Protest Letter RCS CSD 2013-14 Budget
Some Local Residents Would Sell Their Souls Based on Dysinformation
Careful what you sign on for!
Some Will Even Abuse their Privileges and Commit A Serious Violation of HIPAA and FERPA Laws Governing Privacy and Confidentiality of Information!
Parents are being flooded with emails urging them to contact the BoE for a higher tax levy! The e-mail campaign is selective—some parents and familes are being excluded from the mailing—and is spreading misinformation! So we’re asking where did the senders get all those specific, target e-mails? Are you wondering, too?
Electronic health-care transactions:
Since the Central New York Regional Information Center (CNYRIC) submits all Medicaid claim data to the electronic Medicaid system in New York State (eMedNY) for processing; it is a covered entity under this act. The electronic transmission of Medicaid data is now HIPAA compliant.
Privacy:
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act-Buckley Amendment (FERPA a.k.a. Buckley Amendment) is more restrictive than HIPAA with respect to the protection of privacy and security of all health related services. Since all school districts /§4201 schools/counties (and any other educational entities that have access to student data) are obligated to be in compliance with FERPA, they are also HIPAA compliant.
That Excuse Won’t Work!
We call for an investigation by the Interim Superintendent Dr Alan McCartney and the RCS Central School District Board of Education! Is your privacy and household information being abused? Find out before it’s too late!
If Gerald “Dirty-Hands Jerry” Deluca can make a public statement to the board of education that he is aware of how they voted in their private voting at the polls, are you safe from scoundrels like him? Deluca recently made a very disturbing remark at a school board meeting when he stated that he knew how people voted. (Board of Education Meeting of 3/26/13. Deluca: “Last year there was a number of people on the board that voted for the budget here at the meeting. I am concerned that some of those who voted for it at the meeting went out and voted against it.”) Now how and where would he have access to such information. Isn’t our vote supposed to be secret? Is Deluca misusing police information resources? Isn’t anything safe from these villains?
We posted the facts about the tax levy at More Dysinformation Misinformation by the Ignorant Pundits and we warned you all of the Deluca-Coeymanazi propaganda at Deluca, Miller, Teachers Clique Want More Money!!!!. You need to click those links and read those articles if you haven’t done so already.
A Resident’s Letter
To Superintendent MCartney and to the
RCS Board of Education
A resident has addressed a letter of protest to Dr McCartney and to the RCS Central School District Board of Education. We are reprinting it here.
Dr Alan R. McCartney, Interim Superintendent
RavenaCoeymansSelkirkCentralSchool District Office
15 Mountain Rd.
Ravena, NY12143
e – mail: amccartney@rcscsd.orgRavena-Coeymans-Selkirk CSD
Board of Education
P.O. Box 100
Ravena, NY12143
e – mail: BoardMembers@rcscsd.orgDear Superintendent Dr McCartney, Board of Education Members:
First of all I and my family would like to thank you for your fine efforts at navigating the RCSCentralSchool District back on course. Your untiring study and analysis and your leadership together with a team spirit when working with the RCS board of education to arrive at some level of collaboration is truly appreciated.
The purpose of this letter is not to give you a big head nor to second – guess results, however.
I am sending you this letter to expressly state that I object to any tax levy that exceeds 2 % and urge you to even further reduce the tax levy to 0 % and make appropriate adjustments to the 2012 – 13 RCS Central School District budget.
The fat in the budget not only hurts the property owner and business base in this RCS district, it has far – reaching secondary effects on our local economy, including a negative effect on our property values. Those effects are not restricted to this community alone but adversely affect the entire region and beyond.
I am aware that such abuse and misuse is a criminal violation of both the HIPAA and the FERPA.
I realize that there are elements in this RCS community who are using or misusing resources, very likely RCS CSD resources, such as parents’ e – mail addresses, that should not be used for political purposes, to get their partisan message out to the community. Most of us do not have access to those resources and, even if we had such access, would probably not misuse or abuse them for the purpose of propagandizing the community. That having been said, we also urge you to investigate whether such RCS CSD resources are being abused and misused for such purposes.
Once again, I wish to make very clear that I do not support a tax levy in excess of 2 % and would urge you to reduce the levy to 0 %, if possible, and to make appropriate adjustments to the budget, and to further sanitize RCS CSD programs and services.
Thank you for your efforts!
[Names Withheld by Request]
Concerned RCS Resident
We have processed the letter, which we feel is very good and says what it has to say clearly and briefly, and we are providing that processed letter for your use as a pdf and as a word document. All you have to do is click the links below print or download the letter, fill in the personal information at the top, sign it and mail it. Make your voice heard!
- Get the MS Word letter here: Protest Letter RCS CSD 2013-14 Budget
- Get the pdf letter here: Protest Letter RCS CSD 2013-14 Budget.
And please don’t forget to read the facts about assessments, tax levies, and tax rates at our recent article: More Dysinformation Misinformation by the Ignorant Pundits and Deluca, Miller, Teachers Clique Want More Money!!!!
And Tell Them So!
Invest a Stamp and Save Your Community!
The Editor
Albany NY a.k.a. Smalbany 
Simon
April 22, 2013 at 3:39 pm
I had to read the letter a bunch of times in order to understand the main objection. “I am aware that such abuse and misuse…” (to me) implied that the topic discussed *prior* to that sentence is abusing and misusing. Instead, that sentence was pointing to topics discussed in the *next* paragraph. It almost looked like some of the paragraphs were rearranged at some point and the verbiage never reconciled.
Just sayin’… before using the letter as a template for the masses to send in, some fine tuning may be in order.
S
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RCS Confidential
April 22, 2013 at 4:00 pm
Thank you, Simon, for your remarks.
We’d like to invite you to make the changes you feel are appropriate without changing the substantive content of the letter, submit it, and we’ll publish your version, too.
The Editor
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Simon
April 23, 2013 at 7:51 am
Additionally – there doesn’t have to be some big scandal in order to get this contact information out. For example, in both elementary schools parents happily submit their names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses to the PTO in order to have it published in a student directory. The directory is then sent to every parent. So, instantly all contact information has been disseminated to a large audience.
Some contact information is also FOIL-able as part of the tax rolls. Others happily join email groups, mailing lists, and facebook groups which also will divulge your information.
I don’t think the people at the school need to do many dastardly things to get contact information. We’re already doing lots of things to willingly give it to them.
S
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RCS Confidential
April 23, 2013 at 8:03 am
The bottom line: It comes down to ethics, morals, and whether trust is being abused. These people are doing unethical, immoral things and abusing the public’s trust, while asking the public to trust them. That’s a slap in our faces.
You are correct in your understanding, Simon, but leave one important point out: The information is being provided for a specific purpose, albeit not expressly stated, for PTO work, not for the misuse by a group with political motivations not necessarily for the public’s or for the PTO’s averred mission’s good.
Another example would be when a survey or a form allegedly seeking information on food shopping asks you for your personal information and then sells or uses that information for direct marketing or SPAM purposes, or even sells it to someone who does.
We generally provide information on the implied understanding it will be used for and only for the express immediate purpose for which it is being solicited, not for any purpose that comes along and by anyone. That should be quite clear.
The Editor
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Simon
April 23, 2013 at 10:51 am
That’s fine if we stipulate that it’s misused by a group or groups out there; however those groups aren’t directly under the control or auditing ability of the school district (even though they may have similar members if we say the teachers are behind it). In that case, sending a letter to the super demanding an investigation by the school would be wasting the school’s resources and time to do such an investigation. I’d rather see you send a letter to the PTO charging misuse of their contact data as participating too closely with election and voting activities can cause them to lose their non-profit status.
S
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RCS Confidential
April 23, 2013 at 11:12 am
Excellent points, Simon. But I tend to disagree with the point you make about “wasting the district’s resources.” Wouldn’t you agree that a fundamental requirement for our public servants and especially for teachers would be ethics and good moral conduct. And wouldn’t you agree that one of the stated or unstated mandates to the BoE and to the District Superintendent is to oversee the school system and to ensure that all involved in the operation of the schools, instructional, non-instructional, and support staff, are not impaired by questionable ethics or immorality? Questions, for example, of communicating good character to the students both in word and deed? And, if certain individuals on the staff of the RCS CSD schools were suspect of questionable ethics or immorality or amorality, wouldn’t it be in the interests of the school system, the administrators, the students, the parents to investigate and correct the problem situation. So, then, how would that be wasting resources. In my thinking it would be an excelled employment of resources, material, human, and fiscal.
As for the PTOs in this school district, their contracts and conducts should have long been audited and under their present leadership and political activities, their non-profit status should have been yanked years ago. That’s a project we’ll be working on after the elections.
Peace!
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Simon
April 23, 2013 at 4:29 pm
You must be basing the fact that the school has jurisdiction to investigate on facts you didn’t place in your original story.
“Parents are being flooded with emails urging them to contact the BoE for a higher tax levy! The e-mail campaign is selective—some parents and familes are being excluded from the mailing—and is spreading misinformation! So we’re asking where did the senders get all those specific, target e-mails? Are you wondering, too?”
I assume by calling for the school to investigate, you are implying that the emails are coming from district employees? Or via the product of school on-the-clock time? Or via the school email system or via a school computer? Or is the assumption that something this dastardly simply HAS to be coming from the Mutt and clan?
If district resources are being used, then yes, by all means investigate. Have fun. But if it’s just merely the same people involved, but on their own time and resources, I’ll take a pass. We have Board members who like to take off BoE hats and put on Parent or Taxpayer hats at will. I see no reason why an Employee can’t do the same and advocate on their own time.
S
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RCS Confidential
April 23, 2013 at 7:00 pm
We are waiting for copies of the emails that some parents received. We will publish them when we have received and checked them out. The e-mails will usually, but not always, have an IP address associated with them.
Thanks for your comment.
The Editor
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SUNRISE
April 22, 2013 at 1:06 pm
Haven’t had time to read the blog lately but THANK YOU for printing the TRUTH!I also would like to have assistance in researching how and what legislation must be approved in order for landowners who do not live in the district to have the right to vote on school budgets. My preliminary research indicates that originally you could only vote IF YOU OWNED LAND SINCE YOU WERE THE TAXPAYER!! I AGREE AND FIND IT UNFAIR THAT ALL THOSE WHO RENT OR ARE RECEIVING BENEFITS MADE POSSIBLE BY THOSE WORKING AND OR OWNING LAND BUT PAY NO TAXES IN SUPPORT OF THOSE BENEFITS [MAKE DECISIONS OR VOTE ON ISSUES THAT DIRECTLY AFFECT THE PROPERTY OWNER WHO DOES PAY THE SCHOOL TAXES]!
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RCS Confidential
April 22, 2013 at 3:58 pm
Thank you, Sunrise, for the comment. You are absolutely right.
We will be publishing information soon on how to change that stupid practice.
The Editor
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Simon
April 23, 2013 at 7:47 am
This is a tricky subject; I’m sure there’s something that can be altered in the way voting privileges are handled. This becomes an issue every year with SUNY Albany; all of the students who live in the City’s part of campus are eligible to vote in the City’s school and political elections and there’s always complaints they skew the results and don’t vote in the long term interest of the city.
While the “property owner does pay the school taxes”, normally any landlord includes the cost of all taxes in with the rent. So, while technically the owner’s name is on the tax bill, the taxes end up being paid by the rentor as part of their rent. Any reasonable property owner wouldn’t “eat” the cost of the rent. It’s just included in the calculations to decide what to charge the rentor.
In reality, however, BOTH parties have a legitimate interest in the progression and well-being of the community. The rentor because they are actually living there, and the owner because they deserve to protect their property values. Perhaps the laws should be changed instead of “permanent residence” to “permanent residence or property owner” in order to give everyone a say.
S
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Tina - Concerned Citizen for Town of Coeymans/Ravena/Selkirk Residents
April 22, 2013 at 10:50 am
My letters are in the mail (happily)…really sick and tired of the lies/cheating/stealing that goes on in the R.C.S.C.S.D. and beyond in all departments of the R.C.S. area/region…bout time all the cheaters/liars/and theifs get there do and stop padding their pockets w/us hardworking taxpayers money and getting away w/this shit…something has to be done…like kicking the crooked ones out of their positions and getting new honest faces in their places!!
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