You Deserve To Know The Truth

 

The Bridgeport residents deserve to know the truth about your public officials and it is your responsibility to seek it out.

I have struggled for years with talking about this and just ended up choosing not to.  What was the point?  The damage had already been done.  My word against theirs.  I had just had enough and wanted to just walk away.  I have felt guilty about keeping quiet about this.  Very guilty about my part in helping/allowing this to happen and in keeping quiet about it. 

What is that crazy woman talking about now you are probably wondering.  Here is what I am talking about:

Let's go back to 2015-2016, to the Bridgeport Spaulding School Board and a lawsuit brought by a resident against Martha Sageman and the school board.  I'm not sure how many of you remember that whole debacle, but I will provide my last post about the outcome of it all at the end of this post.  So local resident John Rhines brought the lawsuit against the school district.  During this process, in my opinion, based on what John Rhines told me personally, and text message exchanges, and from my observations, and participation in conversations, John Rhines became very close to school board member Pat Nelson.  At the time my mother (who attended all meetings with me and saw some of this also) and I laughingly referred to their friendship as a "Bromance".    Actually my late mother tried to raise the alarm with me about her being uncomfortable with the closeness of their relationship and the things that were going on.  Sadly I didn't listen to her.  A Bromance probably isn't the proper term for the closeness of their relationship, some people now might have the opinion that "Co-conspirators" is a better description.  I will leave that up to you to decide what your opinion is.

At first John Rhines was just "insinuating" to me that he was actually getting inside information from Pat Nelson.  Information about what was happening inside closed school board meetings, and meetings with their lawyers concerning the lawsuit.  At some point in this whole debacle it went from just insinuating that it was happening to outright saying it was.  Saying that Pat Nelson was telling him exactly what was happening in those school meetings and in meetings with the school district lawyers. At one point he told me that Pat Nelson was going to give him a copy of a document or documents either from the school district or from the lawyers?   I can't remember exactly what the document was supposed to be, just that it involved the lawsuit.  Of course John Rhines could not ever tell me exactly what he was being told by Pat Nelson or what the supposed document was, you know, because it was all "confidential".  This "working relationship" if that is what would be the appropriate description, between Pat Nelson and John Rhines supposedly went on the whole time of this lawsuit. So supposedly the school district that was being sued had a board member that was helping the person suing the school district?  According to John Rhines that is what happened.  From my observations of their interactions with each other and conversations with the two of them,  I believed it to be the truth.  John Rhines also told me that there was another school board member that on at least one occasion contacted him after a closed school meeting to tell him what transpired.  When I asked because I was shocked that that particular board member would also do this his reply was just that it really wasn't important information.  

I still have so many questions.  How many school board members knew what was going on between Pat Nelson and John Rhines concerning that lawsuit?  How many board members may have also helped John Rhines?  Did these people truly believe John Rhines accusations or did everyone have their own hidden agendas?  Pat Nelson was the Bridgeport Fire Department Chief during this time and suddenly retired as fire chief and just spent his time then on the school board.  I always wondered why he left the fire department?  I have a several questions now I keep asking myself about why he left the school board and now is on the township board.  I don't have just questions, I have some serious concerns about him being on the township board.  Based on what I believe about Pat Nelson then I hope you understand why I am concerned.  

I will say that I am not the only person that knows about what went on between Pat Nelson and John Rhines and the lawsuit, but I am probably the only person that will speak up and say it.

The Bridgeport residents deserve to know the truth.  They deserve to know and then decide if Pat Nelson is someone that they want on their township board, if he is someone they can trust.  You residents are demanding accountability and transparency, so go and ask for the truth!!!  They may say that I am crazy, that I am lying.  Maybe one will call the other a liar and say it never happened. You residents need to ask how many other people know.  I have always wondered if the reporter for the Birch Run/Bridgeport Herald knew what was going on?  He also seemed to become very close with John Rhines during their coverage of the accusations and lawsuit.  Did John Rhines also tell him the things he told me?

This is possibly the most important time ever for me to go back to covering all things involving the township government, but I am not going to.  I am just walking away.  The residents of this township need to demand answers and hold the township officials accountable.  

You can read the story of the dismissal of the lawsuit by the courts here:

Dismissal of John Rhine Lawsuit

When Journalism Doesn't Do Journalism

What Is Journalism?  "Journalism is the activity of gathering, assessing, creating, and presenting news and information. It is also the product of these activities.  Journalism can be distinguished from other activities and products by certain identifiable characteristics and practices. These elements not only separate journalism from other forms of communication, they are what make it indispensable to democratic societies. History reveals that the more democratic a society, the more news and information it tends to have."

I'm not a journalist, I am a blogger that would give English teachers fits, a "Social Media Princess" as one person called me. The public should expect higher standards and accurate reporting from what are considered the true journalism outlets such as your local newspapers.  There are two instances where I find our local journalists and journalism lacking.

The first instance goes back to 2016.  There had been serious and wild accusations made by a Bridgeport resident, now a school board member himself, against Mrs. Marti Sageman and other members of the Bridgeport School Board. I covered these on my blog and all the local media outlets covered them extensively; in print, on TV, they would all show up at the meetings with their cameras and crews, the accuser was given plenty of TV airtime etc...  Residents were just about demanding board members heads on a platter.  Everyone believed the accusations.  Sadly there are residents in Bridgeport Township that still believe those accusations to this day.  Why? Because when the case was dismissed by the courts for having no merit, none of the local media was there to cover the story. The accuser had no proof, no documents, no witnesses.  After all the sensational coverage the local media had given the accusations, you would think they would have wanted to give the cases dismissals at least a mention so as to inform the public of the final outcome.  No more sensational accusations & headlines, no media interest it seemed to cover it. This was all dismissed by the court in May of 2016.  When I finally found out about the dismissal I wrote a blog post sharing some of the court documents for the dismissal in August of 2016.  You can read that blog post here and see the documents I shared from the courts:
http://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/2016/08/dismissal-of-john-rhines-lawsuit.html

So it is now three years after the accusations and lawsuits were thrown out by the courts and still no coverage by the local media.  I have only found one recent mention in an article by Bob Johnson of MLive of part of the original lawsuits and him saying that it was dismissed due to board action of voting to approve a separation agreement.  To me that does not seem like a very accurate or complete description of all that was involved in the whole mess that went on for over a year.  If that is all that you ever read about the accusations and lawsuits dismissal, you might still believe that the wild accusations were true.  Read the court documents to see the truth about it. Here is the article by Bob Johnson about the lawyer Philip Ellison where he mentions in passing the case about Bridgeport:
https://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw-bay-city/2019/04/saginaw-county-lawyer-behind-tire-chalking-lawsuit-says-he-fights-for-the-little-guy.html 
The media started a story and never finished it.

The second instance where I find our local journalists and journalism lacking involves a story that goes all the way back from 2009 through 2013 and involves the Bridgeport Township Trustee Board and other government officials.  It all revolves around actions taken by the township government and the restoration of the historic State Street Bridge here in downtown Bridgeport.  Most residents remember all about that.  The local media again covered most aspects of the original story in detail.  Members of the Trustee Board and some officials were recalled by the voters.  One of those recalled was Lee Carpenter.  Lee Carpenter was hired back to the Trustee Board as the clerk again, but not by the voters, but by the government officials, some of whom may be family and friends of his.  Lee Carpenter was hired back on April 2nd of this year and still no local media has covered that fact.  I would think that most Bridgeport residents would like to be informed of that fact since they did vote to recall him at one time.  If I was a journalist or a publisher of one of our local media outlets I would think that might be a story that the Bridgeport residents, their news subscribers, might be interested in.  When the local government does not inform the residents of this decision then the media is the main other option for the residents to find it out.  The only other way they could find it out is the same way I did by reading the minutes of the April 2nd trustee meeting.  The Bridgeport Township government has yet to make an official announcement of the hiring of Lee Carpenter.  As of May 7th, the page on the township government website under the Administration section for the Township Clerk still had the retired clerk listed.  As of May 8th, the page for the Township Clerk was removed and still is not back up on their website as of this writing.  All the other pages for positions like Township Supervisor, Township Treasurer etc... are still there, just not one for the Clerk.  Does Bridgeport Township not want the voters/residents to know that the formerly recalled Lee Carpenter is back as the township clerk?  One can only speculate as to why they do not have a page for him.
I wrote a post about the township hiring Lee Carpenter back in April that also provides links to some of the original news stories about the troubles back when they were recalled and you can read it here:
http://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/2019/04/something-old-something-new-some-things.html

*EDIT* June 5, 2019 - I found out during the June 4th township trustee meeting that they first voted to appoint Lee Carpenter to the Zoning Board of Appeals during the December 18, 2018 township trustee board meeting.  Were they bound and determined to bring him back to whatever position they could find for him in the township government? You can read my blog post about it: https://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/2019/06/bridgeport-township-board-meeting-june.html

I am truly surprised that the local media has not covered the story of Lee Carpenter being hired back to the position he was recalled from by the voters.  I would think that especially a smaller outlet like the Birch Run/Bridgeport Herald that basically covers nothing but Birch Run and Bridgeport stories would find the time and space to report on that to their customers.

So when news organizations start sensational stories but then just drop them when they are no longer sensational, or fail to report on stories that would be of interest to the voters but perhaps not so good for the local government, is that just lazy journalism?   Dishonest journalism?  Lack of journalism?  Maybe this is the reason that so many news organizations are no longer respected and are losing business?

The $5,000 Cost Of John Rhines To The Bridgeport Spaulding School District

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.

Dismissal Of John Rhines' Lawsuit Against Martha Sageman And The Bridgeport Spaulding School Board

I suspect that most residents in Bridgeport have either been following this lawsuit or at least heard talk spread around Bridgeport about it.  I just recently found out that the lawsuit(s) were dismissed by the courts back in May 2016.  I have yet to see any news reported by any of the local news outlets about the dismissal.  I can understand where the larger news organizations have so many stories to cover that they were not aware of the dismissal.  I thought perhaps that our smaller local news, the Birch Run/Bridgeport Herald, would have reported the dismissal but I have gone back through my issues going all the way back to April and could not find the story.  Hopefully they will be posting it soon so that all Bridgeport Spaulding residents are aware of the facts.  I won't try to recap all the accusations included in these lawsuits.  You can get most of what the accusations were about just by reading the documents I will be posting here.
I went to the Saginaw County Courthouse and took a look at the court files for these lawsuits.  There are two huge files.  I had a limited amount of time I could spend there that day and it was no where near enough to even begin to go through all the legal paperwork.  There looks to be some fascinating reading in those files.  I will be going back to review more of the case files when I have enough time to do so.  I got copies of some of the documents that I think will give a good view of the arguments against the lawsuits.  Obviously those arguments won because the suits were dismissed by the courts.  John Rhines had made some serious accusations and from what I read in the documents, John Rhines own testimony, he did not have one single piece of evidence to back any of his accusations up.  Not one piece of evidence or one single witness to back up his claims.  His speculations, his accusations, caused a lot of turmoil here in the Bridgeport School District  at a time when this district did not need that kind of trouble.  He sounded very convincing when he got up and spoke at the school board meetings with his claims, in the TV interviews, in the interviews with the news organizations.  I believed his claims.  Perhaps if I was better versed in the law and particularly these claims, I would have questioned them from the beginning.  After reading these documents, I am not sure what grounds he thought he had to even make the accusations.  It appears to be just speculation and hearsay with no proof.

The first pages I am posting here are showing the date of the dismissal, May 26th, 2016.  The lawyers for both sides signed a "Stipulation For Dismissal" document on May 17th and the judge signed the "Order Of Dismissal" on the 26th.

To view these pages in a larger more readable format just click on each image.

The next 8 pages I am posting are the "Defendants' Motion for Summary Disposition".  Basically this is the argument by the defendants to have the lawsuit dismissed.  This specifically deals with the accusations that Marti Sageman had any hand in the separation agreement with Jennifer McDonald, that there was no wrongdoing in the dismissal of Jennifer McDonald, that Marti Sageman did not benefit in any way from the dismissal, that Marti Sageman did not misappropriate funds, that the school board members did not engage in a coverup of any supposed misappropriation or supposed wrongdoing.  Obviously the defendants arguments won.  If you read these documents you will see why they won.

The last 4 pages I will share here are another "Motion for Summary Disposition" by the defendants.  This one specifically deals with the accusation that the school board violated the open meetings act.  And again it does not appear that John Rhines had any proof of his claims.

Bridgeport Spaulding School Board Lawsuit, Election, and some random musings

This post has been hard for me to write and it may end up being long, so bear with me here.

Bridgeport resident John Rhines was a vocal critic of the Bridgeport School Board.  He filed a lawsuit against board member Marti Sageman and then added other members of the school board to the lawsuit (s).  Marti Sageman was accused of some serious wrongdoing.  I am not going to go back into all the details here.  You can see the old posts on my blog or just go to Google and you can find all the news stories about the accusations and the lawsuit.

What you won't find on Google are any news stories reporting that the lawsuit was dismissed by the judge.  I don't have the exact legal wording from the court papers but I believe it was dismissed either for lack of merit or lack of evidence.  I am not a legal expert and since I don't have the documents, forgive me if I am not citing the correct cause for dismissal.  To me the main point is that it was all dismissed by the judge.  There were several accusations with one of them being that the school board violated the open meetings act.  I believe the judge was going to allow that part of the suit to go forward but I believe it was dropped by all the parties involved. Possibly the school board did violate the open meetings act but I do not believe it would have been done out of malicious intent, perhaps out of  lack of understanding of the rules, but I don't think that counts as a serious crime or a deadly sin.

As far as I am concerned, and I hope others feel the same way, Marti Sageman and the school board are exonerated from any accusations of wrongdoing.  This is over and it is time to move on.  There is a lot of work to be done for the children, the school district and the community of Bridgeport.  And it can only be done when everyone works together.

What did Mr. Rhines lawsuit accomplish?  I don't know if it accomplished anything other than waste a lot of time, energy and money.  The only ones that I can see that benefited from this suit are perhaps the lawyers.  I suspect they all took a nice paycheck to the bank.  I don't begrudge them their money.  Good lawyers earn their pay.  As far as lawsuits, sometimes they are the only way to achieve justice when someone has been wronged.  I don't have a problem with them when they are truly needed, but they are not always the best way to handle situations.  Sometimes it seems to me that this country has become too lawsuit crazy.

Now lets discuss Carla Citizen Bridgeport resident and blogger.  Let me go on a little diversion here into national politics.  This current presidential election cycle to me is the most disgusting and disgraceful that I can remember in my lifetime.  The only good that I have gotten out of it, and a few things going on in my personal life, is that they have made me do some serious soul searching.  Some serious reflection.

Now back to Carla Citizen.  Before I started attending the school board meetings I did not know Marti Sageman personally.  I knew her name and that she was involved in the schools but that is all I knew about her.  After I got involved with the school board meetings then I started hearing horrible things about Marti Sageman.  But these are not things that I have personally witnessed or have any first hand knowledge of.   Criticizing  Marti Sageman or anyone else here on my blog, based solely on the word of others is not acceptable.  Not to me and it should not be to anyone else either.  People love to talk, especially trash talk and trying to beat others down.  That is something that I personally hate but yet I have fallen into that dark trap of listening and judging based on all the wrong reasons.
Marti Sageman has said things or acted in a certain manner at meetings that I was unhappy with.  But so have others, on the school board and the township board.  So have residents at these meetings.  I don't think that I have criticized anyone else as harshly as I have Marti Sageman.  Well maybe Police Chief Dave Duffett a couple of years ago.  BTW, now that I know Chief Duffett, I think he is a great guy and a excellent police chief. I am glad that we have him as our Police Chief here in Bridgeport.  He has always treated me with respect.  Respect that I don't feel he owed me.  That tells me a lot about his character.  I feel he is a better person and a much more forgiving person than me.

Was my criticism of Marti Sageman over the top?  Yes it was, at times way over any acceptable level of  criticism.  Was I wrong at times in my judgement and criticism of her?  I would say most likely I was.  For these reasons, I would like to publicly apologize to Marti Sageman for the things I have written.  I have not treated her with the respect that she and every other person deserves to be treated with.  Hopefully Marti and I can move forward and build a relationship.  I have had some interactions and conversations with Marti and she treats me just fine.  She treats me also with the respect that she does not owe me.  She has every right to just slap me along side the head but she doesn't.  If she ever does, well, I had it coming.

Now to the future. Hopefully I will be back to attending all the township and school board meetings.  And I will try to write my blog.  Will try to share information with our Bridgeport residents.  I will still have my opinions, but hopefully they will be more tempered, more thoughtful.  I am a person that gets emotional and passionate about things. That can lead me to react first and think second.  I am going to try and improve on that.  I will still criticize things or our public officials if I think they are wrong.  Just hopefully I won't be going off on any over the top rants.  If something really upsets me then maybe I will approach that official and discuss it with them first, try to discuss things rationally and calmly. There are so many positive things happening here in Bridgeport, really good people here.  I will try to keep this blog more positive.  There has been enough negativity and nastiness in this current national election to wear me out for the rest of my life.  How many of you can stand the nastiness, the lack of civility that is happening in our country right now?  I watch what is happening and see how so many are being swallowed up and swept along with the ugliness.  Others like myself are stepping back and saying "This is not acceptable!..  This is not who we as a nation are...  This is not what made this country great and this is not the way forward".  If I got into national politics on my blog here, I would end up going way over the top and they would be putting me in a straight jacket and locking me away!!  I think it is better that I stick to the wonderful community we have here..

Now for the upcoming school board election.  There are 4 seats that expire this time.  Dempsey Allen, Tedi Morris, Marti Sageman and Larry Long.  According to an article in the Birch Run/Bridgeport Herald, there are 5 people that will be running in the November election for these seats.  Larry Long is not running for re-election.  Dempsey Allen, Tedi Morris and Marti Sageman are running to continue on the school board.  There are 2 residents that will also be running for the school board, Michelle Young Albertson and John Rhines.

Writing this blog is a challenge at times.  I want it to be informative, I want to motivate residents to get involved in our community.  This blog is also based on my opinion, which I have more than my fair share of.  Should I endorse candidates or not?  Is sharing my opinion of candidates the same as endorsing them?  I don't know.  I am not a professional journalist.  So I will just share with you  my thoughts on some of the residents running for school board.
Dempsey Allen and Tedi Morris --  If you have ever read my blog posts you have probably seen me write about them. I think very highly of both of them!  I have watched them in action as members of the school board and I have spoken with both of them one on one.  I believe they are truly good people and I don't doubt for a second their love of this community and school district or that they will work hard for the betterment of this district.
Michelle Young Albertson -- I have never met her in person and do not really know her, but I do know of her and I think very highly of her.  I think she is the kind of person that would be a great asset to this school board.  I am actually excited that she is running for a seat.
Marti Sageman -- Some are going to love her, some are going to hate her.  She has been a member of the school board for many years.  She has done good things for this school district and no one can deny that.  She has done good things for the Bridgeport community also.  She was involved years ago in a community project that was very dear to my heart.  She did a good thing that I will always be grateful to her for.  She has put in more time and energy for the good of this community than I could ever dream of doing.   Marti can still be a positive force in this community and this school district.

What am I hoping for in the future for our community?  Civility, Compassion, Empathy, Honesty, Integrity.  People making an effort to understand others.  People working together for the betterment for this community and this school district.  A theme that was brought up at the Aug 3rd township trustee meeting is that we are all neighbors, all members of this community.  The future of our school district depends upon the future of our township and vice versa.  We need to work together for the benefit of all.  I know it is not always easy.  People are passionate, people are opinionated, people feel strongly about their beliefs and their goals and will stand steadfast by them.  There are clashes of personalities.  Power struggles.  Egos and personal agendas.  But all these issues have to be put aside, people have got to learn to work together, sacrifice, reach out.  People have got to learn to better communicate with each other. People must put their personal feelings or prejudices aside.   Most of all, everyone in any public office has got to make their first  and only priority to do whatever it takes to work together for the betterment of this community.

Bridgeport School Board Meeting October 12th, 2015

On the agenda:
There were no public comments this meeting.
- Mackinac Island Presentation and Approval begins at 1:40
- Martin G. Atkins Quarterly Report begins at 14:05
- Payment of Bills & Budget Report Minutes begins at 20:33
- Policy Committee Report Recommendations begins at 34:54
- Personnel Report begins at 36:44
- Board votes to go into closed session at 51:32
- Motion To Accept Advice Of Council Concerning Pending Litigation begins at 53:20
- Board And Superintendent Comments begins at 54:00
© 2015 Carla Citizen All Rights Reserved

I will start my post with a couple of good things from last nights meeting, then I will get to the rest of the meeting.
First good thing was the Mackinac Island Presentation.  The presentation was by Middle School Principal Mr. Baker and an assistant, Mr. Lounsbury.  What a fantastic opportunity this trip is for the children and I was glad to see it supported by the school board.

Elementary School Principal Mrs. Durand gave the Martin G. Atkins Quarterly Report.  From what I have heard from her updates, from what I have seen, from meeting and talking with other people, I think there are many great things going on at the school.  Martin G. Atkins also now has a Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/martingatkins

Mr. Lange presented the recommendations from the Policy Committee and they were approved by the board.  I really like these new policies.
 * First is for how the board will deal with public comments --
"It is the President's responsibility to respond to public comments in one of the following ways:
1. Directly
2. Allow other Board members to respond.
3. Direct the matter to a Staff member and /or Committee with a commitment as to when a response would be forthcoming.
4. Defer the item to the Board Comments section of the meeting.
5. Defer the item to the next Board meeting where the item becomes a part of the Board Agenda."
 * Next is the Visitors and Staff Identification Policy --  A short excerpt of the policy is:
"It shall be the policy of the Bridgeport/Spaulding Schools that all visitors and staff be identified with picture ID before gaining access to school buildings and must wear identification badges while on school property.  The purpose of the access control system is to enhance building security.
The goal of the identification procedure is twofold:
1. So that school staff may be identified by responding agencies during times of crisis as a potential resource.
2.  So that staff and visitors can be identified as belonging on campus by all those who occupy the facility.
Persons who are not student or staff shall report immediately to the sign in area upon entering a school building.  Persons other than parents, guardians, students or staff, who desire to visit a school building, shall do so only with the permission of an appropriate administrative staff member."
* Lastly is that the board will set a standing agenda item starting in November where they will review one section each month of the Board Policies.


There was a discussion, and action, that took place during the board meeting last night that bothered me.  I have reviewed the video of the meeting several times since last night and each time I watch it, it bothers me a little more.
During the Personnel Report they were presented with some Administrative Contracts that needed to be approved.  This part of the report begins at 38:17 in the video.  The board voted to not approve the contracts at last nights meeting, they will send them to the Finance Committee for review and then they will be brought back up at the October 26th meeting for approval.  The whole union business is over my head a little but I do understand that these contracts fall under the "collective bargaining agreement", that were negotiated by a previous Administration with BAPA, The Bridgeport Administrators Professional Association.  You can view the agreement on the Bridgeport Schools website, under the transparency reporting section - http://www.bscs.k12.mi.us/UserFiles/Servers/Server_4467434/File/Migration/page_430_BAPA%207-23.pdf

Robert Lange did bring up that since they are union contracts they do need to be sure that they are in compliance and doing this properly.  I don't have a problem with that, sounds like a logical course of action.
Mr. Long was the first and the most vocal to object to approving the contracts at last nights meeting.  He brought up the fact that the school district has lost students since last year.  According to the article on MLive, they have lost 158 students since the 2014 count.  http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2015/10/bridgeport-spaulding_school_di_1.html#incart_m-rpt-2

 


 

Settlement Proposal Offered To The Bridgeport School District

This is the settlement proposal offered to the Bridgeport School District by Attorney Philip Ellison and his client John Rhines.  The School Board went into closed session at the Monday October 12th board meeting to discuss this proposal and chose to reject it. 

So now, either this case will go to trial, or maybe the legal representatives for the school district will come back with a counter-proposal. 

So here is a copy of the settlement proposal offered to the school board.  To view a larger image of the pages, just click on them.

Page 1

 

Page 2

 

Page 3

Bridgeport School Board Meeting August 24th, 2015

The video starts before the board meeting actually began. You will see a summons server serving four of the school board members with legal documents pertaining to a amended lawsuit against board member Marti Sageman. The amended suit now includes these four board members and also there is another lawsuit seeking to have the courts invalidate the resolution that was passed on July 20th by these four board members.

On the meeting agenda:
- Citizen Participation begins at 4:59
- Agenda Adjustments begins at 7:43
- Priority School Quarterly Report begins at 9:30
- High School Update By Mr. McCarthy begins at 18:15
- Searching For New Legal Counsel Discussion begins at 26:26
- Deficit Elimination Plan (DEP) Update and Approval begins at 34:43
- Personnel Report begins at 44:46
- Superintendent Search Discussion/Appointment begins at 47:34
- Board's Responses To Public Comments and Questions Discussion begins at 50:18
- Board And Superintendent Comments begin at 1:02:00

Four board members, Jay Bruns, Larry Long, Robert Lange, and Dempsey Allen were all served with legal papers pertaining to lawsuits filed by Attorney Philip Ellison.  One of the suits is against the school board for violating the Open Meeting Act by going into the closed session at the July 20th school board meeting and also to have the resolution that they voted to approve at that meeting declared invalid by the court.  Mr. Ellison has some very detailed grounds for the claim laid out in the suit.
The four board members that voted to approve the resolution have also been added to the original lawsuit against board member Marti Sageman for misappropriation of public funds, based on their vote for the resolution.  You can view the details of both of these lawsuits and the resolution passed here on my blog.  Mlive also has posted a article today about the four members being added to the lawsuit - http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2015/08/more_bridgeport_school_board_m.html#incart_river

There was a Priority School Quarterly Report presented by Mrs. Duran.  It sounds like they have put a lot of work into this plan for the future and it sounds like some very positive and good changes are being put into place.  I wish them luck and applaud all their hard work and dedication.

Mr. McCarthy had a update of some of the new things that will be coming for the upcoming school year.  One of the exciting things they have is the Project Lead The Way engineering program.  MLive did a article on this earlier this year, you can view it here - http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2015/05/bridgeport_students_preparing.html  
They will be offering things like a Computer Science class that will feature Coding, a Chinese language class, new textbooks, one hour lunch program.  They will be looking into adding the Air Force Jr. ROTC program.  I see many positive changes coming from the administration and staff of the Bridgeport Schools!

They had a discussion about looking for a new legal counsel firm to use.  They agreed they will no longer be using the firm of Masud Law Group.  They do also have another firm Clark & Hill they will continue to use and will be looking into local firms for future use.

Melissa Cabine gave a update on the current Deficit Elimination Plan and they voted to approve it.  Positive outlook for the future of Bridgeport Schools in the plan.
They voted on some new hires during the Personnel Report.

At the August 10th board meeting Board Vice President Pat Nelson presented a motion to table any decision on which firm to use for the Superintendent Search until the September meeting. 

They also discussed the board's policy for responding to comments and questions from the public.  I can't say that they actually ended up with a consensus for handling this issue in the future.  In my opinion, comments and questions directed at specifically the school board should be answered by the school board, if it is a issue involving the schools and students, that should probably best be answered by the Superintendent. 

The board and superintendent comments are also worth listening to from this school board meeting.  The next school board meeting will be held on September 14th.

Misappropriation Lawsuit Against Marti Sageman Amended To Include Four Other Bridgeport School Board Members

Let me start this post by putting the sequence of events in order here:
-- Lawsuit filed against Bridgeport School Board member Marti Sageman for misappropriation of funds.  You can view the lawsuit here - http://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/2015/07/lawsuit-on-behalf-of-bridgeport-school.html
-- At the July 20th Bridgeport School Board Meeting the board members voted on a resolution to approve the separation agreement and the monies paid to Jennifer McDonald.  That separation agreement and the monies are the basis of the lawsuit against Marti Sageman.
You can view the July 20th meeting here - http://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/2015/07/bridgeport-school-board-special-meeting_21.html
You can view a copy of the actual resolution passed at that meeting here - http://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/2015/08/resolution-approving-settlement-from.html
-- On August 14th Attorney Philip Ellison filed a suit seeking to have the court invalidate the resolution passed at the July 20th meeting.  You can view that suit here -  http://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/2015/08/lawsuit-filed-seeking-to-invalidate.html

On August 14th, Mr. Ellison also amended the original misappropriation lawsuit to include the four board members that voted to approve that resolution, Jay Bruns, Larry Long, Robert Lange, Dempsey Allen.  Some of the arguments included in the amendment are:

- That at no time did these Defendants actually investigate, conduct hearings, or interview the parties involved, including Superintendent Thomas Hill and/or Jennifer McDonald.
- That in other words, these Defendants wrongfully used their political voting power to aid in the concealment of stolen, embezzled, or converted property in the form of monies belonging to the taxpayers of the BRIDGEPORT-SPAULDING COMMUNITY SCHOOLS and/or its BOARD OF EDUCATION as misappropriated by Defendant MARTHA SAGEMAN.

You can view the amended lawsuit here.  The part where they add the other four board members begins on the end of page 4 and continues through page 7.   Click on the photos to see a larger version:

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can follow the progress of this lawsuit on the Circuit Court website -- http://www.saginawcounty.com/Apps/ClerkSearches/CircuitCivilDetail.aspx?caseNo=15-027138-CZ

Lawsuit Filed Seeking To Invalidate Resolution Passed By Bridgeport School Board On July 20th, 2015

Attorney Philip Ellison filed a complaint on August 14th seeking to have the resolution invalidated that was passed by the Bridgeport School Board on July 20th.
You can view the resolution on this blog post - http://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/2015/08/resolution-approving-settlement-from.html
You can follow the progress of this suit on the Circuit Court website - http://www.saginawcounty.com/Apps/ClerkSearches/CircuitCivilDetail.aspx?caseNo=15-027422-CZ
I could try to summarize his grounds for this complaint but it is better to view the entire legal complaint itself.  There are some interesting facts in this complaint, here are just a few highlights from the complaint -

-- Undertaking a political attempt to thwart the return of monies to the taxpayers within the Bridgeport-Spaulding Community Schools as misappropriated by current trustee Martha A. Sageman.
-- That it is suspected that Defendant BRIDGEPORT-SPAULDING COMMUNITY SCHOOLS BOARD OF EDUCATION did not, in closed session, actually review evidence to support the findings of fact outlined in the July 20, 2015, but rather sought ways, via a false resolution, to politically protect trustee Martha A. Sageman’s prior illegal misappropriations of funds.
-- That in support of this belief, trustee Martha A. Sageman voted to ratify her own illegal conduct, despite being a named defendant in another case and having a direct conflict of interest.

Just click on these photos to see the larger version:

 

 

 

Resolution Approving Settlement From July 20th, 2015 School Board Meeting

People have commented that they could not understand exactly what was said at the July 20th School Board Meeting concerning the resolution that was passed by the school board concerning the separation agreement signed by former Elementary Principal Jennifer McDonald.  It was confusing to listen to.  I have a copy of the resolution that was passed and hopefully that will be a little easier to understand.

Here is the three page resolution that was voted on by the board members with a 5 to 2 vote.  Click on the pictures to see a larger image:

 

 

 

The original separation agreement signed by Jennifer McDonald was drawn up by Attorney Gary Patterson from the Masud Law Group, one of the regular law firms used by the Bridgeport School District.  At the July 20th School Board Meeting it appeared to me that it was Attorney Gary Patterson that presented the Resolution To Approve Settlement Agreement to the school board in the closed session and that the school board members then voted to approve that. 

After the July 20th School Board Meeting, Attorney Gary Patterson sent a letter to Attorney Philip Ellison concerning the lawsuit that was filed by Mr. Ellison on behalf of the Bridgeport School Board against Marti Sageman.  I wondered why he did that since he is not involved in any way with that lawsuit, except as Mr. Ellison points out in his response to him that he is a witness to the lawsuit?  I am not a legal scholar but to my simple mind it seems like Mr. Patterson has a conflict of interest in the drafting of the resolution and in the letter he sent to Mr. Ellison.

Here is the letter sent to Attorney Philip Ellison by Attorney Gary Patterson and also Mr. Ellison's response.  Click on the pictures to see a larger image:

 

 

At tonight's school board meeting the board discussed not using the Masud Law Group any longer for their legal needs.

Bridgeport School Board Special Meeting July 20th, 2015

On the agenda:
- Citizen Participation begins at 0:46
- Closed Session - They voted to go into closed session at 5:00 and they come back into meeting at about 6:14
-  Agenda Adjustments begins at 6:31.  This is where they added the Jennifer McDonald contract to the agenda.
- Committee Reports begin at 7:57
- 2015-16 High School Student Handbooks Discussion/Approval begins at 12:17
-Bus Leases begins at 13:03
- Personnel Report begins at 14:35
-Discussion on the Resolution to approve 2014 settlement agreement with Jennifer McDonald begins at 23:46.  It starts with just a recap of the legal actions concerning this.  The boards statement concerning Marti Sageman and the resolution to approve the agreement begins at 27:40
- Board Member Comments begin at 32:16 ..  Board President Jay Bruns closing comments begin at 33:43

There was also a vote by this school board to approve the separation agreement from 2014 between the Bridgeport schools and former Elementary Principal Jennifer McDonald.  Where to even begin with this!    

Back in July of 2014 there was the infamous separation agreement signed by Former Superintendent Tom Hill on behalf of the Bridgeport School District and Elementary Principal Jennifer McDonald. 

So now we have a new school board with 2 new members and a new board president, voting last night 5 to 2 to approve that separation agreement that was not discussed or approved in 2014 by the previous board or voted on in 2014 in an open board meeting, in which it was required to be according to the laws pertaining to the OMA.  Following so far?  

Last night Board President Jay Bruns read a statement that appeared to have been prepared by the school districts lawyer Mr. Patterson.  At 27:40 in the video he gives the prepared school boards response concerning the separation agreement and the handling by Marti Sageman of the actions taken and the money spent.  This is not a legal judgement given by a court, only by the board members.  Wasn’t the school district’s lawyer Mr. Patterson also the one who drew up that separation agreement for Jennifer McDonald?  Based on the lawsuit filed against Marti Sageman on the circuit court website, the school district attorney is NOT Mr Patterson in fact it states the attorney is Philip Ellison. Therefore was it legal for the board to enter into closed session for the reason of exempt material when that pertains to client attorney privileges?   The way I understand the law this would make Mr. Patterson a witness to the case and a direct conflict of interest.  You can view the lawsuit papers filed here -- http://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/2015/07/lawsuit-on-behalf-of-bridgeport-school.html

Jay Bruns stated last night that the school board members were aware of the discussions between the school board’s representative and the representative for Jennifer McDonald.  How many school board members were actually told about this agreement and exactly when was it ever discussed by the board members?  If there were board members that were aware of it, then why did they not follow proper procedure and vote on it and approve it in a board meeting?  If the school board members were aware of this agreement and the payment made, why have they stayed silent since February when questions were first brought up about it?  Would the vote last night by the board to approve the action from a year ago be considered a admission of guilt that they did violate rules concerning it in 2014?  Or just a admission of incompetence?  Incompetence then, Incompetence now?

In the ABC 12 article and video by Terry Camp,  he states that “We spoke with school board members Jay Bruns and Pat Nelson and they confirm they knew nothing of the separation agreement between McDonald and the district.”   See video and story here - http://www.abc12.com/home/headlines/Bridgeport-School-District-in-legal-hot-water-over-separation-agreement--311005541.html 
It seems that more people than myself are confused about this.  Did Jay Bruns Know about it or did he Not Know about it?  Are we expected to settle for the best 2 out of 3 for answers concerning this?  It is obvious, and should be even to those that lack reading comprehension ability, that I have a lot of questions concerning everything about this whole matter.   

Now on to the closing comments made by Board President Jay Bruns.  

I have totally lost faith in the political system in D.C.  One of the things I find disgusting about the national politics is how when there is a vocal critic of or opponent to those in power, the opponent becomes a target of what appears to be a smear campaign.  They are attacked and lied about in every way possible in an attempt to destroy any credibility of the critic and thereby destroying the credibility of their criticism and opposition…….  When I heard Jay Bruns comments last night, I almost felt like I was watching this same kind of politics happening here in Bridgeport.  I have spent hours thinking over what he said and I still do not really know what to think of it.  So let’s take a look at what he said, piece by piece.  I would love some feedback from others on what you think of his comments.  You can leave a comment and post as “anonymous”.

First he talks about how they are moving forward etc…  I agree with that to a point. The schools and staff are moving forward; the school board not so much.  I think we have a few good board members that could help move the district in the right direction.  There are some good things happening in the district and I have talked with several people connected to the schools about how I would like to write about them here on my blog, to really highlight the positive things.  The problem is I just don’t have the time to do it.  I wanted to get all the info etc… to share.  There are too many important things in my life that are being put on hold, shoved to the side, just to be able to have the time to share what I do with the Township Board Meetings and the School Board Meetings.  There are so many good things happening here in Bridgeport that I would like to share on my blog, just can’t get it done.

Next he talks about every citizens Freedom of Speech and that I, Carla Citizen, have the right to video tape public meetings and share them on the internet.   Those are rights that all public officials need to remember that we as citizens have, and also remember that there are laws in place to guarantee and protect those rights. There are penalties for violating those laws.

He says that anyone has the right to come to the podium and say “whatever they want about anyone they want”, “Whether It is True Or Not”.  That remark blew me away!  Who was he talking about there?  The couple that spoke that evening about the 2015 Great Lake Rendezvous that will be held this August on the island at Davis Park here in Bridgeport?  Was he talking about the staff members that have spoken at the podium about some of the great things like the Robotic Program they have started here in Bridgeport?  Was he implying that people are actually speaking at the podium and intentionally lying? My first thought was that he was referring to the most vocal opponent of the school board and by far the most frequent visitor to the podium – John Rhines.  But he surely can’t mean John Rhines, because I believe that John Rhines can back up everything he has ever said with facts and documents.

Right after he talks about my right to video tape the meetings and share them online, he talks about “someone” advocating for the closure of the Bridgeport School District.  I got into a discussion with Mr. Bruns after the school board meeting about this.  The only remark that I can think of that he is referring to is one I made at the end of my blog post about the June 29^th, 2015 Special School Board Meeting.  That was one of the meetings that made me feel like there was probably no hope for this current school board being competent enough to save this school district. 
My remark was “If I was sitting in Lansing and saw this meeting, along with all the other problems that this school board and district have had for years, I would shut this district down.  This meeting left me with little hope that this school board will ever be able to function in the necessary manner to bring this district out of the mess that it has allowed it to become, and especially to ever make it a thriving district.”  
I am NOT advocating for Lansing to shut the district down, I was in despair because I felt that is what Would Happen because of the incompetency of this school board.   If anyone goes and reads all my blog posts it should be obvious to them that I care deeply about the future of this district and the children that depend upon this district.  In my conversation with Mr. Bruns after the meeting, I said that I never advocated for closing the district down.  When Mr. Bruns tried to quote exactly what I had written, I said something along the line that he was paraphrasing, taking out of context what I had written, thus changing the meaning of what I wrote.  That quote needs to be taken in full context of the entire blog post.  If you read all my posts I think it should be obvious what I meant.  I keep asking myself if maybe he truly does not understand what I wrote or if he is intentionally twisting it to change the meaning?  I honestly don’t know what to think.

He also says “Everyone would be out of a job, because of what is being put on the computer and on YouTube, advocating closure of our schools”….  Wow, I wish my humble little blog really had that much power!  I do now average between 3,000 to 3,500 views over any 30 day period now.  After my post about the June 29^th School Board Meeting, I did have over 600 views, from the U.S., in the first 48 hours after it went online.  That is not counting the international views it received.  If my blog posts had the power to close down the Bridgeport School District, just think of what I could do to change all the wrongs in the world with just my little blog!!

If the State of Michigan ever does close the Bridgeport School District, like they did with the former Buena Vista School District, it will not be because of anything that I write on my blog, it would be because of what they see happening here through the lens of my camera.  The buck stops with the School Board Members!  You can have all the best staff in the world working here in Bridgeport, but there is only so much they can do to save our school district when the school board is either so incompetent or possibly so corrupt.  If the district ever gets shut down it will be because of the actions or lack of actions by the School Board Members themselves and no one else!

In my conversation with Mr. Bruns after the meeting I also told him that what I want is for several of the board members to be gone so that the school district does not get shut down.  He said something like “You can’t remove the board members, only in an election”.  Mr. Bruns is not up for reelection until 2018; But there is always the Recall choice to remove a board member.  To remove them now would take a special election and I am not yet willing to go there because of the hardship it would cost the Township.  There is an election coming up in May 2016.  Jay Bruns can be recalled in that May election.  Maybe he will be recalled.  I will be seriously looking into that option after last night's meeting!