CHRONICLE EDITORIAL: WHY DOES THE CROTON-HARMON SCHOOL DISTRICT WASTE TAXPAYER FUNDS ON EXPENSIVE FOIL SEARCHES RATHER THAN SIMPLY ANSWER DIRECT QUESTIONS?

Welcome to Everything Croton, a collection of all things Croton--our history, our homes, our issues, our businesses, our schools, our houses of worship--in short, EVERYTHING CROTON.

THE CROTON CHRONICLE MICHAEL BALTER


This past July, the Chronicle published an editorial entitled “Croton-Harmon school district's disdain for the First Amendment costs staff time and taxpayer money.” In it, we gave the history of the Croton-Harmon school district’s refusal to answer often very straightforward questions from local media about relevant issues relating to the schools and their functions.

In talking to parents, we have learned that they also often face an obstinate lack of transparency, despite frequent statements by the school board president to the contrary (transparency and responsiveness were also issues in last November’s school board election.)

In the July editorial, we gave two examples of where the Chronicle was forced to file New York Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests to try to get at information we had first requested in simple emails to the district clerk. One concerned the installation of air conditioning (AC) at the elementary school, and the other concerned the development of guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by students in their school work. READ MORE AT Chronicle Editorial: Why does the Croton-Harmon school district waste taxpayer funds on expensive FOIL searches rather than simply answer direct questions?