Will Co. (ECWd) –
After exposing what we consider an illegal contract Lincoln-Way School District 210 School board has with Nancy’s Day Care in this article, I received a response to a question that now proves Ron Sawin violated FOIA by failing to provide the records requested.
In this case, it may bring even more problems to the district and clearly validates the School Board has been asleep at the wheel, as if we didn’t already know that.
My FOIA outlined in the above article was very specific. There is no confusion of how I worded it or anything else that could be confusing to a so called educated educator.
- Copy of names of all persons currently leasing, renting, or using public facilities for private purpose.
Does ANYONE not understand that request? The response I got in the FOIA only directed me to the bottom of the Nancy’s Day Care contract for the names of the persons leasing, renting or using public facilities for private purpose.
To the those unfamiliar with the games these school administrators are playing with the general public, you would think the FOIA was complete and all they were leasing out was space for the Day Care.
WRONG!
Sadly for Sawin, the response he provided violated FOIA as he did not disclose yet another clear problem for this School District.
I tend to apply that principal of never asking a question you don’t know the answer to. In this case, I knew the district had a home on their property that was being lived in by David Earnst, the Head Football Coach for Lincoln-Way West, and the school also has farm ground leased. Neither of those key facts were disclosed in my FOIA, thus a clear FOIA violation by Ron Sawin.
Was Sawin’s failure to comply with FOIA intentional and willful? I suspect so based on the response I got after questioning his FOIA response.
Question: “You have not provided the name of the person living in a home owned by the District? Any reason for that?”
Sawin Response: “I have attached the agricultural leases for our vacant property. The individual renting the house adjacent to Lincoln-Way West is David Ernst; there is no formal agreement for that property – it is rented on a month-to-month basis.” Ron
So now after being called out for not providing the very information I asked for he gives me the name of the person living in the home on District 210 Property and also provided the Agriculture Agreements.
And once again, for those that think those exposing these illegal actions are just trying to destroy the school please know you are wrong! We simply want the law followed. Seriously, how hard is it to follow FOIA? This guy should resign if he is not capable of compliance of the most basic of laws he is bound by.
I have FOIA’d additional information on the home rental and agriculture leases and will update when that information is received. It will be interesting to see if any of these rentals and leases have board approval.
[gview file=”https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Ag-Leases.pdf”]
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17 Comments
Jim
Posted at 07:27h, 19 FebruaryMonth by month lease? The only way you would do This is if it’s a great price cash deal knowing if the shit hits the fan you have to go like now… This smells really bad…This is a cash cow for someone… Let’s just say $500 a month × 6 yrs =$30,000and that =jail
Mike
Posted at 19:45h, 18 FebruaryNo formal agreement?
Meaning there was an informal agreement?
Where there any records for the informal agreement?
School districts have records, documents, and contracts for just about everything.
Something smells fishy here.
I can’t imagine the school district attorneys advocating no formal agreement for a lease of school district PUBLIC property.
How were the payments made to the school district
Check?
Cash in an envelope?
BC-210
Posted at 12:14h, 18 FebruaryCould you clarify who wrote this article. Unfortunately, the person who provided some of the leasing information via FOIA is being harassed as being a “ghostwriter” for your site. Some clarification would be appreciated!! Thanks
jmkraft
Posted at 15:55h, 18 FebruaryKirk Allen wrote the article. The FOIA officer has no choice under law but to provide what someone requests.
Kirk Allen
Posted at 17:43h, 19 FebruaryBC 210, I, Kirk Allen wrote this article. The contract currently in the article is the one I received from a FOIA. The previous contract that had a persons private information on it was sent to me by someone but I have no way of knowing the validity of it. I posted the wrong one when I published the article and corrected it within hours of posting upon discovering the mistake. Interesting that a person would be harassed without any confirmation of any such claim and sad to see they cant understand this is not about the author of the article. It is about a corrupted system that must be fixed.
Violet
Posted at 20:02h, 17 FebruaryThis is not a public facility plain and simple. Again mountains out of molehills.
Kirk Allen
Posted at 21:49h, 17 FebruaryMore interested in the wording of the FOIA instead of the fact Sawin violated FOIA.
Doug
Posted at 18:15h, 17 FebruaryThe guy that wrote this article is a scumbag. The house is not worth anything and the backyard is the west parking lot. They agreed to a mutually beneficial arrangement that helped both parties after west took control of the disheveled estate. Just more people trying to stri the pot
jmkraft
Posted at 20:07h, 17 FebruarySo you agree it is worth SOMETHING – otherwise no “mutually beneficial arrangement” would have been made. Also, “Ron” said there was no formal agreement – in other words, there could have never been a mutually beneficial arrangement made. Not to mention that I would bet no real estate taxes are being paid on the house as required by state law when not used for a public purpose, which this clearly is not.
Kirk Allen
Posted at 21:15h, 17 FebruaryDoug, I am the guy that wrote the article and although you have every right to call me what ever you want, the article had nothing to do with what the rent figure was or what the house was worth. It was about FOIA not being complied with.
Marcia Englert
Posted at 16:57h, 17 FebruaryFOIA is for copies of documents. If there isn’t document covering the house, he could not have provided same.
Kirk Allen
Posted at 18:30h, 17 FebruaryMarchia, I asked for a copy of the NAMES of those using public property in a private capacity. He is using the house and they did not give me the name.
franklin
Posted at 18:38h, 17 Februarypublic facilities
franklin
Posted at 15:47h, 17 FebruaryCopy of names of all persons currently leasing, renting, or using public facilities for private purpose.
So is farmland taxed as a facility had you simply asked for farmland leases you may have gotten them you asked for facility leases
just saying
Dan B.
Posted at 15:38h, 17 FebruaryCoach Earnst has a salary of over $110,000 and he needs a month to month lease for an on school piece of property? Another cover up, and another reason why the BOE did not ever consider closing West, as they would have had to evict their coach / tenant.
LWAPU
Posted at 21:47h, 19 FebruaryYou are really living in some fantasy land!
Patty V
Posted at 15:17h, 17 FebruaryIt just never ends with these clowns and it’s infuriating that they just get to continue these charades without any oversight and a school is closing for no other reason than just because they want it to. They are arrogant and seemingly unstoppable and 1/2 the community just chooses to sit in the dark and defend them! I pray the Judge reads everything you have posted and makes them all resign or start producing all documents that have been requested.