not one scintilla of evidence in these minutes even hint that I was pushing for any particular program.  In fact, these minutes do nothing but exonerate me.  For example, in the March 5, 2007 school board meeting, I proposed that we follow a time frame for sending out an RFQ so that we as a board could get on track with the business of getting an Alternative Education program in place.  My motion failed to be placed on the agenda by a 4-4-1 vote.  The proposal, however, generated some talk, with board members Lois Baines-Hunter and Eddie White voicing their approval of the CEP program.  Ericka Davis and Attorney Eddy cautioned board members to refrain from stating openly their approval of any particular vendor.  Perhaps these two board members were somewhat confused because in December of 2005, Ms. Davis herself was open and verbose in her praise for CEP.  (See Exhibit Four.)  But, in this March meeting, I assured Ms. Davis that I was only trying to move forward the RFQ process.  Note on page 25 of the minutes of this meeting:  “Norreese Haynes:  Madam Chairman, first of all, I haven’t said a thing about CEP.  I said an RFQ, so if you know something I don’t know[,] I wish you would share that with me.  The only thing I’ve asked is for a resolution for an RFQ.  Everybody keeps saying CEP, DEP, BET, [sic.] I haven’t said anything.  The only thing I’ve asked for is a resolution to instruct the Superintendent for an RFQ.  That was it.  Everybody is talking about CEP, [sic.] whatever program will help my children, OK?  Whatever you think will help my children.  I’ve asked for an RFQ.  Everybody keeps saying CEP.”  Now, for the life of me, I cannot see one iota of unethical conduct in proposing a motion to be adopted, asking the superintendent to follow a time frame in putting forth an RFQ so that we could have an Alternative Education program in place for the beginning of this school year.  Today is December 8, 2007, and we still do not have an effective program in place.

 

   Now, let me return to the July 30, 2007 memo which I shared with my colleagues on the school board (Exhibit One).  The context for this document was the fact that even after Dr. Pulliam had recommended CEP on June 4, 2007, and the SASS Committee unanimously confirmed her recommendation on June 18, 2007, Rod Johnson and Ericka Davis were still trying to find ways to get another Alternative Education vendor, Camelot, into the school system.  On June 22, 2007, Rod Johnson called me and asked if I could meet him and Ericka Davis at the Dwarf House in Hapeville.  I told Rod that I was with Dr. John Trotter and asked if it were OK with him if Dr. Trotter came with me.  In fact, we picked up Rod at the County Jail (where he was working at the time for Sheriff Victor Hill).  We traveled to Hapeville to meet Ms. Davis.  At the meeting, Ms. Davis and Mr. Johnson kept pushing to have Camelot added to the school system’s Alternative Education program.  They said that Camelot was threatening to sue the school system essentially because it felt that it was the best vendor according to the Committee which reviewed the applications.  In fact, at the June 4, 2007 board meeting, Rod Johnson asked Lonita Collier which program the committee recommended to the superintendent, and Ms. Collier said, “Camelot.”  The superintendent had already placed in our school board packet her recommendation for CEP and the rationale behind her recommendation (track record, history of company, etc.).  (See Exhibit Five.)  The RFQ guidelines said that the superintendent would be the person making the final recommendation to the school board.  This questioning by Mr. Johnson appeared to be a set-up.  The superintendent apologized to the school board for this snafu, and she stated that she had spoken firmly to Ms. Collier for this administrative misstep.  If anything caused the school board to decide to re-bid the Alternative Education program, it was this interaction between Mr. Johnson and Ms. Collier because Camelot did indeed file a restraining action in court, mentioning that two board members (Mr. White and Ms. Baines-Hunter) had talked about “CEP” in the aforementioned March board meeting and mentioning the interaction between Mr. Johnson and Ms. Collier at the June 4, 2007 board meeting.  Never have I been blamed (or even suggested) as someone who caused the Alternative Education program to be re-bid – until Mr. Johnson’s fanciful allegations came along.  Mr. Johnson apparently had at least two primary motives for pushing for Camelot – even after CEP had been recommended by Dr. Pulliam and unanimously confirmed by the SASS Committee.  The first motivation was perhaps his employment by Sheriff Victor Hill.  My colleague David Ashe told me that Sheriff Hill called him, pushing to Camelot to be adopted by the school board.  The second motivation perhaps was the issue of whether or not Michelle Thomas would be running against Mr. Johnson for Clerk of Superior Court.  Mr. Johnson had told me earlier that Kevin Thomas, Chairman of the Clayton County Democratic Party, was threatening to run his wife Michelle against him.  (Michelle Thomas had run for State Senate and lost to Gail Davenport in 2006.)  At the time, Mr. Thomas appeared to be a lobbyist for Camelot.  Whatever his motives were apparently led him to keep pushing for Camelot all the way to the time of the July 30, 2007 Appropriations Committee meeting.  (The whole board actually assembled on that date to meet as a “Committee of the Whole.”)  Mr. Johnson chaired the now-defunct Appropriations Committee, and Ericka Davis and I also served on this committee.  I called Deanna Jordan, the Board secretary, on Friday, July 27, 2007, to ask what was on the Committee’s agenda for Monday, July 30, 2007, and she told me on the phone that Rod had placed the following on the agenda:  “Alternative Education – For Discussion.”  I knew then that Rod was up to his old tricks, and I called him on the phone to register my complaint as a committee member.  (I had emails in my possession which indicated that Mr. Johnson was asking that the “bids” [note:  plural] from the Alternative Education “vendors” [note: plural again] be sent to him and Attorney Dorsey Hopson.  These emails were dated July12, 2007, after Dr. Pulliam’s recommendation and the SASS Committee’s unanimous confirmation for CEP.  (See Exhibit Six.)  Mr. Johnson was also trying to sell a rather expensive ad to CEP for a newspaper published by one of his colleagues at the time at Sheriff Victor Hill’s office.  It was my understanding that Camelot had already committed to running a full page ad in this newspaper.)   It was our job as members of the Appropriations Committee to simply give an up or down vote on the financing of the CEP vendor which Dr. Pulliam and the SASS Committee had already recommended and approved.  Rod must have changed the agenda because when the board (meeting as a Committee as a Whole) showed up on Monday evening, July 30, 2007, the board simply voted upon Dr. Pulliam’s recommendation.  The board voted 7-0-1 for confirming Dr. Pulliam’s recommendation.  (Ms. Scott was not present, and Ms. Davis voted to abstain.)  Mr. Johnson recommended that the board accept Dr. Pulliam’s recommendation of CEP, and Mr. Ashe seconded Mr. Johnson’s motion.

 

   It was a few days later that Attorney Hopson recommended that the board should probably re-bid the Alternative Education program because of Camelot’s legal action.  (See the Camelot law suit filed in the Clayton County Superior Court.  See Exhibit Seven.  This action was later dismissed without prejudice by Camelot.)  It was at the August 6, 2007 school board meeting that the board voted to re-bid the Alternative Education program.  Eddie White made the motion to do so, and Sandra Scott seconded the motion.  I voted to re-bid just like all of my colleagues did.  If I had some type of unsavory bias toward CEP, then why did I vote to re-bid the program?  Why wasn’t I the first board member with my hand in the air trying to recommend that the school board accept Dr. Pulliam’s recommendation?  Or, why didn’t I jump in there to second Mr. White’s motion to accept Dr. Pulliam’s recommendation?  Have you even asked Dr. Pulliam or Dr. Duncan if I have ever asked them to recommend CEP or anything for that matter?  Dr. Elgart, I sometimes engage in “vigorous debate” (as recognized in Policy BH; Exhibit Eight), and I may even cross the line sometimes in “confronting” a fellow board member (but I hasten to publicly apologize; see Exhibits Nine and 10).  However, I have always taken pride in not micromanaging the school system.  I have made discipline my number one priority, and I have even stated in public board meetings that “we need to remove the thugs from our schools.”  I do not apologize for this.

 

   For the record:  The minutes for the June 4, 2007 board meeting are factually wrong.  I have already brought this to the attention of the school board secretary who was willing to correct them, but the full board has to vote on them.  The June 4^th minutes has me (not Rod Johnson) questioning Ms. Collier about the committee’s recommendation to Dr. Pulliam concerning the CEP/Camelot vote.  We have the record preserved on video (in fact, the video has played many times on public television).  Many people were also in the audience.  Rod Johnson, not me, questioned Ms. Collier:  “Ms. Collier, did the committee make the recommendation?”  Ms. Collier replied:  “The committee did make a recommendation.”  The minutes have me (not Rod Johnson) asking another question:  “What was their [sic.] recommendation?”  The video easily proves that Rod Johnson, not me, asked these questions.  I hope that this clarifies this situation of June 4, 2007.

 

   Dr. Pulliam let all school board members know that we were invited to attend the meetings wherein the potential vendors for the Alternative Education program made presentations and/or discussed pre-bid questions.  (You can query board members about this.  In fact, I wish that you would indeed ask all the board members if they recall Dr. Pulliam inviting them to these meetings.)  In fact, at the first one that I attended, Dr. Pulliam made a point of thanking me for showing up, and she said that she would provide DVDs for those board members who could not attend.  Showing up for a meeting like this, after having been invited by the superintendent to attend, is a little different than showing up at at Cabinet meeting with an organizational chart like Mr. Johnson did on July 24, the morning after the school board had appointed Dr. Duncan as superintendent.  I, along with my colleagues, had been invited to show up.  Mr. Johnson apparently sent to you the minutes of the Pre-proposal conference of April 9, 2007 and September 6, 2007.  Let me address these two meetings.  At the April meeting, I arrived late, and Ms. Luvenia Jackson thanked me for coming. All the vendors were represented.  After much discussion, I mentioned that I was concerned with the idea that a contract would be offered for just one year.  I thought that this might keep vendors from investing sufficient resources in the Alternative Education program if they thought that their investment would be short-lived.  My concern was answered to my satisfaction.  I also had heard a rumor that the school system might start off with only 180 students (the population of our current alternative school).  Again, the staff clarified the situation, stating that they had decided on a minimum of 500 slots for students.  We have about 55,000 students in our school system, and I knew (from having worked for several years in our school system) that 180 slots would be an insufficient number to have an effective alternative school.  Now, if I am invited to these meetings and I have some questions that I would like for the staff to clarify, I hardly think that this is bid-tampering, especially since the bid had not even been issued and all vendors were present when I openly asked for clarification.   I think that perhaps Mr. Johnson was straining a gnat and swallowing a camel.  Perhaps he was more reacting to my questioning the fact that his legislative-wife works in the school system and her pay was not appropriately docked while she served in the legislative session of 2007.

 

   At the September 6, 2007 Pre-proposal conference,  I specifically stated that I was concerned more about whether any school board members and/or employees (or former school board members who had been on the school board or employees who had been employed by the board within the last year) had been given any compensation by any of the Alternative Education vendors.  I said that board members have more power than community members when it comes to this program.  I said that we have a policy that addresses this (Policy BHA; Exhibit 11).  As I mentioned earlier, I had in my possession emails which indicated that Rod Johnson was tampering with the bid process.  (See Exhibit Six.)  In fact, at this meeting, I stated (and this is reflected in a rather flawed transcription of this September 9, 2007 meeting):  “Some things that disturbs [sic.] me that I got through e-mails [sic.] were [sic.; ‘where’] board members were saying[,] [‘] [P]ass things this way, and pass things that a [sic.] way,[‘] and that’s illegal[.]  [W]e can’t have that type of stuff” (page 4).  In Ms. Collier’s summary of this meeting, she simply added at the bottom of the page the following:  “Norreese Haynes has suggested [note:  “suggested”] that a Conflict of Interest Statement be added to the solicitation.  He wants it to indicate that companies need to list any payments made to former employees or board members [including Norreese Haynes, by the was] within the last year….please advise if this statement should be added.”  Note: For the record, this statement was not added.  So much for my “suggestion’s” influence.  I still think, in my personal opinion, that this type of conflict-of-interest question should be added to all of the system’s bids, and in the future, I plan to introduce this as a policy.  So, again, was Mr. Johnson straining a gnat and swallowing a camel?  I only was suggesting a question that could protect the school system and the board members.  I hardly think that this is bid-tampering.

 

   I now want to address your reference to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) wherein Mr. Johnson alleges that the Metro Association of Classroom Educators (MACE) received ten million dollars from the Community Education Partners (CEP).  First of all, this is a ludicrous, baseless, and completely false allegation.  MACE has received absolutely nothing from CEP – not even ten cents, much less ten million dollars.  This laughable claim should tell you more about the mindset of Mr. Johnson than anything else.  When a lawyer from McKenna Long confronted Mr. Johnson about this ridiculous claim in the November 5, 2007 school board meeting, Mr. Johnson hastened to tell him and the entire audience that he had called the AJC that day and retracted his claim that MACE received ten million dollars from CEP.  In this same article, Mr. Johnson claimed that I had threatened the superintendent’s job concerning this matter.  But, in the same November 5, 2007 school board meeting, Dr. Duncan stated unequivocally that no board member had threatened her job.  At the December 6, 2007 school board meeting, in executive session while meeting with Mr. Glenn Brock, Mr. Johnson again retracted this statement, although I reminded him that this false allegation was still being printed.  (The AJC even mentioned this ten million dollar claim in its editorial section the next morning, December 7, 2007.)   Your letter to Dr. Duncan was dated November 12, 2007, and you appear to give credence to this claim which had been retracted by Mr. Johnson a week earlier.  However, you must have not known of Mr. Johnson’s retraction or of Dr. Duncan’s denial that she had been threatened.  I think her exact words were this:  “No board member has threatened me.”  How, then, I am to respond to this?  It is difficult to prove or disprove a negative or to disprove an allegation that did not occur.  If you said that I stole ten cars from a car lot and I did not do it, how can I prove this negative?  This is one of the main reasons why the burden of proof always lies with the State. Am I to doubt Mr. Johnson’s retraction?  Am I to doubt Dr. Duncan’s denial?  For the record, however, let me state this in words which you cannot misunderstand.  I have never threatened Dr. Duncan (nor Dr. Pulliam) in any manner or form about anything.  This is just the figment of a desperate man’s imagination (or dissimulation).  Rod Johnson knows that these allegations are untrue, but he made them apparently to get the heat off of him and Ericka Davis and perhaps Attorney Dorsey Hopson – because of the light being shed on the now infamous land deal, the fraud in involved in the two contracts for Dorsey Hopson, and State Representative Celeste Johnson’s (Rod wife’s) inordinate salary and her pay not be appropriately docked while she served during the legislative session of 2007.  These allegations are entirely untrue and came as a shock to me and others.  While I have enough information on Rod Johnson and Ericka Davis to sink the Bismark, so to speak, I refrained, out of consideration for our children, from filing any complaints with SACS against these two board members.  However, I now feel compelled to file complaints against both Mr. Johnson and Ms. Davis in order to set the record straight for posterity concerning who were the micromanagers on the Clayton County Board of Education in 2007.  While I am a peaceful man, I am not going to allow someone like Rod Johnson to unconscionably trample under foot my reputation in this community.  The incredulity of Rod Johnson filing complaints against his fellow board members is beyond comprehension, and I am sure that this is a first for you and SACS.

 

   Let me now address my relationship with MACE.  I am a salaried employee with MACE.  I have worked for MACE since the year 2000, the same year that the Georgia Supreme Court, in a split decision, ruled against my election in 2000 when I defeated incumbent Barbara Wells by a 59% to 41% margin.  In 2004, Mr. Johnson jumped out early in his campaign for this same seat.  I got into the race late, and he beat me by one (1) vote to go into the run-off against Ms. Wells.  Mr. Johnson’s wife asked if I would endorse her husband Rod, and I gladly endorsed him in a telephone message to the voters of his district.  I was working at MACE during this time and I was still working at MACE  when I defeated incumbent Allen Johnson for the school board in District Eight in 2006.  MACE never endorses candidates (even my candidacies) in political races.  The Georgia Association of Educators (GAE)/Clayton County Education Association (CCEA) always endorses candidates in political races – even local school board races.  Because Dr. John Trotter, the Chairman of MACE and my boss, usually assists different candidates (in all races, not just school board races; even in different counties) during each election cycle, many people believe that MACE is involved in the races.  The irony of the situation is that GAE/CCEA as well as the AJC endorse in these races with very little success.  For example, last year, I believe that GAE/CCEA and the AJC endorsed school board incumbent LaToya Walker, Connie Kitchens, and Allen Johnson.  However, all three of these incumbents lost.  Virtually every time this happens, Dr. Trotter is blamed for it.  The truth of the matter is that Dr. Trotter did not know Sandra Scott and did in any way assist her during her campaign.  He did not assist Sandra Baines-Hunter in any manner in her race in 2004.  In 2004, Dr. Trotter assisted Yolanda Everett in her race for school board.  In fact, he recruited her and wrote all of her mailings.  However, Ms. Everett voted against me for Vice Chair in January of 2007 and went along with a libelous document which Ericka Davis presented to the school board on January 16, 2007, the same night that Rod Johnson and Ericka Davis jumped from the dais and went into the back and apparently called the Sheriff’s Office.  Dr. Trotter was falsely arrested that night for simply and quietly holding two signs, without blocking anyone’s vision, that read respectively:  “Pulliam Must Go!” and “Ericka Davis’s Brother Criminally Charged Clayton Teacher With Having Sex With Him.  Hmm.”  Ericka Davis abruptly adjourned the meeting on her own (as she is wont to do) when she returned to the dais.  She was crying in the back room and initially blamed Michelle Strong and me of knowing that Dr. Trotter was going to hold the signs.  We knew nothing.  Ms. Davis later apologized to the two of us.  The point that I am making is that there has been bad blood between Dr. Trotter and Ericka Davis for years.  Ericka Davis’s brother apparently did do this and there were three different hearings concerning this teacher’s future:  (1) A magistrate hearing wherein the charges were dismissed against the teacher; (2) A two-day hearing before the old Professional Practices Commission, and the charges again were dismissed against the teacher; and (3) A three-day trial in the Superior Court of Clayton County that was covered by the national media wherein the teacher was found “Not Guilty.”  This was Ericka Davis’s younger brother, and the trial took place in 1997.  Ericka Davis ran for the school board in 2000 and took office in 2001.  Dr. Trotter assisted the woman who ran against Ericka Davis.  Political heavyweights like Senate Pro Tempore Terrell Starr supported Ericka Davis and gave her substantial money.  (Keep in mind that my election was still before the Supreme Court of Georgia up until November of 2000.  It appeared that my election was going to tip the racial balance of the school board.  The white power-brokers of the county appeared to be totally behind Ericka Davis.  She won this race.)

 

   In 2002, Dennis Yarbrough, Chairman of The League of African American Voters as well as Vice Chairman of MACE, ran against Ericka Davis.  (Ms. Davis’s first race was to fulfill the unexpired term of Valencia Seay who gave up her seat on the school board to run for State House.  Dr. Trotter had also recruited her, and she was the first African American to serve on the Clayton County Board of Education.  With Dr. Trotter’s assistance, she defeated incumbent Frank Bailey, a 20 year veteran in the House, for a House seat.  Ms. Seay is now a State Senator.)  Again, Ms. Davis won.  In 2006, Dr. Trotter and I both assisted a school teacher named Milton Mack in his race against Ms. Davis.  Ms. Davis won.  Whereas the candidates that Dr. Trotter has assisted through the years in school board races generally win, he has not been successful against Ms. Davis.  (In the 2002 races, the school board candidates whom Dr. Trotter recruited and assisted in their races were successful in defeating incumbents in three of four races.  The AJC went on to try to make these races a race war – no pun intended.  The AJC failed to state that one of the candidates who defeated an incumbent by five votes was a white woman.)  However, Ms. Baines-Hunter, who was formerly a close ally with Ms. Davis, told Dr. Trotter and me that “Ericka hates everything about MACE.”  This is what this situation is about down here in Clayton County.  MACE has been treated as a second class citizen by the Clayton County Administrations of the past.  MACE is not invited to the New Teacher Orientations nor to the Teacher of the Year Banquets.  In fact, this past October, CCEA/GAE/NEA was allowed to have free roam in the schools of Clayton County for three weeks to ostensibly do an investigation about the climate and safety of the schools.  However, there were reports that CCEA/GAE/NEA was using these opportunities to solicit for membership.  The previous Administration, according to what top administrators and a school board attorney told Dr. Trotter, told the Technology Department to allow GAE/CCEA to send emails to the teachers and staff but to continue to block any attempt for MACE to send emails.  However, MACE never attempted to send emails when told that the email system would no longer be available at the time.  (CCEA apparently continued to find ways around this – even before the ban was lifted.)  Dr. Duncan attempted to correct these inequities by sending a letter out to all of the teacher organizations (GAE/CCEA, PAGE, and MACE) to state that her Administration was employee-friendly and that she intended to correct inequities of the past by allowing all of these organizations to send emails to employees once per month.  Dr. Duncan said that she did this “[i]n the interest of fairness and equity.”  (See Exhibit Twelve.)  This letter was handed to Dr. Trotter and Michael Robinson on November 1, 2007.  On November 30, the emails from MACE, in coordination with the CCPS Technology Department, began their circulation.  It is my understanding that Yolanda Everett called Dr. Duncan to protest this action on the weekend of December 1 and 2.  I have seen a letter from Ericka Davis, dated Monday, December 3, 2007, to Dr. Duncan wherein she also registers her strong opposition to MACE being allowed to send out its emails.  (I understand that there was some weekend interaction between Ms. Davis and Dr. Duncan – before this Monday date of “December 3, 2007.”)  The gist of the complaints was content-based, the very thing that the U. S. Supreme Court has ruled on many time in the past.  Any regulation (besides pornography and the community standards thereof or hollering “Fire?” in a crowded theater) have to be content-neutral.  It is obvious that Ms. Davis and Ms. Everett have axes to grind with MACE.  In fact, the scenario on January 16, 2007 resulted in Dr. Trotter being falsely arrested and staying incarcerated in the County Jail for 25 hours.  However, the charges (plural since the first laughable charge was changed in the middle of the night to another laughable charge) were summarily dropped against Dr. Trotter.  I would think that, according to the SACS Standards and the Clayton County Board of Education policies, individual board members have no power outside working in concert with the full board.  That is what I have always been told and what I have always tried to adhere to.  Individual board members individually expressing disapproval, outside of the board acting as a whole, to a superintendent for the superintendent’s administrative actions is the essence of micromanaging.

 

   I have never read in the statutes that a person who works for a teacher’s organization is prohibited from running for office, including the school.  In fact, any such statute, I am quite confident, would be ruled unconstitutional by the Court.  Running for office is a person’s basic right, and the State would have to put forth a compelling interest in trying to prohibit this.  I believe that this would fall under “high scrutiny.”  So, since I have right to be on the school board, I am a little befuddled by your questions about my relationship with MACE.  I am sure that my relationship with MACE is quite similar to Kay Pippin’s relationship with GAE when she served (and may still be serving; I haven’t had time check) on the Butts County Board of Education while she was one of the undisputed top administrators (bosses) at GAE.  I am sure that she knew like I know that when it came to GAE business like when it comes to MACE business, then we recuse ourselves.  I never represent MACE teachers in Clayton County nor do I intervene on their behalf.  I do not engage in pickets in Clayton County but I do proudly picket in other school systems.  I noticed last week that Tommy Greene just got elected to the Lovejoy City Council.  I believe that Lovejoy High School and Lovejoy Middle School are within the Lovejoy City Limits, which means that theoretically Mr. Greene could vote in a manner which could impact the environment of these schools – like imposing a 60 MPH speed limit in a school zone during school hours.  I am sure that Mr. Greene would never do this.  He is employed as a UniServ Director with GAE.  There is a big difference between apparent conflict-of-interest and actual conflict-of-interest.  Ms. Ericka Davis displays her GAE membership on the CCPS website.  (See Exhibit 13.) Theoretically, a MACE teacher may think that Ms. Davis could not be objective in a disciplinary hearing, and from what I have seen of her apparent vendetta against MACE and/or Dr. Trotter, I may have to agree with this.  But, I leave that up to her conscience.  However, since I get paid at MACE, I would always make certain that I recuse myself in a hearing dealing with a MACE teacher.  I am quite sure that this school board has had members who sold insurance for a living or had spouses or sons and daughters who did the same.  Just because the school system buys insurance from different vendors does not mean that this member could not serve on the school board.  He or she would just have to be aware of any potential conflicts and then act accordingly.

 

   I have in my possession several emails in which Ms. Ericka Davis took partisan stands in her conversations with Sid Chapman, President of CCEA/GAE.  In one email, she urges Mr. Chapman to come up with a “slate” (presumably for the up-coming election).  She stated to Mr. Chapman:  “You guys need to start pulling together a slate for next year.  Barbara [Pulliam, I presume] is now working to please JT [Dr. John Trotter, I presume] and other unsavory characters.  Do not trust HE [Attorney Harold Eddy of Weekes & Candler Law Firm, I presume] either.”  (See Exhibit 14.)  This email was sent to Mr. Chapman on May 17, 2007 at 3:42 PM.  Mr. Chapman, the GAE union President in Clayton, responded to Ms. Davis thusly:  “We have suspected both—especially HE—don’t like him at all.  Is it time for BP [Dr. Pulliam, I presume] to go?”  (See same Exhibit 14.)  This was written the same day at 4:08 PM.  I would hate to think that our GAE-related school board chairperson, Ericka Davis, had such a vendetta and hatred for Dr. Trotter that Dr. Pulliam’s and Dr. Trotter’s civility toward one another (even though they may have held strongly different views on educational issues) caused her to “sour” on both Dr. Pulliam and the Weekes & Candler Law Firm.  (Dr. Trotter and the lawyers with Weekes & Candler have always been quite civil with each other, although they may have many times fought vigorously in hearings.)  Mr. Johnson also, until most recently, displayed his GAE membership on the CCPS website.  According to payroll documents, his wife pays $41.97 for membership dues to CCEA/GAE/NEA each month.  Mr. Eddie White is, I believe, a lifetime member of NEA.  I am fine with this.  I think from the reaction that Yolanda Everett apparently had when the MACE emaisl went out that she is probably a member of GAE/NEA as well.  Maybe she isn’t.  Ms. Sandra Scott said at the December 3, 2007 school board meeting that she is not a member of any educational organization.  I know that she has never been a member of MACE.  Neither Lois Baines-Hunter nor David Ashe has been a MACE member.  But, from reading the Atlanta Journal-constitution (AJC), you would think that there is a sinister plot of a MACE takeover underway – similar to how the AJC played everything in 2003.  In fact, there were only three MACE members on the school board in 2003.  Two got out of control (Nedra Ware and Connie Kitchens) and one member saved the day, so to speak (Linda Crummy).  Three other members in that initial coalition of six (LaToya Walker, Carol Kellum, and Dr. Sue Ryan) were not teachers or MACE members.   When Ms. Ware and Ms. Kitchens started crossing the line into micromanagement, Dr. Trotter wrote them a nine-page letter at the end of January, detailing how they were micromanaging and warning them for doing so.   Dr. Ryan resigned from the school board in March of 2003, and Ms. Crummy broke away from that coalition in April, never to vote with them again.  It was also in April of 2003 that Dr. Trotter publicly called for the members of this remaining coalition to step down from the school board (Ware, Kitchens, Kellum, and Walker).  This call for their resignations was published in the AJC and the Clayton News Daily – and I believe in the radio and television media.  After Dr. Trotter publicly called for their resignations, the Clayton County Chamber of Commerce, the CCEA/GAE organization, and other bodies followed suit in asking for their resignations.  Ms. Ware and Ms. Kitchens left the MACE membership ranks and  apparently switched their memberships to GAE/NEA because the same Sid Chapman who was so critical of them in January of 2003 later was so complimentary to them in the June of 2003 school board meeting, even awarding them with plaques.  In 2004, Ms. Ware was defeated by Ms. Baines-Hunter.  In 2006, Ms. Kitchens ran for re-election with the endorsements of the AJC and CCEA/GAE, but she was soundly defeated by Ms. Sandra Scott.   Dr. Trotter did not get involved in either of these races.  In 2006, LaToya Walker was endorsed by the AJC and CCEA/GAE but Dr. Trotter and I recruited and assisted Michelle Strong in her sound defeat of LaToya Walker.  Is this type of activity illegal?  Perhaps it is in China or Iran.  The last time that I checked Clayton County is still located in the United States of America where political engagement is an honored activity.  

 

   If you want anymore information about my relationship with MACE (I cannot imagine that you do), I will be glad to provide it.  The average school board and administration apparently are nervous when MACE is around.  I am used to MACE be shunted to the side by these groups.  The life blood of MACE does not depend on being “blessed” by these groups.  In fact, I would think that MACE was doing something wrong if these two groups jumped up and cheered when MACE showed up.  By nature, unions are oppositional – the Loyal Opposition, so to speak.  MACE, like any good and effective union, speaks out for and advocates for the vulnerable.  Since I am used to this type of treatment, I did not say one word when I found out at a school board meeting that CCEA/GAE/NEA were being allowed to roam our Clayton schools for three weeks in October of this year.  MACE members called the office to complain that their principals were instructing them to meet with the CCEA/GAE/NEA employees.  Can you just imagine what would have happened if the roles had been reversed and GAE members were instructed by their principals to meet with MACE employees?  GAE would have taken their case not to SACS (like now) but to the U. S. Congress or to the United Nations.  Quite frankly, I would have been justified to protest this inequitable treatment of organizations even as an employee of MACE if I wanted to, but I understood then as I understand now the deep-seeded bias that there is against MACE.  Therefore, I simply overlooked this inequity.  Does this sound like a school board member who is abusing his position as a member of the board to improperly push for an advantage for his employer/organization?  It sounds like a man who bends over backward to make sure that his activity on the school board is beyond reproach.

 

   You asked about my relationship with CEP.  I can answer that in a word…None.  I have no relationship with CEP, and I know only one person who is an “officer,” “employee,” “agent,” or “shareholder” with CEP, and that person is Dr. Rick Maddox, a retired Clayton County principal.  I think that Dr. Maddox’s title is District Liaison.  As I mentioned earlier, he volunteered to arrange a trip for board members and in-coming board members to visit a CEP facility in Orlando, Florida when Chairperson Ericka Davis asked us if we wanted to visit one of the CEP facilities when we were attending the Blue Ribbon Commission on Discipline meeting in, I believe, December of 2006.  I do not have any idea how much the plane fare was nor do I know how much the meals cost (a supper at a restaurant, a breakfast at the hotel, and a lunch at the CEP school).  The trip was strictly about business.  I take issue with your statement in your letter of November 12, 2007 wherein you stated that I made “public comments in favor of CEP.”  How did you arrive at this conclusion?  Please tell me why you have drawn that conclusion?  Are you sure that this is not pure supposition?  I really am curious.  I do not recall ever mentioning CEP in public, with the exception to the time that I corrected Ms. Davis about supposing that I had mentioned CEP because other board members had.  I had never mentioned CEP – and certainly not “in favor” of CEP or any vendor.  And, I believe that your conclusion about my alleged “public disregard for the bid and contract process” is also bit overreaching and conclusory and without foundation.  Perhaps you just got carried away from reading Rod Johnson’s false allegations.  I have never disregarded the bid process, but have always shown it the utmost respect.  If I pose questions and make suggestions in an open meeting to which I am invited with all the vendors present before any bid has even been sent out, I hardly think that this is a “public disregard for the bid and contract process.”  But, when board members Ericka Davis and Rod Johnson totally ignore and try to set aside the bid and contract process by attempting to bring Camelot into the Clayton County School System after CEP had already won this part of the bid (recommended by the Superintendent and unanimously confirmed by the SASS Committee), then this is bid tampering at its worst.  When I file my official complaints against Ms. Davis and Mr. Johnson, I am going to ask that you incorporate this official response from me as well as other documents which I have written as part of the official complaints against these two board members.  It was me who told them that only the superintendent could recommend Camelot, but this did not keep Rod Johnson from asking for the “bids” (note: plural) to be sent to him and Attorney Hopson many weeks after Dr. Pulliam’s recommendation and the SASS Committee’s  confirmation had already been for CEP.  This did not keep Rod Johnson from contacting Alternative Education vendor(s), attempting to sell ad(s) for his then colleague’s newspaper. 

 

   Lastly, let me address Mr. Johnson’s new and twisted complaint about my “spending habits.”  His one piece of “evidence” is a fax machine.  In a risk that this response will sound like Vice President Nixon’s famous (or infamous) “Checkers speech,” I will try not to laugh too loud while I offer it.  I never have ordered a fax machine.  I have only the machine which the school system provided to me in January of this year.  If it cost 500 dollars as Mr. Johnson claims, I would be shocked.  It is a “Brothers” brand.  I do not know.  I did not buy it nor order it nor request it.  All board members are provided with a fax machine.  Unlike Vice President Nixon, however, when he refused to give back Checkers, his little girls’ cocker spaniel, this fax machine holds no such sentiment to me.  If Rod Johnson wants the fax machine which I very seldom use, he may have it.    

 

   Dr. Elgart, I hope that my response will help clarify any questions that you may have.  I am open for further elaboration on any subject which you or the Committee may find relevant.

 

                                                                       Sincerely:

 

 

 

                                                                       Norreese L. Haynes

                                                                       District 8