Some on BOE, law director question McIntyre's Broad grant acceptance

Knox County taxpayers are footing the bill for a Knox County Schools hire the county attorney says was conducted improperly.

Documents WBIR obtained show superintendent Jim McIntyre signed the grant agreement allowing for this hire, when County Law Director Richard "Bud" Armstrong believes McIntyre has no authority to do so.

The grant agreement is between Knox County Schools and the Broad Center for the Management of School Systems, which runs the Broad Academy.

That, essentially, is a training program for people with executive leadership experience aspiring to become school district superintendents and other leaders within large education systems.

McIntyre himself was a participant in the Broad Academy, and now, some KCS Board of Education members say, he has created a pipeline for other Broad fellows to come take high-paying jobs with the district.

PDF: Law Director's Memo

In September of last year, McIntyre signed a grant agreement with the Broad Center for the Management of School Systems. In it, the Broad Center agreed to give Knox County Schools a grant totaling up to $29,700, to be put toward the Broad fellow's -- or Broad resident's -- salary.

In exchange, the district would foot the rest of the fellow's salary, plus pay benefits on top of that.

The baseline salary for a Broad fellow, according to the Broad Academy in its grant agreement with KCS, is $90,000. The Broad grant would pay for up to $29,700 of that.

That means KCS - and therefore taxpayers - have to foot the bill for not only the difference ($90k - $29.7k = $60,300), but also for the cost of benefits.

The Knox County Finance Department, Armstrong said, generally uses a figure of 30 percent of an employee's salary to calculate the additional expense for benefits and taxes.

That would put the Broad fellow's position at a total of $117,000. The center is paying for nearly $29,700 of that, putting taxpayers on the hook for the remaining $87,300.

BOE member Amber Rountree said that's a dollar figure that, roughly, could support two teacher hires.

"Is it the best way for us to spend limited funds?" Rountree said to WBIR in a phone interview Saturday afternoon. "We need to be making wise decisions with what little funds we have."

Armstrong, however, believes the contract is unenforceable, since he says McIntyre has no authority to accept a grant, especially one that requires matching funds.

In a memo to board members this week, Armstrong said, "The superintendent, under statute, is given no authority to unilaterally accept grants and to sign grant contracts. Further, the statute requires a resolution by the BOE and notification to the County Commission."

But McIntyre says he was acting in accordance with Knox County Board of Education policy and that the document he signed is "a grant agreement, not a procurement contract."

In an email to WBIR, he wrote, "Through written School Board Policy, the Board of Education has delegated the acceptance of grants, in some circumstances, to the Superintendent. In accepting this grant, I acted in good faith and in accordance with my understanding of School Board policy."

You can read the rest of the story RIGHT HERE.

Who's the boss? A look at 'agreement' between school board-superintendent

Every time I think I’ve seen it, read it, or heard it all when it comes to Knox County politics something surprises me.

The latest?

A four-page "side agreement" that includes all sorts of do’s and don’ts, and it pretty much – at times – stifles individual board members, which in turn, stifles whole districts.

Here’s the deal: The agreement, I believe, was put together by Superintendent Jim McIntyre, adopted by the board in 2008 and then adopted again (revised edition) in October 2010.

It’s now gonna be presented to the new board to vote on.

Some of the things that stick out:

• Board member are not allowed to ask questions that might stump the superintendent.
• It also says that if you’re on the losing side of the vote and the media wants a comment, well, you can’t tell them why you voted the way you did. (No way, no how, no comment.) 

All this is coming to light now because the law department sent out a memo, saying the whole thing is non-binding and and limit a board member’s freedom of speech. (To say nothing about transparency.)

During last Thursday’s orientation for incoming school board members, McIntyre and current BOE chair Lynne Fugate handed over the agreement for the new folks to view.

EMAIL: Law Director's Office memo and the revised agreement RIGHT SMACK HERE.

Needless to say, there were some questions about its legality, so a couple of them asked the Knox County Law Department to look into it.

The law department noted that the “document was not prepared by the law department, nor was the document submitted to the Law Department for analysis as to its legality.”

The law department, in the memo to BOE members, also says that state code “does not grant the authority to the BOE and the Superintendent to enter into any such agreement governing the conduct of members of the BOE.”

Here’s a couple other items in the agreement that stuck out:

• If a BOE member contacts a staffer by email then he or she must copy the superintendent and the chief of staff on the correspondence. (Is micromanagement ever good?)
• If a question can’t be addressed quickly and easily, then the question will be directed to the Office of the Superintendent to assess whether resources should be dedicated to responding to the request. (Does that mean the office won't answer it, if the question is too tough?)
• The BOE and Superintendent agree that the Superintendent is the only employee who reports to the BOE. Everyone else reports to the superintendent. (Should we change his title to "king"?)
• Constituents who contact BOE members with issues will be referred back to the school system at the appropriate level. (In other words, you don’t need to worry about the problem. You let us handle it.)

Unbelieveable.

I wish I could get my boss to approve one of these.

Knox Law Dept brings Wigler on board

David Wigler

This is kind of interesting. The Knox County Law Department recently hired local lawyer David Wigler to serve as an attorney in the office.

Wigler, a former partner with Herb Moncier, is well-known and well-respected in the Knoxville legal arena.

He's also represented officials and governments around the area. I've covered a couple of his cases, including the accusations he filed on behalf of Brad Mayes against Natural Resources Recovery of Tennessee, its parent company, Natural Resources Recovery Inc., and the owner, Sid Brian.

Also on behalf of Mayes, he filed a defamation lawsuit involving Knox County Solid Waste's director. 

I've been told that all his cases connected to Knox County have been cleared and/or dismissed. I was also told that he is most knowledgeable in Section 1983, civil rights and prisoner lawsuits. (There's been at least one of them filed, so that's good for the county.)

Anyhoo, congrats goes out to Wigler.