Fighting Mismanagement in the Ann Arbor Public Schools District

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions,
they don't have to worry about answers" — Thomas Pynchon

• Environment
• Land Use
• Traffic
• School size
• Demographics
• Safety
• Archaeology
• Alternative sites

In November of 2005, a request made was for information describing the projections the AAPS administration made in justifying the construction of a new high school. It took three months of stone-walling from the AAPS and finially a formal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to get it. The emails and documents included in the FOIA information show why the administration was reluctant to give it up. Read further about just how much of a defensive, bunker mentality the AAPS administration has.

• 11/11/05 email request to Randy Friedman, Treasurer of the Board of Education. Unanswered (possibly because Mr. Friedman does not receive email at his AAPS address; he has a "secret" email and must have his mail forwarded to it)
• 11/16/05 follow up to Randy Friedman, George Fornero, Superintendent, and the entire Board of Education
• 11/16/05 response by George Fornero saying information is forthcoming
• 12/2/05 email concerning the three pages sent to answer the original request
• 12/9/05 email following up on the unanswered 12/2/05 email
• 12/13/05 letter from district lawyers saying, "...please consider carefully whether an extended dispute about whether or not the District has or has not been responsive to your latest concerns is in ... your ... long-term best interests."
• 12/20/05 letter in response to district lawyers
• 1/23/06 follow up email to lawyers since there was no response
• 1/25/06 email from lawyer mentioning a meeting with the Superintendent as if one had been requested
• 1/26/06 email from Superintendent Fornero again mentioning a meeting as if one had been requested
• 2/1/06 Freedom of Information Act Request resorted to

Read some of the interesting emails found in the FOIA-ed documents.