I am referring to the costs incurred by the Bridgeport Spaulding School District due to the lawsuits that were filed by John Rhines against members of the school board. In case there is anyone out there that is not familiar with what I am talking about, you can view information about the dismissal of the lawsuits by the courts in this previous post -
http://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/2016/08/dismissal-of-john-rhines-lawsuit.html
and you can view all the incidents leading up to and including the filing of these lawsuits by going to the "LABELS" section on the right hand side of my blog and clicking on the label "Lawsuit Bridgeport School District".
http://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/search/label/Lawsuit%20Bridgeport%20School%20District
How much did these lawsuits cost the Bridgeport School District? Luckily only $5,000 of the total costs had to be paid for out of the school district funds. The school district was required to pay the schools insurance company that $5,000 as a deductible for the "incident". The rest of the legal costs were covered by the insurance company. I don't have the exact figure right now of how much these legal proceedings cost the insurance company but I suspect it would be safe to assume it was into the tens of thousands of dollars? A lot of money was paid out by others to defend against one man's "speculations".
That is $5,000 that our school district could have used for more important things, like maybe towards the students education. That is $5,000 that I don't feel that our school district should have ever had to of payed out because these legal actions by John Rhines never should have taken place. Our school district is still working under the Deficit Elimination Plan, having to work closely with the State Treasury Department. How did this $5,000 affect the DEP?
What is the true cost to our school district? The cost is more than money. The reputation of individual board members were smeared, the reputation of the entire school board and our school district was smeared. Why? Because one person, John Rhines, based on nothing but his own speculations, chose to file lawsuits that were thrown out by the courts for having no merit. There were no facts or witnesses to back up his accusations. All this drama went on for at least a year before the courts threw it out in May 2016. It garnered lots of local press coverage. It caused a lot of division in this community. The costs of John Rhines actions in my opinion far exceeded just the $5,000 from the school districts funds.
Over and over again during John Rhines speeches during the public comment period at the school board meetings he carried on about the costs of other lawsuits filed against the school district, how it was hurting the students, how it was hurting the Deficit Elimination Plan, etc... etc... His basis for the lawsuits was to recover money he felt had been inappropriately spent by the school board. He claimed that the money he hoped to recover by his lawsuit was going to be returned to the schools. He didn't mention anything that I can remember about the cost of his lawsuits to the Bridgeport School District. Was he planning on also covering those costs? Has he at any time since the court threw out his lawsuits offered to pay that $5,000 back to the school district? Maybe the residents of Bridgeport should hold him accountable for the money he cost this school district and demand he pay that $5,000 back to the school district. He was so concerned about the other legal costs hurting the school district and mostly the students, is he also concerned about his costs to the district? In my opinion, if he hasn't offered to pay that $5,000 back to the school district, then maybe he never really did care about the school district and the students that were being hurt. Did his legal actions ever really have anything to do with that? Who knows?
Sadly John Rhines won a seat on the Bridgeport School Board in the November 2016 election. Why do I say sadly? In my personal opinion, his actions have not been in the best interest of the school board and the district, of the students. Did his lawsuits actually benefit our school district? Certainly not the $5,000 it cost and not the damage done to the reputation of our school district.
He claimed that he was going to hold all board members accountable for their actions! Does he hold himself accountable for his own actions? Does he feel that the residents of this community should hold him accountable for his actions? How will he react if they do?
He claimed that the board members did not understand their own policies and did not follow them! Does he feel that board policies don't apply to him? Some of the board policies that I have seen him disregard concern the policy for public comment during the board meetings. The Bridgeport School District policy is that members of the public have 3 minutes to speak. It also states that speakers must observe the rules of common courtesy. The common courtesy part I guess is up to individual interpretation to some people. On multiple occasions he has gone way over the 3 minute policy and when the school board members tried to tell him his time was up, he responded in ways that I felt was sarcastic? Snarky? Arrogant? I am not sure what others might define them as, it just appeared to me that he felt he didn't have to follow the policy himself. Wonder how he will respond to members of this community if they go over the 3 minute policy during public comment?
I am sharing some of the older school board meeting videos here where the public can view all his remarks about the lawsuits, the DEP etc... Some of his remarks I find kind of ironic now. If there are any residents in Bridgeport that have not heard John Rhines speak at the school board meetings, then maybe you should listen to these. I feel that he does a lot of posturing, threatening, makes lots of accusations, claims he is a "fact finder" even though he had no facts of wrongdoing when he took this school district to court. His behavior during some of his comments, especially toward the school board and certain members of the school board, give me concern of how he will behave once he is actually sitting on this school board. How will he get along with the other members of this school board? Can we expect more lawsuits from John Rhines in the future? Can we expect more threats of lawsuits in the future? Can we expect more threats of him filing complaints with everyone from the State Attorney General to the local media in the future? Will he threaten to sue members of the public that speak out against him or the school board? Can we expect the members of the media to conveniently be there again every time there is going to be some kind of incident between him and other board members? Can we expect more of his "fact finding" failures? What will the cost of John Rhines being a member of this school board be in the long run?
There may be some people that view John Rhines behavior, his tactics or antics during these school board meetings as a form of bullying.
What do I not expect to see in the future at these school board meetings?
I don't ever expect to see John Rhines get up and admit that his "fact finding" concerning the accusations he made in his lawsuits was wrong. That it was nothing but his speculation.
I don't ever expect to see John Rhines get up and apologize to Marti Sageman, to other board members, to the school district, to the students, for the damage he caused due to his accusations or the money he cost this school district.
I don't expect to see John Rhines pay this school district back the $5,000 he cost them.
The February 9th, 2015 school board meeting. John Rhines public comments begin at about 1:14 in the video and goes on until about 8:34.
The February 23rd, 2015 school board meeting. His comments begin at about 7:30 in the video and go on until about 13:32.
The March 9th, 2015 school board meeting. His comments begin at about 4:56 in the video and go on until about 9:46.
The April 13th, 2015 school board meeting. His comments begin at about 20:35 in the video and go on until about 26:22.
The June 8th, 2015 school board meeting. His comments begin at about 8:28 in the video and go on until about 13:50.
The June 22nd, 2015 school board meeting. His comments begin at about 32:00 in the video and go on until about 34:30.
The June 29th, 2015 school board meeting. His comments begin at about 1:00 in the video and go on until about 4:09.
The August 10th, 2015 school board meeting. His comments begin at about 1:24:50 in the video and go on until about 1:29:24.
The August 24th, 2015 school board meeting. His comments begin at about 5:07 in the video and go on until about 7:34.
The September 14th, 2015 school board meeting. His comments begin at about 3:25 in the video and go on until about 8:25.
http://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/2016/08/dismissal-of-john-rhines-lawsuit.html
and you can view all the incidents leading up to and including the filing of these lawsuits by going to the "LABELS" section on the right hand side of my blog and clicking on the label "Lawsuit Bridgeport School District".
http://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/search/label/Lawsuit%20Bridgeport%20School%20District
How much did these lawsuits cost the Bridgeport School District? Luckily only $5,000 of the total costs had to be paid for out of the school district funds. The school district was required to pay the schools insurance company that $5,000 as a deductible for the "incident". The rest of the legal costs were covered by the insurance company. I don't have the exact figure right now of how much these legal proceedings cost the insurance company but I suspect it would be safe to assume it was into the tens of thousands of dollars? A lot of money was paid out by others to defend against one man's "speculations".
That is $5,000 that our school district could have used for more important things, like maybe towards the students education. That is $5,000 that I don't feel that our school district should have ever had to of payed out because these legal actions by John Rhines never should have taken place. Our school district is still working under the Deficit Elimination Plan, having to work closely with the State Treasury Department. How did this $5,000 affect the DEP?
What is the true cost to our school district? The cost is more than money. The reputation of individual board members were smeared, the reputation of the entire school board and our school district was smeared. Why? Because one person, John Rhines, based on nothing but his own speculations, chose to file lawsuits that were thrown out by the courts for having no merit. There were no facts or witnesses to back up his accusations. All this drama went on for at least a year before the courts threw it out in May 2016. It garnered lots of local press coverage. It caused a lot of division in this community. The costs of John Rhines actions in my opinion far exceeded just the $5,000 from the school districts funds.
Over and over again during John Rhines speeches during the public comment period at the school board meetings he carried on about the costs of other lawsuits filed against the school district, how it was hurting the students, how it was hurting the Deficit Elimination Plan, etc... etc... His basis for the lawsuits was to recover money he felt had been inappropriately spent by the school board. He claimed that the money he hoped to recover by his lawsuit was going to be returned to the schools. He didn't mention anything that I can remember about the cost of his lawsuits to the Bridgeport School District. Was he planning on also covering those costs? Has he at any time since the court threw out his lawsuits offered to pay that $5,000 back to the school district? Maybe the residents of Bridgeport should hold him accountable for the money he cost this school district and demand he pay that $5,000 back to the school district. He was so concerned about the other legal costs hurting the school district and mostly the students, is he also concerned about his costs to the district? In my opinion, if he hasn't offered to pay that $5,000 back to the school district, then maybe he never really did care about the school district and the students that were being hurt. Did his legal actions ever really have anything to do with that? Who knows?
Sadly John Rhines won a seat on the Bridgeport School Board in the November 2016 election. Why do I say sadly? In my personal opinion, his actions have not been in the best interest of the school board and the district, of the students. Did his lawsuits actually benefit our school district? Certainly not the $5,000 it cost and not the damage done to the reputation of our school district.
He claimed that he was going to hold all board members accountable for their actions! Does he hold himself accountable for his own actions? Does he feel that the residents of this community should hold him accountable for his actions? How will he react if they do?
He claimed that the board members did not understand their own policies and did not follow them! Does he feel that board policies don't apply to him? Some of the board policies that I have seen him disregard concern the policy for public comment during the board meetings. The Bridgeport School District policy is that members of the public have 3 minutes to speak. It also states that speakers must observe the rules of common courtesy. The common courtesy part I guess is up to individual interpretation to some people. On multiple occasions he has gone way over the 3 minute policy and when the school board members tried to tell him his time was up, he responded in ways that I felt was sarcastic? Snarky? Arrogant? I am not sure what others might define them as, it just appeared to me that he felt he didn't have to follow the policy himself. Wonder how he will respond to members of this community if they go over the 3 minute policy during public comment?
I am sharing some of the older school board meeting videos here where the public can view all his remarks about the lawsuits, the DEP etc... Some of his remarks I find kind of ironic now. If there are any residents in Bridgeport that have not heard John Rhines speak at the school board meetings, then maybe you should listen to these. I feel that he does a lot of posturing, threatening, makes lots of accusations, claims he is a "fact finder" even though he had no facts of wrongdoing when he took this school district to court. His behavior during some of his comments, especially toward the school board and certain members of the school board, give me concern of how he will behave once he is actually sitting on this school board. How will he get along with the other members of this school board? Can we expect more lawsuits from John Rhines in the future? Can we expect more threats of lawsuits in the future? Can we expect more threats of him filing complaints with everyone from the State Attorney General to the local media in the future? Will he threaten to sue members of the public that speak out against him or the school board? Can we expect the members of the media to conveniently be there again every time there is going to be some kind of incident between him and other board members? Can we expect more of his "fact finding" failures? What will the cost of John Rhines being a member of this school board be in the long run?
There may be some people that view John Rhines behavior, his tactics or antics during these school board meetings as a form of bullying.
What do I not expect to see in the future at these school board meetings?
I don't ever expect to see John Rhines get up and admit that his "fact finding" concerning the accusations he made in his lawsuits was wrong. That it was nothing but his speculation.
I don't ever expect to see John Rhines get up and apologize to Marti Sageman, to other board members, to the school district, to the students, for the damage he caused due to his accusations or the money he cost this school district.
I don't expect to see John Rhines pay this school district back the $5,000 he cost them.
The February 9th, 2015 school board meeting. John Rhines public comments begin at about 1:14 in the video and goes on until about 8:34.
The February 23rd, 2015 school board meeting. His comments begin at about 7:30 in the video and go on until about 13:32.
The March 9th, 2015 school board meeting. His comments begin at about 4:56 in the video and go on until about 9:46.
The April 13th, 2015 school board meeting. His comments begin at about 20:35 in the video and go on until about 26:22.
The June 8th, 2015 school board meeting. His comments begin at about 8:28 in the video and go on until about 13:50.
The June 22nd, 2015 school board meeting. His comments begin at about 32:00 in the video and go on until about 34:30.
The June 29th, 2015 school board meeting. His comments begin at about 1:00 in the video and go on until about 4:09.
The August 10th, 2015 school board meeting. His comments begin at about 1:24:50 in the video and go on until about 1:29:24.
The August 24th, 2015 school board meeting. His comments begin at about 5:07 in the video and go on until about 7:34.
The September 14th, 2015 school board meeting. His comments begin at about 3:25 in the video and go on until about 8:25.
