IN A SURPRISE MOVE LAST NIGHT, ROCKWOOD'S SCHOOL BOARD SHOT DOWN MULTIPLE CONTROVERSIAL CONTRACT PROPOSALS.

October 07, 2022

IN A SURPRISE MOVE LAST NIGHT, ROCKWOOD'S SCHOOL BOARD SHOT DOWN MULTIPLE CONTROVERSIAL CONTRACT PROPOSALS.

It was a surprise, in part, because one of the proposals appears to have been pushed by a Rockwood administrator.

The contracts were controversial because of the nature of the services, and because they didn't have any competitive bidding. More on that below.

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Dr. Terry Harris is the administrator behind the controversial proposals. One he submitted last night was his second attempt at pushing it through. It had already been removed from the agenda of a previous meeting, due to the vendor's poor standing with the state. That issue had since been resolved.

Harris is Rockwood's Executive Director of Student Services. He is also a former member of the board of directors for the company on the contract he resubmitted.

CONFLICT?

As we reported earlier, "Shante Duncan dba Sisters Helping Each Other Reach a Higher Height" (SHERAH) started getting yearly contracts with Rockwood when Harris was on its board of directors in 2016 and 2017.

Source: Secretary of State

In total, SHERAH was previously awarded 7 contracts from Rockwood, totaling $120,350.00
Rockwood has not made a statement publicly about Harris' connection to that company.

SINGLE SOURCE VENDOR = NO BIDS

Another controversy--on the official documents, Harris characterized all three of the rejected contract proposals (SHERAH, Sistakeeper Empowerment Circle, and Tony Thompson, Inc.), as "single source vendors."

If a business is designated a "single source vendor," administrators don't have to seek any competitive bids for that service. Theoretically, there are no other bids to get because that vendor is the only source for that service.

BUT, IS IT REALLY "SINGLE SOURCE?"

Only if the vendor is the only source of that service.

The services from all three vendors appear to be the same: student empowerment.

Additionally, Rockwood already pays yet another vendor for student empowerment.

It's included in the Alive and Well contract that is in its second year with the district.

In all 7 contracts, SHERAH was submitted and approved as a "single source vendor" with no other bids.

The same is true of all the contracts submitted and approved for Sistakeeper and Tony Thompson, Inc. as well, since 2019.

All three vendors have always been the only bid.

Together, Rockwood has paid the three no bid companies $184,770.00

If they had been approved last night, the total would have been $270,870.00

THE NO VOTE

Rockwood Board of Education director, Izzy Imig, initiated the no vote last night.

"I have a couple of concerns here, actually...I would like to vote no on the Shante Duncan, also the Sistakeeper and the last one is the Tony Thompson. I don't feel like they serve ALL of our students."

Board director Tamara Rhomberg, stated that she agreed.

Evidence of a focus on only students of color is on the website of Shante Duncan's nonprofit, SHERAH.

It says SHERAH's L.O.V.E. project "provides safe spaces for girls of color to explore their experiences and goals."

UNUSUAL VOTE

Special action had to be taken to vote on the above proposals. Otherwise, the vote would have rejected a dozen other items as well, all at one time. Routinely, items that are "consent agenda items" are handled with one vote, without naming or discussing any of the items.

To see what consent agenda items were approved and which ones weren't, click here: agenda for Oct. 6th meeting. Note: The rejected proposals from Dr. Harris are in the item from "student services."

VOTE WAS 4-3

When they voted separately on the above contracts, both Imig and Rhomberg, along with Jessica Clark and Randy Miller, voted no.

Keith Kinder, Lynne Midyette, and, Jaime Bayes all voted yes, to approve the above no bid contracts.

You can watch the vote here, at the 23:42 mark: Rockwood Board of Education meeting

THE VENDORS

Here's more about what the three vendors offer:

Sisters Helping Each Other Reach a Higher Height. (SHERAH).

Sistakeeper Empowerment Circle.
It doesn't appear to have a website by that name, but, its founder has this website: https://www.niagroupstl.com/

Tony Thompson, Inc. https://www.tonythompsonstl.com/.

Here are the contract proposals that were rejected last night: