Settling in for a Determined Q and A, Prepared To Be Insulted but Ultimately To Be Enlightened

PH.D. in Psychology from the University of Ribbet Ribbet: HAS STANFORD BINET; WILL TRAVEL

You all will recall the King High Toe Cracker of the administration genus that Gonzalez at first tried to label as free and clear according to the sheriff's department while labeling teacher Steve Kemp as needing more scrutiny. Gonzalez did a hasty redaction to his Professional Standards summary of the cases and zipped it to Ms. Kipley to cover his tracks. I infer that he didn't read the sheriff's summaries. He must have been engaged in moonlighting at USF.

The reporter, Marshall, I think, was diligent and repeated the story when Gonzalez challenged him in lawyerly snoot mode. Gonzalez is an ace at public relations.

Well, I learned that a parent went to the King principal and told him or her that unless the administration had this guy have a psychological test that the parent would sue. That was just what I begged for in a board meeting. Not one board member or Ms. Elia volunteered that there would be a test and that its results would be made known.

So the administration had the Toe Cracker tested by some psychologist. Unnamed. Maybe competent. Maybe a graduate of an online school of Witch Doctory.

The administration did not give the schools or the public the satisfaction of telling what they had got for a psychological test under parental duress.

This is the ROSSAC mode. Hoarding information is guarding power. They don't want to let a morsel of information out of their hands for fear that people will catch on to their shoddy management.

So I am trying to eke out the information of who this guy or gal is who tested the Toe Cracker to check with the state on his or her credentials or the lack of them.

I bet the complaining parent could get these data if he or she put the screws to the administration outback Machiavellis. Meanwhile, I keep throwing darts.


To Linda Cobbe, Community Relations:

What concerns me, Linda, is I fear the school board got a complicit psychologist, not a qualified one. It's the same deal with Mr. Gonzalez. He renders the legal opinions the board wants. Is there any place in the school online material that discusses the qualifications of these psychological consultants, or is it just any witch doctor that will gloss over the problem and provide an official record that he or she has done due diligence? Can you give me the psychologist's name; then I can check credentials. lee

From: Linda Cobbe [mailto:lcobbe@sdhc.us]
Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2010 1:50 PM
To: lee de cesare
Subject: Re: Public Information

Regardless of the evaluator's credentials, it falls under the "medical" heading and is protected by HIPAA.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
________________________________________
From: "lee de cesare"
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2010 13:07:05 -0500
To: ; Linda Cobbe
Subject: RE: Public Information

It's not a psychiatrist report; it's a psychological report. A psychologist is much less qualified to diagnose pathology than a psychiatrist is. Where in the public-records law does it say that a psychological profile is not public information? lee




From: Linda Cobbe [mailto:lcobbe@sdhc.us]
Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2010 12:38 PM
To: lee de cesare
Subject: Re: Public Information




A psychiatric report would not be a public record.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device




________________________________________

From: "lee de cesare"

Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2010 10:46:38 -0500

To: ; Linda Cobbe

Subject: RE: Public Information



Linda, I learned that the administration had the toe-cracker guy see a psychologist for evaluation after a parent complained. I would like to see a copy of that evaluation. It should be part of his employment file and thus part of the public record. ldd





From: Linda Cobbe [mailto:lcobbe@sdhc.us]
Sent: Monday, January 11, 2010 9:38 AM
To: lee de cesare
Subject: Re: Public Information





If you scroll down, you will find it in the middle of my Monday, January 4, email to you.

Linda E. Cobbe
External Communications Manager
Hillsborough County Public Schools
901 E. Kennedy Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33602
813-272-4602 (O)
813-493-6964 (C)
813-272-4510 (F)

Please do not print this message unless it's absolutely necessary.

Our mission is to provide an education that enables each student to excel as a successful and responsible citizen.




"lee de cesare" writes:
If you did tell me why you did not do salary surveys of board attorneys, I missed it. Please send it again. ldd






From: Linda Cobbe [mailto:lcobbe@sdhc.us]
Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 3:00 PM
To: lee de cesare
Subject: Re: Public Information






I will submit your request. I explained in the original response to you that we have not done a salary survey of Florida school board attorneys.

Linda E. Cobbe
External Communications Manager
Hillsborough County Public Schools
901 E. Kennedy Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33602
813-272-4602 (O)
813-493-6964 (C)
813-272-4510 (F)

Please do not print this message unless it's absolutely necessary.

Our mission is to provide an education that enables each student to excel as a successful and responsible citizen.





"lee de cesare" writes:
HE MUST HAVE SOME KIND OF WRITTEN AGREEMENT WITH THE BOARD. I WANT A COPY OF THAT AND WANT TO KNOW IF MR. GONZALEZ HAS DONE A SALARY SURVEY OF FLORIDA BOARD ATTORNEYS. I WOULD APPRECIATE A COPY OF THAT ALSO. LDD







From: Linda Cobbe [mailto:lcobbe@sdhc.us]
Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 11:53 AM
To: lee de cesare
Subject: Re: Public Information







I'm not sure I understand your question. Tom Gonzalez doesn't receive a salary. The agreement we have with him is that he is the school board's general counsel and he bills us at a certain hourly rate (I think it's either $100 or $120 per hour). The bill is generated by his law firm, so we pay the firm, not Tom Gonzalez directly.

Linda E. Cobbe
External Communications Manager
Hillsborough County Public Schools
901 E. Kennedy Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33602
813-272-4602 (O)
813-493-6964 (C)
813-272-4510 (F)

Please do not print this message unless it's absolutely necessary.

Our mission is to provide an education that enables each student to excel as a successful and responsible citizen.






"lee de cesare" writes:
dON'T FORGET A TOTAL OF HIS SALARY SINCE HE WORKED THE SIX YEARS FOR THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. wHY IS THE FIRM DUE TAXPAYER MONEY? iT IS NOT PART OF THE SCHOOL SYSTEM. yOU COULD ASK A SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER TO RQUEST AN OPINION OF THE AG ON THE SUBJECT. I THINK lAMB WOULD BE THE MOST LIKELY BOARD MEMBER TO REQUEST ONE. I DON'T THINK YOUR NEED FOR CLARITY NEEDS ANY APOLOGY TO A BOARD MEMBER WHO CAN GET THE OFFICIAL INTERPRETATION FROM THE AG.LDD








From: Linda Cobbe [mailto:lcobbe@sdhc.us]
Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 10:06 AM
To: lee de cesare
Subject: Re: Public Information








I will get you an estimate.

Linda E. Cobbe
External Communications Manager
Hillsborough County Public Schools
901 E. Kennedy Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33602
813-272-4602 (O)
813-493-6964 (C)
813-272-4510 (F)

Please do not print this message unless it's absolutely necessary.

Our mission is to provide an education that enables each student to excel as a successful and responsible citizen.







"lee de cesare" writes:
What is your estimate of what finding out how much the taxpayers have paid Mr. Gonzalez during his tenure? And has Mr. Sanchez done any salary studies for school board attorneys? If so I want to see them. If not, I want his assertion that he has done no such studies. I am encouraged that people ask for public information. It's a good sign that they do for democracy. ldd









From: Linda Cobbe [mailto:lcobbe@sdhc.us]
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 5:22 PM
To: lee de cesare
Subject: Re: Public Information









Lee -

You probably would have to pay to receive six years of payments to the firm. The law is not clear on this, so we go by guidelines in the Government-In-The-Sunshine Manual, which I believe is written by the office of the attorney general and published by the First Amendment Foundation. The formula we use is the hourly rate of the lowest paid person capable of performing the work times the amount of time it takes to complete the request. So, if it requires technical knowledge that a clerk or secretary would not have, you would be charged the actual hourly rate of the person who performs the work. If it requires only the redaction of exempt information and time spent copying, you would be charged the lower rate.

Since our school board counsel does not receive a salary, we have not done a salary survey.

As far as the volume of public records requests we receive, you have underestimated. We receive about one request for public records per day. We don't hire additional staff to process the requests; existing staff has to drop what they're doing and complete the request in a reasonable amount of time. Consequently, people usually groan when they hear my voice on the other end of the telephone line.

Linda E. Cobbe
External Communications Manager
Hillsborough County Public Schools
901 E. Kennedy Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33602
813-272-4602 (O)
813-493-6964 (C)
813-272-4510 (F)

Please do not print this message unless it's absolutely necessary.

Our mission is to provide an education that enables each student to excel as a successful and responsible citizen.








"lee de cesare" writes:
Linda, the cost of researching the total for Tom Gonzalez's firm's defense of the pay-off for the Erwin case will be about $63, right? If so, go ahead. I am good for that. Be sure to include all the names of the attorneys involved in the defense of the case.



Surely I don't have to pay for an accounting of the six years' that Gonzalez's salary totals. . I am a poor retired teacher on a pension. The schools should cut some slack for retired teachers.



I want to see that formula y'all use for such requests as my request for the trial total. I also would like to have as public information any salary surveys for board attorneys that Mr. Gonzalez has conducted during the time of the Gonzalez hegemony. If the Personnel Director is worth his bloated salary, he will have conducted these surveys just in case the superintendent or board members were alert enough to ask for them. I learned of the personnel director's duties when my old man did that job for a while for an international corporation to feed and clothe our four children.



I am considering doing a booklet on how to search for information from public institutions in Florida and selling it on the Web for $1.99. People need the benefit of a veteran in this field comme moi, and the Public Affairs Office of the Hillsborough County Schools will get its space big-time.

The first time I asked for public information Marc Hart was at the head job in your area. He was surprised, indignant, and snotty. I don't think many people ask for public information, alas. If they did, you would need assistants or maybe even a separate office with you as head. You could say you owe your elevation all to me. That would make you a popular and admired administrator among the ROSSAC indigenous tribe.



Mark Hart is now a friend. I heard from him recently. I am rooting for him to get a job that helps him assist his former wife to support his two children. The local employment community blackballed him, of course. I have learned that Pole Girl Falliero was not the actuating but a contributing cause of his divorce. Her affair caused her own divorce, however; and she was stupid enough to waive child support for her two girls for the pledge of his not revealing the cause of the divorce. Anybody that dumb and that careless of her children's wellbeing should not serve on the school board; we need better brains there than such behavior signals.

I changed the data about Falliero's lesser responsibility for the Hart divorce on my Web site. I don't think it will make people like her any better, however. And she retains her earned title of Pole Girl.



Thanks.

lee






























6










From: Linda Cobbe [mailto:lcobbe@sdhc.us]
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 9:05 AM
To: lee de cesare
Subject: Re: Public Information










Lee - I pasted below a series of emails related to your May 2008 request for the Thompson Sizemore & Gonzalez fees related to the Erwin case. The response immediately below is your final response, so we did not provide you with how much his firm charged for defending against the Erwin case. The amount of research and the cost to do that research remains about the same. Is your response the same?

Linda Cobbe

No, of course not. Tom Gonzalez said he would send you some figures. Let’s see what his comment yields. lee











From: Linda Cobbe [mailto:lcobbe@sdhc.us]
Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2008 3:32 PM
To: lee de cesare
Cc: Stephen Hegarty; Ken Otero
Subject: Re:












Staff in the budget division have begun researching the attorneys' fees for the Doug Erwin case. Before they take any more time, I need to know if you are willing to pay for the staff time this is taking. We estimate it will be a total of about three hours, at an hourly rate of approximately $21. Do you want them to proceed?

Linda Cobbe
Office of Communications
Hillsborough County Public Schools
901 E. Kennedy Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33602
813-272-4602
813-272-4510 FAX
813-493-6964 CELL
www.sdhc.k12.fl.us

WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
Florida has a very broad public records law. Most written communications (including e-mail) to or from public employees are public records available to anyone who asks. Your e-mail communications and your e-mail address may therefore be subject to public disclosure.









"lee de cesare" writes:
Linda, tell Tom Gonzalez my response to his most recent Fed-x’d letter is on my blog. The big baby has put a block-sender on me so that I can not email him directly. Thank you. lee










Linda E. Cobbe
External Communications Manager
Hillsborough County Public Schools
901 E. Kennedy Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33602
813-272-4602 (O)
813-493-6964 (C)
813-272-4510 (F)

Please do not print this message unless it's absolutely necessary.

Our mission is to provide an education that enables each student to excel as a successful and responsible citizen.









"lee de cesare" writes:
No. I got the pay of $275,000 for one year for him; but I don't have either of the other figures. I have always wondered how much it cost taxpayers to defend against the Erwin Whistleblower case.



I have asked the Pinellas SB for its lawyer's salary and contract if he has one. lee











From: Linda Cobbe [mailto:lcobbe@sdhc.us]
Sent: Wednesday, December 30, 2009 11:55 PM
To: lee de cesare
Subject: Re: Public Information











I'm pretty sure you have all of these records already. We're closed until Monday. LC
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

























________________________________________




























From: "lee de cesare"


Date: Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:47:02 -0500


To: ; Linda Cobbe


Cc:


Subject: Public Information





Ms. Cobbe: I would like the total tax dollars spent to pay Tom Gonzalez's firm to defend the board against the whistle blower case of Doug Erwin.



I would also like a yearly salary paid in tax funds to Mr. Gonzalez for his being board attorney.



Lee Drury De Cesare