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Eanes school board study session brings private survey to light
Thursday, May 13, 2010
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During a study session Monday, Eanes school board members listened to a report on bond survey results from a telephone poll of local residents that former bond advisory committee chair David Perkins said he independently commissioned in mid-April.
Eanes school board president Jim Strickland said Perkins told the board he commissioned the survey to determine the reaction of the community to the district’s bond proposal, which currently carries $125 million worth of items under consideration for a final package.
Perkins said survey results gathered by Baselice and Associates in Austin indicated that the majority of district voters might have a psychological threshold of $100,000 million for a new bond, Strickland said.
“Anything over $100,000 million is probably not going to gain approval,” he said. “I think that means, as a board, we’ve got to look at cutting the bond back below that amount.”
Board members present at the study session said that Perkins also discussed the idea of a proposed new facility for a student activity center or covered practice field. Some board members interpreted Perkins’ presentation to suggest that the board consider separating out the SAC proposal in a separate bond proposal rather than risk votes against the entire bond package by residents who do not support the facility.
“My interpretation of his findings was that the SAC could pass, but voters need to be educated on the purpose and the benefits of the facility,” Strickland said.
Strickland said that he thought the survey results presented by Perkins showed overall that the majority of residents in the area are pleased with the district, the administration and the board.
Board member Clint Sayers had some concerns about the reliability of the survey results, because they were based on a study not commissioned by the board in which not all the results were presented for review, he said.
“With the bond advisory committee not willing to share the entire results of the poll with the board and the community, they are not acting in good faith and above board,” he said. “So much for transparency when they are hiding the results.”
Sayers said the survey was also conducted before much of the bond information was made public through recent school board election campaigns, and voter opinions may have changed.
Later in the study session, Sayers asked the administration to again bring to the board the numbers that would tell them whether the possible closing of a district elementary school might be prudent for the tough times ahead. That option will likely be discussed in detail at the next board study session Monday evening.
“It’s time for us to roll up our sleeves and take this (bond decision) on,” Sayers said. “We are going back and looking at various options of what might be included. If we are going back to look at everything again, let’s really look at everything again. We need to consider every single option to ensure as much as possible for the district and make sure every possible resource goes to the classroom.”
Monday’s board study session is open to the public and will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the administration building at 601 Camp Craft Road.
More information on this issue and the proposed bond here:
http://www.keepeanesinformed.com/cbac_-_proposed_bond_2010.htm
So, the Eanes board of trustees is expecting the voters to base their opinions on future bond proposals on an independent survey whose results were selectively released. How many other special interest groups will be conducting ‘independent’ surveys that won’t be available for public review and consideration? Nobody’s laughing.
David Perkins, out of a sense of altruism, wrote, conducted, and paid for a market research project to assess the likelihood of the public voting to support a proposed EISD bond. He then holds some information back, and refuses to leave even his powerpoint presentation to the board.
What is up with that? So his personal interest in school finance is so intense he’d pay for the thing just for fun? I was surveyed. I am a buyer of market research services. This survey, on the open market, would have been more than $25,000 to conduct, and possibly even higher depending on the number of demographic categories and the required number of completed surveys to be statistically valid.
To me the question is less what the survey says, and more about what sort of administration or board would allow this to happen. He who controls the data controls the information.
Mr. Strickland is showing that he fails to grasp reality when he says “Anything over $100,000 million [sic] is probably not going to gain approval. I think that means, as a board, we’ve got to look at cutting the bond back below that amount.” and “My interpretation of his findings was that the SAC could pass, but voters need to be educated on the purpose and the benefits of the facility.”
What Mr. Strickland should have said is “a guy conducted an unauthorized research project, asking questions we did not approve, and providing analysis we cannot check. We can’t rely on this piece of junk at all.”
At least that’s what he should have said. Instead he said exactly what David Perkins told him to say.
Who elected David Perkins?
Please ask who helped Mr. Perkins write the questions- maybe Mr. Strickland knows.
Did Mr. Perkins pay for this with his personal funds, or did someone unnamed underwrite this project? Maybe we should be following the money on this project.
What do Darren Allman and David Perkins have in common?
http://www.keepeanesinformed.com/coach_concepts,_llc.htm
Figures don’t lie, but liars can figure.
So, the football coach recently started a sports business venture with the former bond committee chair. That just seems kind of stinky. No wonder there was so much discussion at the recent board meeting about the proposed ‘SAC’ , better known to many taxpayers as the indoor practice facility for athletics. It’s no surprise to see Jim Strickland pushing this idea given his personal history marketing athletic merchandise. Clint Sayers is right to question the validity of this survey. We should all be doing the same.
This is all too cozy. Did the Bond Committee have to sign any conflict of interest statements?? If not, all future committee members should.
Learn from the mistake as this is a big one.
Ouch!
Doubt the timing of these two ventures is pure coincidence.
Coach Concepts: registered with Secretary of State: April 6, 2010
Bond Survey: April 13, 2010
The Chap Club Board member is chosen by the superintendent to chair the “Community” Bond Advisory Committee and now we find out that he is also business partners in an private athletic venture with the WHS head football coach?
Cuernavaca Community — Nola played you like a fiddle. The new elementary school was a red herring: one designed to turn you out to vote for the candidates (who happened to be incumbents and Nola supporters) promising that they would build it for you. The new school was never financially feasible. They knew it then just as they know it today.
Eanes ISD Facilities Manager explains that Eanes ISD has Duct Tape Syndrome.
Audio and excerpts from the transcripts of that 2008 board meeting posted today:
http://www.keepeanesinformed.com/duct_tape_syndrome.htm