FB Star: District Attorney Will Meet With Opponents Of FBISD's GSTC (Global Taj Mahal)
All open records about proposed science center not released, they say
Opponents of Fort Bend ISD’s center to meet with district attorney
By Cheryl Skinner
As Fort Bend Independent School District moves closer to approving the proposed Global Science Center, a state of the art interactive facility, opponents are gearing up for a battle to squelch the plan. Saying all of the public records on the planning and financing of the center have not been released, opponents are scheduled to meet with the Fort Bend County District Attorney next week to explore their legal options.
Nancy Hentschel, a Sugar Land resident and staunch opponent of the science center project, says she and other opponents will be meeting with Fort Bend County District Attorney John Healey on Dec. 11.
Hentschel requested a multitude of information from FBISD earlier this year. FBISD, in turn, requested an Attorney General’s opinion on the release of the information sought and the AG determined the district must release most of the information requested.
After the opinion, FBISD claimed they released all the information to Hentschel and what was not released simply did not exist.
Hentschel says she has evidence to the contrary and will be taking the information to Healey in the hopes of forcing the district to comply. “We also want to explore filing criminal charges and see what legal remedies we may have,” Hentschel said Monday...
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posted by responsible_dvlpmnt at Thursday, December 03, 2009
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Anonymous said...
Did we expect anything else?
Submitted by taxpayer_beware on November 17, 2009 12:50 pm
..it’s unclear how much the district has raised so far. District spokeswoman Mary Ann Simpson said the administration plans to present an update on the project to the school board, possibly on Dec. 14 or later. Back to keeping information from the public again? I remember when they refused to release documents to the public even after the Texas AG ordered them released.
Anonymous said...
Running a current budget deficit near $20 million---Good timing?
Submitted by anonymous on November 17, 2009 12:55 pm
Looks like they are trying to get this duplicate project started before the spring elections and against the modifications made by the board last August about the fund raising requirement.
PBK Whooooo???
Submitted by taxpayer_beware on November 17, 2009 12:52 pm
I wonder if they are actually putting this project out on bids or letting PBK handle all this? "The district’s use of PBK Architects, which initially designed the project, also has come under fire by critics due to the firm’s involvement in a school project in the Judson school district that is under government investigation. According to a report by San Antonio-based television station WOAI and an audit disclosed by the station, the Judson district handed out the job of implementing a 2006 $236 million bond package, which includes a $100 million high school, to companies without going through a legally required bidding process. One of the companies is PBK, which the audit found to have paid certain district employees to play golf at resorts including Torrey Pines in San Diego and Spyglass in Pebble Beach. Jenney expressed to the Chronicle earlier this year his faith in PBK as "a highly reputable company”
November 18, 2009 8:11 AM
Anonymous said...
Global Taj Mahal
Submitted by gOLFINbUDDY on November 17, 2009 1:48 pm
Isn't is amazing how fiscally iresponsible a Superintendant and School board can be when they are spending someone else's money. Last Year $$10,million in the Red , this year $$20 million , plus, in the red..... Now they want to push ahead with another $$26 million dollar Taj Mahal boondogal project so they can feed thery're vendor buddies with your tax dollars. Lets see, 20 million in the + 26 million more = ANOTHER TAX INCREASE NEXT YEAR TOO!. How long do they (BOT) think we are going to let them keep wasting money on "pet projects" , instead of fulfilling the districts real needs ?, and raising our taxes to pay for it !!!! The time for action is MARCH -April folks. You have a chance to vote out two of the irresponsible bums who want to keep spending your money to give it to their vendor buddies. Will you help effect change, or just gripe about paying more taxes ?? YES YOU CAN !!!! MAKE A CHANGE, VOTE THEM OUT !!!!
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Anonymous said...
Taxpayers need to unite
Submitted by ftbdteacher 8:35 pm
This is the most colossal waste of money I have ever seen in this district and that's saying something. There's not a reputable science teacher that will tell you this will do anything to help science scores. The district has been cutting science department budgets and cutting teaching staff the last couple of years and, yet, they have the money to do this? The best thing the district could do to boost science scores is to provide a stipend to hire competent science and math teachers. FBISD taxpayers need to contact school board members and stop this boondoggle.
Anonymous said...
That well is pretty dry...
Submitted by Mike on November 17, 2009 9:22 pm
Remember when this "idea" was going to be built 85% with business partnerships and 75% of the operating costs would be "donations"? Now it's 0% partnership for the build and maybe 50% of the operating costs - IF they're actually only $800,000.
Now, the district has already been operating in the red for two years now - of course, if you read the headlines earlier in the fall, it seemed to be the fault of the faculty and staff and their raises and not mismanagement on the district's part. The "well" that this duplicate monstrosity was to draw from apparently is running dry already - before the administrative photo op of the groundbreaking was even scheduled!
Here's just another reason why this project should be put on the bottom of the list: a number of teacher friends/associates of mine tell me the technology is terrible; there is no "System" of standards or design whatsoever for software and hardware. Apparently the students are still being taught Microsoft Office 2003, a 7+ year-old program as well as other outdated software; in addition, the computer network is about as stable as a 1960 Corvair. Now I'm no technology expert, but I'm guessing that $26M up front plus $800,000 per year would go a LONG ways in stabilizing the entire district at all levels. Compare the entire district of 70K students plus staff that would benefit from an improved technology system to the couple of thousand of students/teachers that will get to use the Taj Mahal once or twice a year? Logic tells me that the technology department needs the cash infusion more, but it looks like the administration's logic tells them that they'll build the TM now and just demand more money on the next bond. Anybody agree?
Anonymous said...
It's hard to believe that the superintendent is going to delay the academies because of the budget deficit but continue to push for an early start to the science museum, which costs far more.
Anonymous said...
I didn't think they were still pursuing this project. It doesn't make sense.
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