The Big Production and the Big Prod

[XLFD]

The City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews) changed managing editors over the weekend from the interim and previous managing editor Steve Begnoche to David Bossick, elevated from the Sports Editor role he had prior.  The weekend edition had a page 3 article titled "LASD Facilities Assessment Detailed", which informed the public that the proposed building upgrade plans for the Ludington Area School District (noted earlier here) along with more information were available to the public at the LASD website.  

Going to one web page on facility assessment allows anybody to unveil various aspects of the ambitious plans to upgrade or replace facilities in the district.  It also explains some of the various philosophies that were condensed in the news about 21st century learning to flesh those concepts out, and has details from the presentations made to the board of education since April 2018.

The very next COLDNews (June 18) had Managing Editor Bossick's first editorial where he unabashedly praises the LASD for their quantum leap in transparency in providing all of this information to the public as seen below:

In the editorial, Bossick bemoans the abysmal record of the state in transparency, before saying that Ludington (in its school, at least) has made openness a priority.  Everything you might want to know is being available, he notes, but acknowledges that it wasn't that way from the start.  David never wonders why that was the case.

Last week, Superintendent Jason Kennedy made a firm commitment to transparency before "going above and beyond in providing its information without being prodded", according to Bossick, adding it was "an example that should be followed by public and government bodies."

We at the Ludington Torch love public officers that don't need to be prodded in order to make things transparent, but we have to amend the public record just a bit to set the record straight.  On June 5, I sent a FOIA request to Superintendent Kennedy in order to get a wide variety of records and since I was only going to share that non-exempt information with the rest of the public anyway, I offered the suggestion of putting the material on the LASD website rather than just sending them to me. 

I have offered this alternative with other public bodies in the past when the material I was seeking was, in my opinion, something that should have been on their website in the first place, making it significantly more available to the public at large when they have an urge to look for it on-line.  I received the response on Wednesday, June 13, and because of the size of the information and my workload, I skimmed the information and planned on presenting it over the weekend. His response let me know that the records requested were on a new LASD webpage created not only to fulfill my request, but improve the school's image on openness:

You will notice on the webpage, and on the response, that the two contractors currently have no existing contracts with LASD, and a list of other collaborators with similar credentials is graciously included at the end of the response in answer to my question in the third part of my request.  

So applaud Superintendent Jason Kennedy for going above and beyond in his response to my FOIA request and for not shirking in trying to get all of the supplemental information out to the public.  Such transparency is refreshing in the same county that has several public bodies, including the Mason County Central School District, that embrace opacity all too often.  Commend Editor Bossick's early appreciation of transparency with the hope that he will enter the battle against ignorance and darkness in the future.

But also consider clapping for the guy behind the scenes, who once again, was totally ignored by the COLDNews in his successful efforts for making local government accountable and open.  Or better yet, take those two hands and join the fight.

[Brad]

Good, hope other agencies follow, and hope LDN follows thru.

Seems like a flood of info.

Still don't believe in the remodel amounts, nor think LASD needs new schools.

[Freedom Seeker]

Informative article. I find myself once again thankful for your dedicated service to the public, XLFD, to hold government entities accountable to the people and provide links and a more complete discussion of issues than the local media does.

The link to LASD even shows a proposed tax increase chart (if I interpret that correctly) if they achieve their $150 MILLION dollar increase. Wow!

The City of Ludington should do the same to show how we will pay off the $40+ million dollar new infrastructure debt. Not a good time for more school debt

It seems hard for those who have the best paying jobs in the region (living off the taxpayer) to understand the struggles of the average taxpayer dealing with these debts looming. The unknown of the upcoming debt itself is stress producing and makes the joy of living in Ludington include a fear and anxiety of how to afford more taxes. Those with "government" jobs with higher than average salaries and promised benefits are on a high and out of touch with the average taxpayer already dealing with water and utility increases and fees. The retirees will have to learn to live with less or look for a place with lower taxes.

Soon maybe others besides the city manager, fourth ward councilor and city treasurer (within a few months of each other), may abandon the city.

[Willy]

The person above all  who should be lauded is you X. What you have accomplished is nothing short of amazing. The fact that the LDN is praising openness is in itself a huge story. I hope the years of cloaking the truth in political bias, half truths and outright lies by the LDN will come to an end. 

There is no way I can agree with this monstrous proposal by the LSD. It's unnecessary and wasteful, not to mention a huge  burden on present and future tax payers. The LSD should concentrate on teaching the basics and abandoned the idea that learning can be improved by erecting new buildings.If truth be known, children were better educated in the old 1 room ....