So it continues. Today's AJC is reporting that our school system has agreed to pay up to $100,000 for Pat (Pope) Reid's legal fees. $100,000 would pay for almost two teachers (with benefits) or three paras (100 paras were cut from last year's budget—people who work directly with children every single day at very low pay.)
DeKalb schools to hire another law firm
Gary Freed, of Atlanta firm RobbinsFreed, said Monday that he filed an appearance with the court to represent former chief operating officer Patricia Reid. Freed said the school board was expected to approve his contract Monday night, but are now citing a possible conflict of interest.
District spokesman Jeff Dickerson said the board will hire a firm on Monday, but legal fees will be capped at $100,000.
This will be the fourth law firm the DeKalb school board has hired to help with the suit. Heery sued the district in 2007, alleging breach of contract. The district filed a counter-suit for $100 million, alleging fraud and mismanagement of school construction projects. The school system has already paid $15.5 million in legal fees in the case.
Reid was indicted last year on charges she ran a criminal enterprise at the school system.
This is so ridiculous! Pat Pope does not deserve a dime! Crawford Lewis does not deserve a dime! They stole from DCSS and they should pay the entire amount. If they are found guilty of the RICO charges shouldn't they have to pay back DCSS the 100k for the H&R trial? Seems to me if they are found guilty of breaking the law, stealing from the kids, they should have a public flogging , right after they write the checks to DCSS for 100k. the BOE back then, Clew and Pope are the reasons DCSS will most likely lose the H&R case! ENOUGH! It's all about kids! Yea, right.....
ReplyDeleteWhy is $100,000 always the magic number for these people's defense funds? Why can't it be $50,000 if it has to be something. Lawyers and law firms do have different fee schedules. If these former DCSS people are as honest as they claim to be, their defense should be easy, quick, and a slam dunk! And, if you believe that, I have some ocean front property that is under water that I would love to sell you, say maybe for a marine academy. Due to past experiences, I for one don't believe the current board or their highly paid defense team's assessment of this case. It is time to quit bleeding the tax payers as we are running out of band aids and patience. Not to mention dollars for the kids!
ReplyDeleteGood grief! Isn't our turnip out of blood yet? I don't know our school system's legal responsibilities towards these people, but surely we've met them. Why can't we cut these people loose and let them pay their own lawyers?
ReplyDeleteWhat does Pat Pope/Reid have as leverage? See why Lewis's group should have been swept clean out of the Central Office?
ReplyDeleteWhat's become of Lewis' defense? According to our earlier reports, he has already spent his first $100,000. Did the board approve more for him in their recent vote to pay for the additional 17 people named in the civil suit by Heery? They have only released about 7 of those 17 names...
ReplyDeleteCrawford Lewis is out of DeKalb. Who is the next superintendent?
Lewis’ total payout also includes an additional $5,000 that the board must place in the superintendent’s retirement account, along with providing him health benefits and protection against civil lawsuits.
However the district will no longer cover legal expenses for the ongoing criminal investigation. His contract capped those expenses at $100,000, which he has already spent, Bowen said. . . .
I don't understand why DCSS is paying their legal fees. If I steal from my company, the legal fees are my responsibility. Why is this different? I must be missing something here.
ReplyDeleteHaving to pay $100,000 for a lawyer for Pat Pope is like pouring Tabasco sauce on a cut. But Tom Bowen will still paint an all is well rosy picture.
ReplyDeleteIt may have something to do with Pope being the school board's top witness. Without her the school board and we could lose the 15-20 million dollars just in attorney fees as an investment.
ReplyDeleteShe needs help with her legal fees and this is just a little bit of money compared to the money the school board has already invested in this lawsuit. Even though it seems unreasonable I would hate to see us lose the millions of dollars over $100,000.
power outage at mtn industrial so no live broadcast ofboard meeting
ReplyDeleteWith a class of 23 first graders, a para sure would be helpful. :-)
ReplyDeleteNo power, no board meeting .... no ?
ReplyDeleteThis is some uneducated bull that Lewis and Pope have pulled. Does anyone think they wlll tell the truth even under oath I don't think so. They can use this to cut a deal with those Rico charges. If the deal falls through so wll the HM case for DCSS. That would mean endless job loss within the classroom and more closures and overcrowding. This is certainly a nightmare for everyone in DeKalb county.
ReplyDeleteI dont know how comfortable anyone can be relying on criminals oops alleged criminals to testify or test a lie because we all know they have lied over and over again. Jmo
they said they have a generator there are somr lights just not the full lighting they normally have
ReplyDeleteso is the meeting going on?
ReplyDeleteCan anyone post from the meeting? What's going on over there?
ReplyDeletehttp://decatur.patch.com/articles/live-blogging-from-the-dekalb-school-board-meeting
ReplyDeleteDecatur.patch.com reported: "6:09. Board Chair Thomas Bowen just annouced that due to a power outage the TV broadcast of tonight's meeting will not be live. It will be recorded but they can't broadcast right now."
ReplyDeleteWait a minute... if they have enough power to record (that is, the cameras are rolling), why don't they have enough power to broadcast? This smells.
why, why why are we paying for the attorneys for people accused of committing crimes against the district?
ReplyDeleteDo we have attorneys currently working on rewriting our new contracts with language specifying that we will NOT do this in the future??????
I feel sick.
write the governor and ask for a takeover... everyone write and ask for a takeover. Write SACS. SACS doesn't like the legal stuff going on. Report problems. Write the Attorney General and ask for an investigation and report what you know (hard evidence not "thoughts").
ReplyDeleteWHY ISN'T ANYONE TALKING ABOUT THE BOARD MEETING GOING ON RIGHT NOW!?!?
ReplyDeleteCheck the new thread. Its live now. Turn to Ch. 24
ReplyDeleteWhere is our salary audit???
ReplyDeleteLook what is happening south of us.
Turns out we should have legal standing to have document made public.
According to an official, on Wednesday the Clayton County District Attorney’s Office plans to begin presenting evidence to a grand jury on a proposed indictment of Jackson. The indictment would charge Jackson with four counts of a charge called avoid document, which involves the alleged mishandling of public records and, two counts of violation of the County Record Retention Act.
Ella - I disagree!! For once in Dekalb County, we need to do the right thing! Paying off or providing any support for Pat Reid/Pope in return for any favor is just plain wrong! She and Crawford Lewis should have been fired outright when they were indicted by a grand jury! That should have been the end of Dekalb's road with them. Trials for Lewis and Pope need to take place. It's been a year since they left the County. For their sake and that of the County, this cased needs to be tried - now!! Any hearing before the County should have been pending the outcome of her trial. If she is convicted, then the case is moot.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the Construction Company case, I think that we should quit throwing good money after bad. If we can't make our case with $15 million, what makes us think that spending more will be of any use.
Let's get Pope/Lewis in our rearview mirror and focus on our future. I don't even like to think about the alternative.
It's called "Throwing good money after bad".
ReplyDelete