‘Read from the bottom.’ Beaufort Co. school board emails show why past matters | Opinion
A long time ago, I learned — from where or whom, I can’t remember — that drivers in Cairo do not rely on side-view or rear-view mirrors to the degree we do in the United States.
They care only about moving forward, and to that end they don’t (can’t?) allow that which is behind them to influence their decisions or cause hesitation.
It sounded crazy until I tried it myself. Though I’m not recommending this method to anyone, I’m also not going to lie: Relying on your mirrors less does make driving in places like New York and Boston much easier.
As long as you’re OK with being a temporary jerk.
I’ve thought a lot about the Cairo driving method over the years, particularly when I’ve needed to be decisive and dispassionate in my life.
Don’t dwell on the past. Focus on the future. Looking ahead means moving ahead.
It’s the stuff of leadership, momentum, progress and fresh starts.
It can be an admirable and a necessary way to operate.
But not all the time.
Not in every situation.
In fact, in some conditions, it can be downright dangerous.
Recently, the Beaufort County School District fulfilled a Freedom of Information Act request from a Bluffton lawyer for emails to and from board members John Dowling and JoAnn Orischak between September 2018 and September 2019 that contained or mentioned the words related to former superintendent Jeff Moss: “FBI,” “Federal Bureau of Investigation,” “indictment,” “subpoena,” “Jeffrey Moss,” “Jeff Moss” or “Dr. Moss.”
Why was a lawyer willing to pay more than $600 for these “Moss-centric” emails of Moss’ two biggest critics on the school board, one of whom filed a state ethics complaint against him on Oct. 3, 2018?
Not sure.
But thanks to the lawyer’s effort, the public can read all these emails for free.
Here’s what I learned: During that time period, Orischak and Dowling repeatedly sought to provide what they saw as important and relevant context about the past to interim superintendent Herb Berg and new board members.
They wanted Berg and the “newbies” to know what had led to bad decisions during the Moss era.
“Please read from bottom to top,” Orischak had written on dozens of the old emails she forwarded.
Start with the past so you can understand the present and make a better future.
In an email to board member Richard Geier, Dowling wrote: “When you were in the Army, you spent time studying the history of battles so that someday you might be able to avoid the mistakes of the past. The same is true here. ... No use going into the future blindfolded by ignoring history. It helps making informed decisions.”
This is not a trip down memory lane, Dowling told him. This is about the present and using the perspective of the past.
The board’s officers used to act independently of the rest of the board.
They left little to no time for questions, little to no time for inspection of critical documents. They gave the superintendent too much latitude. They stifled any voice of dissent. They discouraged transparency. They thought nothing of secretly orchestrating outcomes.
See this juncture? This is where the old board should have asserted itself.
See this outcome? This is what happens when a board fails to deliberate and rushes through votes.
In 2018, when the school board’s officers, which included current board member Earl Campbell, negotiated the terms of Moss’ (prolonged) departure from the district, they either knowingly or unknowingly allowed Moss to stay until July 31 — past the July 1 beginning of the new fiscal year — which obligated the public to pay him an extra $17,420 for four more weeks of vacation.
Because every July 1, Moss received his full allotment of 20 days of vacation all at once, per his 2013 contract with the district.
His exit agreement said he had to be paid for all the days he didn’t use by July 31.
Voila!
The full board was allowed to inspect the terms of Moss’ exit agreement, but those who ended up voting against it said they had not been given enough time to look over it carefully.
Perhaps if they had been given that time, someone would’ve questioned why Moss was staying past June 30; perhaps, someone would’ve seen that this move would nearly double his vacation payout.
Regardless, the board had an attorney representing its interests (ahem, the public’s interests) in the Moss exit negotiations.
How about we don’t use that same attorney from the past for this other matter before us now, Orischak and Dowling warned in their emails.
In September 2018, after researching meeting minutes, Orischak emailed administrators, including Berg, an example that illustrated why “the differentiation between administrative regulations and board policies is relevant.”
It concerned the procurement and purchasing policy, which is of particular interest now, given the ongoing FBI investigation into the construction of two Bluffton schools during Moss’ tenure, Moss’ involvement with an organization that connects superintendents to vendors, and the district’s procurement and purchasing process during that time.
This policy was changed without board knowledge, Orischak told them.
The added text, in part, reads: “The board delegates to the superintendent the authority to reward BCSD contracts for the purchase of equipment, material and supplies in any amount.”
This is a rather “large liberty,” Orischak wrote, and it gives the “false impression” that the board had ceded its authority to Moss, “when in fact the board did not.”
This is why we need to pay attention to process, she was telling them.
Orischak’s and Dowling’s insistence that the past is prologue has not always resonated with the superintendent or the current board, whose mantra might be described as “That’s in the rear-view mirror.”
But this is not an all-or-nothing prospect.
This is not Cairo. There is no need to rocket through the traffic.
Likewise, no one can move forward when their eyes are always darting between mirrors and never looking through the front windshield.
Bringing up the past is not an impediment to the future — when it’s done in the spirit of relevance.
When it’s done in the spirit of better understanding the terrain.
When it’s done in the hopes that history will not be repeated.
As Dowling wrote to Orischak on Dec. 16, 2018: “New members may not want to hear about Moss, but we’re the cleanup crew.
“Moss’ stench will fade only when we’ve undone all the damage he did and relieved everyone of the hangover he left us with.”
