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| Tweet Topic Started: Jan 9 2006, 10:05 PM (792 Views) | |
| f11 | Jan 9 2006, 10:05 PM Post #1 |
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LPS, transportation for all
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Found this site http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/ You can enter in someones name (randy liepa..etc..) and it gives you information on them, mostly the articles where their name appeared. What is great though, is most of the articles that it will bring up aren't available when using other search engines, so you can see older articles that are no longer available when using google or something. It takes a little digging and hunting around, but at least most of the links arent "dead" |
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| Cindi | Jan 9 2006, 11:07 PM Post #2 |
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Principal
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That is really cool! |
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| f11 | Jan 9 2006, 11:48 PM Post #3 |
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LPS, transportation for all
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this article shows Daniel Lessards arrogance...From 2001 I believe the city council ultimately shot down the re-zoning, either way, it shows how the board will do whatever they please. Land sale outrages residents Livonia school board says law doesn't mandate bid process By George Hunter / The Detroit News LIVONIA -- Residents are outraged because school trustees sold land to a developer without taking bids. Livonia's school board on Monday voted 6-1 to sell 2.75 acres in the Old Rosedale Gardens subdivision to builder William Roskelly for $140,000. Critics are further upset because they say the board decided the sale during closed sessions. They charge board members with violating the Open Meetings Act, which requires that the public be allowed into meetings of certain public bodies. School board member Kirsten Galka -- who cast the lone dissenting vote -- has sent a letter to state Atty. Gen. Jennifer Granholm, asking her to look into the matter. "This is public land," Galka said. "I don't think the best interests of the public were served by holding these meetings without informing the public or without taking bids." Residents of Rosedale Gardens submitted a proposal to buy the site for $175,000 within four years -- "but the school board never even looked at it," said resident Jan Aphonso. The land is a park for residents of Old Rosedale Gardens, where homeowners argue that the parcel was meant to be used as public property. When the Sheldon Land Co. deeded it to the school system in 1926, the donor stipulated that the land should remain public. Daniel Lessard, a school board member who voted for the sale, defended the board's actions. "We don't have to take bids," he said. "I'm not aware of any law that says we do." When asked if selling the parcel without looking into other bids was serving the best interests of the public, Lessard said: "I don't want to get into that issue." Lessard also defended the closed meetings. "We have done nothing in violation of the law," Lessard said. "We are perfectly within our rights to discuss real estate issues in private." But in a 1978 case, former state Atty. Gen. Frank Kelley ruled: "A public body may not hold a closed session for the purpose of discussing the disposition of real property by sale or lease." "It's a clear violation," Galka said. Aphonso, who has been involved in the battle for more than a year, said she doesn't plan to stop fighting. "It's not over," she said. "There are still a lot of questions that need to be asked. There needs to be a follow-up to figure out exactly what happened here. |
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| f11 | Jan 9 2006, 11:54 PM Post #4 |
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LPS, transportation for all
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another goof from the BOE... from 2002 I like the very LAST sentence the best!!! Livonia School Board Botches Search By The Detroit News Randy Liepa Age: 40 Current post: Assistant superintendent of business for Livonia Public Schools. Education: Bachelor's degree in accounting from Hillsdale College, a master's in educational administration from Wayne State University and a doctorate in educational administration from Michigan State University. Background: Accountant for the Plante and Moran accounting firm before starting his career in education; administrator with Wayne-Westland schools. The Issue Are Livonia residents getting the best school superintendent available? By all accounts, Randy Liepa is a solid choice to head the Livonia Public Schools. He has a fine resume and has effectively managed the district's finances. So it's not Liepa's qualifications that we question, but rather the way he was selected as Livonia's school superintendent. Liepa was elevated to the top job at a rather contentious school board meeting last week. In a 5-1 vote with one abstention, the board aborted a national search to replace retiring Supt. Ken Watson, a search it committed to at the beginning of the process. The board had even hired a consultant, the Michigan Leadership Institute, for $17,500 to assist in finding suitable candidates to lead the state's fifth largest school district. But the board called a special meeting to short-circuit the search and gave the job to Liepa, the district's financial manager. Board President Frank Kokenakes, the abstaining vote, told The Detroit News that Liepa was a strong candidate and would likely make a good superintendent. But he felt strongly that it was important to look at what "insights and visions" other candidates might bring to the job. That sounds like a reasonable position. But when Kokenakes expressed those views at the board meeting, as well as concern that the promised public input was scrapped, things turned ugly. At one point, a colleague called him a "snake." Only board member Kirsten Galka voted against stopping the process, expressing concerns about gaps in Liepa's experience. Again, Liepa's credentials aren't the issue, but rather the backwoods, bullying manner in which the Livonia school board handed a very important job to an insider without bothering to see if someone more qualified might be interested. Parents, students and taxpayers got cheated out of the benefits of a national search that may have brought forward candidates who presented another, and perhaps more innovative, vision for improving Livonia's schools. Selecting a superintendent in any community, but especially one the size of Livonia, is an important task. It should be done with plenty of sunshine by a carefully outlined process and with community input. Livonia bypassed those steps. In doing so, it failed to do its job of representing the best interests of parents and taxpayers. |
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| Want2move | Jan 10 2006, 09:21 AM Post #5 |
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Principal
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Does Lessard have any legal background? Because he sure seems to be making up what’s legal or not without much to back it up. I guess those laws must be privy only to the exalted BOE also. |
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| fyi | Jan 10 2006, 09:27 AM Post #6 |
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Principal
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| Iliveon-Levandownbytheriver | Jan 10 2006, 09:34 AM Post #7 |
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Principal
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Well...the BOE sure just do what ever the heck they want. I see a pattern here..does anyone else? And as for Lessard...I love the statement..."I don't want to get into that issue" Must be nice to do something so wrong then say, ummm..yeah..I really dont want to talk about what I did wrong. So glad he is looking out for us and our children..makes me feel so much better. SIKE! |
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| Grant | Jan 10 2006, 11:08 AM Post #8 |
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Principal
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Lessard can sell off school owned property behind close doors without a public bid process?!?!? Perhaps it may not be illegal, but it certainly has the apprearence of being unethical and makes the public suspicious of who is benefiting from the transaction. In local government everything should be open to the public. If we the people ever want a fair shake from the school board, it is imperative that we vote in new members. The current board seems to think the school district is their own private business which they can do with as they please. |
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| Grant1 | Jan 10 2006, 11:15 AM Post #9 |
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We have just begun to fight!
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How do you think Roskelly got the Old Rosedale school site? And with the only bid, and lower than what the citizens offered to buy it for? I have friends who drove themselves crazy fighting this, and are still wearing one-size-fits-all, arms-tie-in-the-back canvas jackets while bouncing off padded walls after years of frustration. The real kicker is that the Shelden family deeded that land to the public for public use and not for private development or profit. Don't get me going or I may open up some old wounds and bleed to death! |
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| one_observer | Jan 10 2006, 11:51 AM Post #10 |
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Principal
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I don't know how to use the search engine for the Observer. The Observer free search doen't go back far enough. I remember when board member candidates and their voting habits for school board elections were 'exposed' in the Observer. I will have to do some research maybe that site will help. Thanks I remember when Kirsten Galka continued to question board members that's when that new group got in and she did not. That was a shame, boy they despised her! Reading over some of the minutes you very rarely see Nay votes. As we continue to see the majority of the BOE does not like to be questioned. She was a thorn in the admin side but Galka really represented parents and students like she was elected to do. Her youngest is probably in 11th or 12th grade now. |
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| Grant1 | Jan 10 2006, 12:10 PM Post #11 |
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We have just begun to fight!
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OH...let me also add all of those sweetheart land swap deals the LPS works out with the developers so they get land they want and LPS gets something to build a house on for the career center - a great example would be for someone to go back and really look at the deal they made with the developer on the old Stark School site - How sweeeeeeeet it was! |
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| rooseveltmom | Jan 11 2006, 08:02 AM Post #12 |
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Principal
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With all these previous articles perhaps the Media would now be interested in doing an investigative report. There is a lot here and combined with Galkas issues with Leipa they will have a lot to go on. Has anyone contacted the media with this info? |
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| loyaltolivonia | Jan 11 2006, 09:30 AM Post #13 |
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Principal
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Who's the investigative reporter on channel 7? His last name is Wilson (Ithink). He was the one getting in Mayor Kilpatrick's face about the luxury SUV scandal. Maybe he'd like to get in Liepa's face or Lessard's face. |
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| Grant1 | Jan 11 2006, 09:36 AM Post #14 |
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We have just begun to fight!
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Steve Wilson...and I believe that many have already emailed him ( I did email all investigative reporters very early on ). Wouldn't hurt to keep bombarding Fox2, News4, and Channel7 with the issues and requests for help. |
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| loyaltolivonia | Jan 11 2006, 09:58 AM Post #15 |
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Principal
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How do I get his (Steve Wilson's) e-mail address. He's like a pit-bull when he get's a hold of something 'stinky'!!! Wonder if they (the media) are aware of tonight's meeting? Never mind-everyone does a great job of getting the word out there! |
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3:38 AM Jul 11