New School Board Majority Stumbles at First Step!!! Request for Proposals for new law firm does NOT meet minimal standards!!! $100 Reward offered!!! Report, evaluation, reward and recommendations offered by Robert A. Williams
The NEW school board majority (Robert Queen, Joel Shores, Ron Humphries, Rodney Fitch and Danny Blanton) has a mandate from the citizens of Cleveland County as shown by their overwhelming victory in the 2020 Elections. They have previously attended school board meetings and know, or should know, who and what they are dealing with in the corrupt bureaucracy in the CCS Administration. And with the old school board members. They have been sworn in and now the NEW school board majority members are in charge. Rooting out corruption, waste, inefficiencies, incompetence, etc. will take some time. We all know that. But so does the corrupt bureaucracy. And the NEW school board majority has lost their very first battle in the search for a new lawyer.
At the December 14, 2020 School Board meeting the New School Board Majority voted (5-4) to terminate the high-dollar Raleigh law firm of Tharrington & Smith by ordering a start to the 90-day termination agreement in the T&S Contract. This was totally appropriate as T&S and Superintendent Stephen Fisher had, all by themselves, filed the frivolous lawsuit against Sheriff Alan Norman in the name of the School Board, but without consulting the school board for approval.
Then, School Board Chairman Robert Queen foolishly instructed Supt. Fisher to develop a Request for a Proposal (RFP) to be issued to local attorneys for a new local Board Attorney position. And Fisher immediately issued the RFP to attorney firms that did NOT meet minimal standards. Many attorneys may not even waste their time responding to such an inadequate RFP. At least without having to ask many basic questions. Almost exactly like Fisher handled the frivolous lawsuit against Sheriff Alan Norman.
Basically, the NEW School Board Majority knew Superintendent Fisher was a “snake” and the “snake” would bite them at the first opportunity. And Fisher did bite them at the first opportunity as they should have known that he would. And from the start.
The subject RFP is attached at the end of this article. I will discuss the failings of the documents one by one as I have found them.
First, Superintendent Stephen Fisher installed himself as the “Head” of Cleveland County Schools in many locations in the document. Not the School Board, but Superintendent Stephen Fisher is running the show. And, just like in the frivolous lawsuit against the Sheriff, Fisher issues the RFP under his signature and then copies the School Board on what he has done. With no indication that the NEW School Board Majority members had a chance to review the document before it went out.
The most obvious mistake that the New School Board Majority made is to allow the RFP to be sent out under Superintendent Fisher’s name to begin with. For example, the RFP Cover letter should have been issued under the signature of CCS School Board Chairman Robert P. Queen instead of Superintendent Stephen Fisher. It is like the New School Board Majority has come out waving the white flag of surrender from the git-go. Not a good thing considering the Fake News article from the Shelby Star and the Petition from Rogue CCS School Teachers and Phillip “Poodle” Glover are basically thumbing their noses at the New School Board Majority for trying to start back schools. Which would put the teachers back to work for their pay instead of paying them for who knows what since the kids are not back in school full time.
Also, the instructions to the law firms to submit their proposals are ambiguous. In Section II of the RFP it says that CCS will accept RFPs through January 5, 2021. In Section VII Proposal Submittals, it says “Submit at least one (1) copy of the written proposal no later than 4:00 p.m., January 8, 2021. No proposals will be accepted after this time.”
Then is says:
Submit to:
Dr. Stephen Fisher, Superintendent
Cleveland County Schools
400 W. Marion Street
Shelby, North Carolina 28150
Instead of to:
Mr. Robert P. Queen, Chairman
Cleveland County Schools
And then Fisher says:
“Questions regarding this proposal should be directed to Dr. Stephen Fisher at (704) 476-8055.”
A clear statement to all that Superintendent Stephen Fisher is in charge at Cleveland County Schools and not the School Board. Especially the NEW School Board Majority. Besides, with Fisher as the go between, he controls what the lawyers hear and what the NEW School Board Majority hears. Just like always. And remember this; “when you do what you’ve always done, you get what you always got!!!” Take heed NEW School Board Majority, as Einstein defined insanity, “to keep doing the same things and expect different results is the very definition of insanity.” Wise up NEW School Board Majority! Closely!!!
Now, if you want to consider that all this is only minor political maneuvering by Superintendent Stephen Fisher and Poodle Glover, et al, to keep a lid on the corruption at CCS and should be expected. Or even overlooked. That is your prerogative. This is only an indication of things to come.
But this article is not winding up, we are just starting. This “Lawyer” RFP is worthless on it’s face. I will take this slow so everybody will understand.
An RFP is a Request for a Proposal from somebody to do something for YOU. In this case, the somebody is a lawyer firm, but what is the “something???” Where is the “Scope of Work? Where is the Board’s goals spelled out anywhere in the RFP? I will make this offer right now. I will pay $100 in cash to the first person that can show me where this RFP says anything specific that the lawyers will be doing or why!!
Staff Attorney, Board Attorney or whatever. Not one peep about exactly what a lawyer or a law firm will actually be doing for CCS or the NEW School Board Majority. At best Fisher did it this way as a deception that he actually did something that the NEW School Board Majority tasked him to do. At worst, and most likely, Superintendent Stephen Fisher does NOT understand what an RFP is all about. That he is totally unqualified in this arena. And, who needs unqualified personnel doing anything? Or sneaky ones either, for that matter.
But, let’s be more specific. It is exceedingly likely that the NEW School Board Majority wants an attorney attending School Board Meetings to give legal advice on the spot. Nowhere in the RFP does it say that. Nowhere does it say how many school board meetings there is in a year’s time and when, where and at what time. Or how long the meetings are likely to last. Basic information that is totally missing from Fisher’s RFP. No, it’s the NEW School Board Majority’s RFP and it is bad to the bone. No lawyer, without tons of questions, has a clue as to what the Scope of Work is that he is bidding on.
The RFP calls out “Educational Law” as a category of interest. Just what is Educational Law? And how different is “Educational Law” from regular law? Criminal Law? Civil Law? How many cases of “Educational Law” has Tharrington and Smith, T&S, done for CCS over the past 20 years? To my knowledge–ZERO!!! To my knowledge T&S has only been involved in matters related to covering-up for CCS misdeeds and stupidity.
Also, what law firm is trying to recover the $522,500 for CCS on the sale of the Old North Shelby School to Mt. Calvary Baptist Church Pastored by Rev. Lamont Littlejohn? Nobody!!! A Real Estate deal with payment about a year overdue. Simple Real Estate and Contract Law is the only thing needed in this instance. Plenty of those lawyers around and CCS does nothing. And the Old North Shelby School is a wasting asset with windows broken out and vandalism on a daily basis. Drug dealing and place for prostitution for drugs. A lawsuit in the making.
But this worthless RFP is not a one-time thing. It is standard operating procedure for CCS and Stephen Fisher. The construction cost over-runs at the new Shelby Middle School and the New North Shelby School Projects started with just such worthless documents that did not give sufficient or accurate guidance. Figuring 900 Students at the New Shelby Middle School and less than 400 attends. About $10 million wasted at the Shelby Middle School alone. The New North Shelby School RFP called for a special needs school with 175 students. Now it is built and only 50 students attend. Another $6.5 Million wasted in cost over-runs. $16.5 million wasted if you consider the fact that the entire New North Shelby School Project could have been absorbed into the vacant space at the new Shelby Middle School for almost nothing. And space left over.
Then, from another perspective, if you google “Education Law” as I did, you should also find what I found. A website called “FindLaw” stated the following:
Find A Trusted Education Lawyer
Education lawyers represent parents and their children in cases involving students’ access to public school education, rights of special needs students under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), discrimination in education, and more. When you need help to make sure that your child receives an appropriate education, contacting an education law attorney near you is the first step.
Use the list of education law professionals that we’ve compiled to hire a local education law lawyer to help with the issues your child is facing at school.
What Can Special Education Lawyers Do?
Within the field of education law, there is a subset of special education attorneys who are primarily focused on fighting for special needs children and those with learning disabilities. These attorneys can:
• Build a case for your child’s eligibility for an individualized education program (IEP).
• Guide you through the IEP meeting preparation process and potentially attend the IEP meeting with you.
• In some instances, attorneys may even participate in the IEP drafting process.
• Represent clients in due process hearings when disputes arise.
All of this means is that Educational Lawyers represent parents and their children in their quest to make “bad” school boards that have done wrong, do right. Wouldn’t if be nice to have a good, all-round, school board attorney advise the NEW School Board Majority to be proactive, do what is right in the first place??? Quit all the favoritism, sexual and racial discrimination stuff and concentrate on providing the best opportunity for a basic and sound education for ALL Cleveland County Students?? Isn’t this what School Board and school system accountability is all about??? Something the Old School Board and the old superintendent Stephen Fisher NEVER understood or talked about??? Being PROACTIVE in doing the right thing first instead of REACTIVE in trying to cover-up what CCS has already done wrong?
Folks, this is not rocket science here. This RFP developed by Superintendent Stephen Fisher is more a way to justify what T&S has done to help CCS cover-up than seek out legal advice to help the NEW School Board Majority do what is right!!
The NEW School Board Majority has the right idea in seeking out legal representation to improve the education provided by CCS to our children. That is a good and noble thing. Directing Stephen Fisher to get this RFP job done was foolish and insane per Albert Einstein. But damage that is easily repaired and a good and solid lesson learned. Something new and recent that demonstrates Superintendent Stephen Fisher’s many serious shortcomings in the overall ethical operation of the Cleveland County School District. Fisher apparently just doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. And that might be giving him more credit than he actually deserves.
Folks, my recommendation to the NEW School Board Majority is simple. Throw out this worthless RFP immediately. Hire the lawyer spoken about at the December 14, 2020 school board meeting, the former School Board Attorney for the Gaston County School Board (I forget his name), on an interim basis. Since you already have talked to this attorney and trust him, hire him to get you through this release of the Tharrington & Smith crowd and the negotiations for a more permanent arrangement with this attorney or somebody else. And move on with the more important “fish to fry” in turning around CCS into a competent, safe, effective and fiduciarily responsible organization. Turn this stumble into a solid lesson learned. Do what you know needs to be done. Do I need to say anything else? (If so, I will!)