DeJong Richter - Big Conflict of Interest!

[Rachel Magee]

Fellow Save Our Schools Activists!

Please read the messages attached to this e-mail. I think we should
get this out to the media and I would think it should strengthen our
demand for a moratorium. Ironically, I took the two quotes below from
DeJong Richter's web-page. Apparently they pride themselves on
involving the community in their planning process...

http://www.dejongrichter.com/

"Since the early 1990s, DeJONG-RICHTER has been firmly committed to
the positioning and empowerment of communities and organizations to
develop quality learning environments. DeJONG-RICHTER includes problem
solvers who are experienced in handling all aspects of school facility
planning. We know the best practices and bring better processes to the
table to save our clients time and money. Our success rate is high and
our work has lasting, positive effects on school districts of all
types and sizes. Plans get implemented. Bond issues get passed. Great
facilities are built." (This last bit is all the more significant when
you read the e-mails below.)

"The mission of DeJONG-RICHTER is to position and empower communities
and organizations throughout the world to develop quality learning
environments for the future."

Unfortunately, I cannot attend tomorrow's coalition meeting because of
work, but please, please, please put this on the agenda and come up
with a crack plan to use this information to our advantage.

Thank you,

Rachel Magee.
Joslin parent.


Begin forwarded message:

From: Rose McIntyre
Date: January 26, 2011 12:46:52 PM CST
To: Rachel Magee
Subject: Fwd: aisd consultants...big CONFLICT OF INTEREST


I was forwarded this from a member of the Zilker group. Great info
here. Not sure what to do with it.





This was on Yahoo group - wow the media needs to know about this!





Some thoughts & info on Dejong-Richter (consultants recom. school
closures)
To: zil...@yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, January 24, 2011, 11:12 PM


For those who missed the note about the Boise Idaho group who fought
the
closures successfully, I'll paste it after this message. (One of the
Boise
organizers sent a note to us about how they stopped DeJong-Richter
inspired closures in their area. )

Below are some observations about Dejong-Richter, the consulting
company
recommending the school closures. Doubtless some of you have come to
similar conclusions. I apologize for the length- but I'm hoping this
will
help us understand what is happening and why. Cheers-- Carol & Phil

From scanning an array of news articles, the company lit & checking
with
other communities affected by Dejong-Richter consultations, (Boise &
Grand
Rapids) the following pattern appears to emerge.

- While DeJong Richter bills itself as an educational consulting
firm, what they really do has less with education and much to do with
facilities & with construction.

- When hired by a school district to create a "Master Facilities
Plan" they choose urban areas where the schools are generally small
and
old (these area generally inner city areas that have been
depopulating
in recent years)

- After going through their consulting process (i.e. evaluating the
old buildings & assessing the student demographics) they recommend
closing several schools and building a very large new school.

- They just happen to also handle setting up bond elections and
their affiliate company (same Ohio address) DeJong & Associates which
specializes in building large schools.

Both news articles & their web page indicate they have done this with
scores of school districts.

MISC. COMPANY DETAILS:
DeJong-Richter consists of a parent company & 3 affiliates (listed
below)
one of which is a construction/contracting firm which is important to
their Master Facilities Plan schtick.
They've done a small amount of defense contracting work (only about
1.5M
total) 2000- 2001.

We found that CEO Tracy Richter has contributed locally to the
National
Republican Congressional Committee, so have not yet located any data
for
national contributions.

DEJONG AFFILIATES:

PARENT COMPANY: DEJONG-RICHTER based in Dublin Ohio--owned and
operated
by Tracy Richter, REFP, former project director for Dejong-Richter
works
on district-wide, long-range facility planning, as well as programming
and
regional services. He is well known in Florida for outstanding work in
the
following counties: Broward, Duval, Palm Beach, and Martin. Other
projects
include Ohio's Cincinnati Public Schools and the Independent School
District of Boise, Idaho.

DEJONG & ASSOCIATES: based in Dublin Ohio: Does architectural defense
department consulting and handles the construction (contracting) end
of
facilities master plans.

DEJONG-Healy owned and operated by Tracy Healy, REFP, former vice
president of DeJONG and one of its original employees. Healy focuses
on
demographics and facility planning projects in the Midwest. An example
of
her excellent work is the development of enrollment projections for
more
than 450 districts in the state through the Ohio School Facilities
Commission.

DEJONG-LOCKER owned and operated by Dr. Frank Locker, a nationally
recognized architect and former vice president of DeJONG. Locker is
known
for creating dynamic, educationally appropriate learning environments
for
students of all ages; therefore, his company focuses on how facility
planning and design impact teaching and learning. Frank Locker
Educational
Planning:
http://www.franklocker.com/

BOISE MESSAGE:
While doing a little internet digging about the Dejong-Richter
company
today I ran across a couple of stories like ours--Grand Rapids
Michigan
and Boise Idaho. Both areas have been subject to Dejong-Richter
consultations--& subsequent proposed school closures.

I sent out notes and Toni Ramey of Boise ID. responded immediately
telling
of the struggle their neighborhood underwent in 2005-6. She was
delighted
to share anything that would help us. The good news is that after a
great
deal of work, they did win. She is open to questions or further
explanations.

Her story reveals that her neighborhood (much like our own) is urban
in
nature and one of the more liberal hoods in Boise, with a highly
educated
populace.

When the Grand Rapids person responds, I'll post any pertinent info.

Hope this helps. -- Cheers-- Carol

Message from Toni Ramey of Boise Idaho:

I don't know exactly what situation you're facing down there, but
here's
the gist of what happened here. As is true in most states, education
budgets are constantly under pressure.

Our district was attempting to pass a bond to raise money for
facilities.
Their proposal was to close a some old (up to ~100 year) schools that
are
embedded in established, population dense neighborhoods and instead
build
one or more new, much larger schools that students from a variety of
existing schools would be bussed to.

There were many economic drivers for the proposal, including
declining
student enrollment, lower utility and maintenance costs on new
construction, more modern design and technology, and savings on
administrative costs in larger schools.

However, parents were not involved in the creating the proposal, and
when
it leaked in the press, it ignited a firestorm of protest in the
neighborhoods affected.

The neighborhoods are the most historic residential areas in Boise,
and
have seen quite a bit of gentrification over the last 20 years. They
tend
to house some of the most liberal-minded, educated people in a very
conservative state.

The schools that were proposed for closure are some of the highest
performing schools in the district as measured by test scores. These
schools also have the largest percentage of kids that walk or bike to
school.

The parents (with myself and another father as organizers) worked to
make
a case for saving the schools despite the fact that it wasn't the
lowest
cost option by raising awareness of the educational and broader
community
benefits of smaller, neighborhood schools, and doing research that
showed
that enrollment in areas affected was a cyclical process that was due
to
reverse course soon.

By staging some demonstrations (with the kids themselves learning a
ton
about the democratic process in the process!), using petitions, and
strategically engaging the press, we were successful in having the
district listen and invite us to help modify the proposal. Many
meetings
later, we came up with a proposal that we could get behind, and
worked
with the district to encourage its passage.

It passed, and we succeeded in saving and renovating some of the most
important historic schools - many were high performing, some important
for
other reasons - and agreeing to back building new where the
neighborhoods
desired and benefited from that. All the hard work was worth it!

Toni


DEJONG-RICHTER DEFENSE CONTRACT 2000- 2001
$1,243,391
http://www.city-data.com/zips/43017.html
DEJONG & ASSOCIATES, INC (4140 TULLER ROAD, SUITE 13): $1,243,391 in
7
contracts from 2000 to 2001
Contracts for Other Architect and Engineering Services by Army
Signed by year: 2000: $1,013,523; 2001: $229,868; 2002: $0; 2003: $0;
2004: $0; 2005: $0; 2006: $0.

Biggest contracts:
$497,450 with Army for Other Architect and Engineering Services.
Taking
place in DC. Signed on 2000-05-30. Completion date: 2000-05-26.
$294,823 with Army for Other Architect and Engineering Services.
Signed on
2000-05-24. Completion date: 2000-10-31.
$188,150 with Army for Other Architect and Engineering Services.
Taking
place in DC. Signed on 2001-01-18. Completion date: 2001-01-19.
$152,367, same as above. Signed on 2000-04-18. Completion date






--
jamie

"Be the Change that you wish to see in the world."
— Mahatma Gandhi

[savena...@gmail.com]

We are having a problem in our school district-- with D-R forecasting declining enrollment when everything else points to the opposite,
Any information would be great.
Our website is www.saveNAschools.com

Thanks!