Mrs. Gafa,

 

How you can morph what I said in my email to a charge of misconduct is beyond me.  The only thing I can think of is that you feel there is/was some misconduct somewhere.

 

Why would you call what I see as a "kink" in the reporting system presently in place as misconduct?  Is there something you know that I don't know?

 

I look forward to your explanation on Monday.

 

Enjoy your weekend,

 

Ahmed

 

 

Ahmed Ismail, Trustee

Grosse Pointe Public School System

313-343-9060 (work phone - 8am - 5pm)

313-969-1541 (cell phone - 6pm - 10pm)

ahmed.ismail@comcast.net (personal email address)

 

Note:  The opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the balance of the Board of Trustees and/or the administration of the Grosse Pointe Public School System. Emails sent to or from this email address are accessible by the public under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

On Fri, Dec 7, 2018 at 9:00 AM Judy Gafa <GafaJ@gpschools.org> wrote:

Wow, I think inferring misconduct in an email is pretty bold.  I would encourage you to review the September 17th board meeting where the board was told numbers would not be ready until mid November.  

Judy Gafa

 

On Fri, Dec 7, 2018 at 7:33 AM Ahmed Ismail <ismaila@gpschools.org> wrote:

Mrs. Gafa,

 

I agree with you with regards to Mrs. Abbey and Dr. Dean and their skillsets.  I never said they dod not have the proper skillsets as one might assume from your email.  They were smart enough to seek help and outside professionals when they needed them.  I never made any intimation that they were not qualified to lead us through the budgeting process.  They have done it before and I have every confidence that they will do it again to the new Board's satisfaction. 

 

The fact that the administration chose to recommend and the entire board supported the retaining of Plante Moran for enrollment projections isn't (and has never been) an issue - at least not with me.  If you're looking for a "robust discussion" Monday night as to whether or not we should have approved Plante Moran's retention to help with enrollment projections, I think you are going to be disappointed.  First, the administration didn't have to bring the Plante Moran involvement to us at all, as it falls under the professional services category and does not require board approval.  Second, we all agreed with the decision in light of where we sat staffing wise.

 

I think if there is going to be a "robust discussion", it shouldn't' be about Plante Moran's retention or the fact that we are off 100+ students from our budgeted student loss. It is was it is. Instead, it should center around when we as a school system had the first inkling that our enrollment was going to be substantially off projections by more than 10% and what was done to keep the board and the community informed of the issue.

 

See you Monday night.

 

Ahmed

 

 

Ahmed Ismail, Trustee

Grosse Pointe Public School System

313-343-9060 (work phone - 8am - 5pm)

313-969-1541 (cell phone - 6pm - 10pm)

ahmed.ismail@comcast.net (personal email address)

 

Note:  The opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the balance of the Board of Trustees and/or the administration of the Grosse Pointe Public School System. Emails sent to or from this email address are accessible by the public under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

On Thu, Dec 6, 2018 at 7:31 AM Judy Gafa <GafaJ@gpschools.org> wrote:

I just want to go on record stating I fully support Dr Dean and Mrs Abbey’s skill set, and their ability to guide us through the budgeting process using conservative projections.  As a board we might be better served using our local talent.

I look forward to a robust discussion Monday night

Judy Gafa

On Wed, Dec 5, 2018 at 6:55 AM Ahmed Ismail <ismaila@gpschools.org> wrote:

Mrs. Gafa,

 

Please accept my apologies for not responding to your email of November 30th earlier.  This time of year with the Holiday rush upon us, I just don't get the chance to check my e-mails as often as I should.

 

With regards to your comment about my voting to have Plante Moran do our enrollment projections when Mr. Fenton retired, you are correct.  The administration didn't feel they had the in-house skillsets to do the projections and recommended that we hire Plante Moran to fill the void.  I had no reason to doubt Plante Moran's abilities at that time with regards to enrollment projections.  I am sure Plante Moran has an explanation for the anomaly.  I hope that the administration will ask them to give us a memo in this regard rather than going to the expense of having them appear at our December 10 board meeting.  While they may say that showing up at the meeting is pro bono, it is a waste of their time, time which is needed elsewhere for our school system. 

 

With regards to your comments about our enrollment projections being off by 100 students a decade ago (2008), you are correct.  As was Mr. Fenton's/Dr. Klein's practice, they gave the Board a rough estimate of enrollment in August and more refined estimates in September after the first day of school.  These estimates conintued to be refined though the Fall and were discussed at our work session meetings and at our regular board meetings.  Examples of recorded minutes referencing these updates from August 25, 2008 and September 22, 2008 are attached for your reference.

 

As of this date, I have not received the student counts requested in my November 30th email (copy below), nor have I received any kind of reply from Dr. Dean.  I find this troubling, as this student count information is readily available and would take all of ten minutes to compile and distribute.  While I can understand the desire to discuss the questions I posed in the second part of my email below at the December 10 board meeting, there is no reason to embargo the student count information requested.  My questions are ones of fact, not opinion.

 

In closing, while I can't speak for the other members of the board, I am concerned about the unanticipated shortfall and the strain it will put on our maintaining a minimum of 10% in fund equity when the July 2019 audit is completed.  However, I am even more concerned about the timeliness of the board being advised of the student count shortfall.  I am hopeful that our administration will shed some light on this part of the equation by accommodating my request for information below as requested.

 

Best wishes,

 

Ahmed

 

 

Ahmed Ismail, Trustee

Grosse Pointe Public School System

313-343-9060 (work phone - 8am - 5pm)

313-969-1541 (cell phone - 6pm - 10pm)

ahmed.ismail@comcast.net (personal email address)

 

On Fri, Nov 30, 2018 at 4:49 PM Judy Gafa <GafaJ@gpschools.org> wrote:

Ahmed 

Just to remind you. Last year when we hired Plante Moran you were very much in favor of them providing us projection numbers 

I also believe the last year you were on the board prior to running again. The count was off by 100 students 

Judy