Gilbert Public Schools Superintendent Christina Kishimoto’s explanation for why the Livestream videos of meetings of the GPS Governing Board vanished from the Internet a couple of weeks ago strains the bounds of credulity. In other words, she thinks we’re all as gullible as Forrest Gump. To phrase it succinctly, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
We suspect the real reason for Kishimoto’s prevarication is that whoever is performing the wizardry of transferring video archives from one version to another will be able to revise, alter, change, destroy or otherwise mess with those videos in the darkness. But what would we know about such ulterior motives?
Gosh darn, it’s just so CONVENIENT to have those public records disappear right now! You knew, didn’t you, that GPS Policy BEDG designates those archives as public records and directs the superintendent to maintain them, right? “The video recording of the meeting shall be available for public review on the district website three working days after the date of the meeting, except for confidential executive session minutes.” Could it be that 7-0 Kishimoto (7-0 was the a vote by the Hartford Board to send her packing) doesn’t want any official record online of her staff admitting to such shenanigans as overspending the GPS budget by $15 Million and keeping it a secret since 2010? Nahhhh…
Problem is … what Superintendent Christina Kishimoto reported to the Governing Board about the 110 vanished video archives is not quite true (her *explanation* appears below). If you go to the old GPS Livestream link, you will be redirected to a URL that contains only the video of the December 16, 2014 meeting and a recently added October 2012 meeting. But that’s not the only GPS Livestream archive.
This is where Westie comes to the rescue of concerned Gilbert citizens and taxpayers! At the moment, ALL the GPS archives are accessible from this link. Scroll down below the displayed video to view the archives. Just to prove the point, should the video archives vanish again, here’s a printout of the web page linked above (check the document properties to authenticate that the web page was accessible on January 10, 2015). Note: if you follow the link and choose an archived video to watch, you may first have to endure a short, non-opt-out commercial before the meeting footage begins.
[Note to the techies transferring the video files: You’ve got the images so stretched horizontally, your clients and their audiences will complain voraciously. Never make your clients (or the people who pay their bills) look fat on purpose! It’s not hard to fix, but if you need help, shoot us an email.]
We are now in the process of transitioning our two years of archived videos into the new program. The following steps will be followed:
Step 1: Video uploading – completed.
Step 2: Download the videos from most recent to oldest, into the new version. This will take some time since there are more than 192 hours of video to transfer. The downloads are done in real time and we estimate it will take approximately 4 to 5 weeks to complete the process.
What 7-0 Kishimoto could have truthfully told the board is that video archives are hidden from the public, while some ersatz technological procedure is happening in the dark. What possibly could go wrong with the way GPS is handling those videos?
We know that there’s no way a real Information Technology professional would purposely destroy important public records while transferring some files from one server to another. Redundancy is a watchword for techies. We ask again and then answer our own question … Q: What possibly could go wrong? A: If GPS can’t screw it up with technology, they can have someone go in and change the public records that are already posted online, right? Guess it all depends on what the boss *really* wants you to do. <sigh> Remember, these are the same folks who promise to work with the new $1.3 Million HR and financial software *in parallel processing model* so no information about past budgets and expenditures will be lost.
There’s no way even a non-techie would believe that it’s really necessary to make online archives vanish in order to update the system. While GPS would like to tie citizens up in FOIA knots to get “access to an archived video before it is downloaded into our Livestream system,” you can find many archived livestream videos on our WesternConnections Youtube channel. We didn’t anticipate anyone from GPS would try to mess with ALL livestream videos, so we didn’t archive all the meetings. You might find something useful in our 43 online videos about GPS, though.
We have to agree, with what’s coming down the pike with GPS and tax money, it’s probably better for Superintendent Christina Kishimoto if the public is kept in the dark as much and as long as possible. For example, all of you trusting GPS employees who believed the hype about salary increases during the candidacies of Good Old Jill and Good Old Charlie will feel burned when you read this newest blurb from Her Newness 7-0 Kishimoto, who is not all that in to you, employees. She told the press before she told all those trusting GPS employees she *leads* with such dedication [snark]:
Gilbert Public Schools Superintendent Christina Kishimoto said the district has a few goals linked to its 2015 operating plan, two of which involve improved technology and some differentiation among the district’s multiple campuses. On the first front are some early steps in a multi-year project to incorporate new pieces of technology to the district’s campuses.*
In the end, maybe 7-0 Kishimoto was trying to hide the fact that the *official* GPS archives included advertisements … including ads for alcohol (yep, we saw one for Smirnoff Vodka). Not really appropriate for a school district, is it? Nope, alcohol and school districts don’t mix, nor do advertisements affixed to official public records. See how complicated this was getting to be? It appears Good Old 7-0 Kishimoto made an executive decision to hide evidence. She made angels weep and got our birdies chirping. (Hurray!)
When will the *new* GOBs and their GEA / AEA / Planned Parenthood bought-and-paid-for board members figure out that HONESTY is the best policy?
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* Big Fat Asterisk: Another comment from 7-0 Kishimoto in the above linked East Valley Tribune article: “A second goal is to add uniqueness to the campuses so schools could opt to specialize in certain areas, for example auto repair.”
We’re sure all the GPS schools are waiting with bated breath to find out which school will become the auto repair school. Maybe someone should explain to 7-0 Kishimoto about Automotive Technologies taught at East Valley Institute of Technology … you know, the school where GPS sent high school students that were discriminated against. Sheeeesh.