CHASING THE PAPER TRAIL: CRITIC FINDS RESISTANCE IN QUEST FOR INFORMATION

Copyright 1995

Last May, Amy Randol couldn't have named two members of Cape Girardeau's school board.

Randol was one of a number of people who questioned the handling of a last-minute decision to allow some seniors who hadn't completed all the graduation requirements to participate in commencement.

Over the past nine months she believes she has been ignored, yelled at, belittled and badgered. All because Randol started asking a lot of questions.

"If they had been nice, I'd probably never have come back," she said.

Six months ago, Randol started focusing on the school district's finances. She has spent more than 60 hours and more than $800 of her own money. She doesn't like what she found.

Randol is a soft-spoken mother of two children. She grew up in Cape Girardeau and graduated from Central High and Southeast Missouri State University. She has volunteered two days a week at Jefferson Elementary School for the past six years. And she is active in the PTA and leads a Just Say No anti-drug club.

She has learned a lot about school district finances.

Last week, Randol sent a letter to school board members outlining some questionable items she found during her research. Board members received the letter Tuesday.

Superintendent Neyland Clark calls Randol's questioning "latent extortion."

Several board members say Randol is on a personal vendetta to get Clark fired.

Clark said, "The quality of life for the Clarks has not been good. The extortion factor has been quite high."

Clark once asked Randol what he could do to make things better.

"She told me there was nothing I could do. It was too late for me," he said.

Randol said she remembers the question from Clark, but he never gave her an opportunity to respond.

After the graduation decision last May, Randol attended a board meeting to voice her concerns. She was shocked by the response she and others received.

"The reaction from the board to the public outcry, I think, was to basically ignore it," Randol said.

Some board members refused to return her calls. Some board members asked her what her ulterior motives were and what she really wanted. She felt some were often rude and disrespectful.

"During this whole thing I've gotten hundreds of phone calls," Randol said. "I've only gotten negative phone calls from Ed Thompson, Pat Ruopp and Lyle Davis. If this is how they react when someone questions a decision, I wondered about other decisions they had made."

Randol started what became regular visits to the board office to request information, starting with the board's policies and administrative salaries. She also started attending board meetings.

As she began her research, other people started calling with questions they wanted answered and to echo her concerns about district leadership and expenditures.

Over the summer a citizen's group formed and circulated petitions asking the school board not to renew Clark's contract. Randol and Terry Ashby were leaders of that group.

A board member asked for a list of specific questions and concerns to review at their retreat in St. Louis. Randol and the committee drafted a letter.

In response, board members Pat Ruopp and Kathy Swan wrote a letter that Randol felt was curt and uncalled for.

"I decided I was going to ask more questions. I started looking at financial records. The more I looked, the more resistance I got."

Randol said Clark, Larry Dew and office staff have been cordial throughout her quest, but personnel director Tim Niggle hasn't.

Randol said Niggle on several occasions raised his voice and become angry. Once she feared he would hit her. Randol said Clark stepped between her and Niggle while office personnel watched.

After the meeting, Randol said, Niggle called her to apologize. Telephone calls to Niggle on Saturday weren't returned.

In a letter to board members dated Nov. 8, 1994, Randol wrote, "I felt his tone was badgering and intimidating and very unprofessional."

Board members haven't responded to that letter.

On one occasion as she left his office, Niggle threw his arms up and said, "What a joke!" When Randol looked at him in disbelief, Niggle ordered her to leave the office.

In October, Niggle informed Randol that her requests for information were costing the district too much. He said she would be charged $10.64 an hour for the time she was spending in the school office looking at records plus a duplication fee of 25 cents a page.

Missouri's open meetings law says the governing body may set a fee for providing access to or furnishing copies of public records. The fee must be for the actual cost of document search and duplication.

The board approved Niggle's rate at its November meeting. Randol had already been charged $45.31.

The minutes reflect that $10.64 is to be charged for copying and compilation of materials. Most of Randol's bills are for "close supervision."

Diane Howard, an attorney for the school district, said the district may charge for any time spent on Randol's requests and that when the policy was written they didn't know close supervision would be needed.

She said someone must watch Randol as she looks through original documents to maintain security.

Randol said, "The more questions you ask, the more roadblocks they throw at you. These people should be very open."

Randol is waiting for answers from the board to the questions she listed in her letter. Board member John Campbell says the board intends to respond at the March meeting.

In Saturday's mail Randol received a letter from board president Ed Thompson acknowledging her questions and saying that the superintendent had directed the business office to prepare a response.

She hopes her quest will bring about changes in the way the school district operates.