Another Request Sent By Betsy Combier Concerning F11,129 For Records of the Mandatory 3020-a Meeting Held on February 24, 2015

RE: F11,129
response 2 messages Betsy Combier Tue, Apr 14, 2015 at 11:59 PM
To: Baranello Joseph , Betsy Combier , rfreeman@dos.state.ny.us

Dear Mr. Baranello,

I sent you an email on April 14, 2015, requesting clarification of your demand that I tell you how much I was willing to pay your employee at $29.95/hr for documents, emails and records of the February 24, 2015 meeting on 3020-a arbitration held at your offices at 52 Chambers Street. Please see my blog, and the original email request forwarded above.

Betsy Combier Asks FOIL Officer Joe BaranelloTo Clarify the Fees of $29.95/hr For F11,129

http://nycrubberroomreporter.blogspot.com/2015/04/betsy-combier-asks-foil-officer-joe.html

The Freedom of Information number for the requested meeting records has been given the

 

Attorney Adam Ross and Former UFT VP Mike Mendel

 FOIL # 11,129. This meeting was set up by Adam Ross, UFT lawyer, and by your colleague and Supervisor (also the Appeals Officer of FOIL requests) Courtenaye Jackson-Chase.

NYC DOE General Counsel Courtenaye Jackson-Chase

If I had simply given you an amount I would be willing to pay, I could be precluded from any documents above that fee, and denied my choice. For instance, if I told you I would pay for 10 hours, $299.50, then you could pick through the documents available, and tell me that the 10 hours were spent on retrieving those documents, thank you and goodbye. But I would be denied any other documents related to my request due to the fact that I said I would pay for 10 hours, and you would effectively withhold any related documents that you wanted to withhold and tell me I didnt want to pay for them, because I told you I would only pay for 10 hours of your employee's search, at $29.95/hour.

As this mandatory meeting on 3020-a included all the NYC Panel arbitrators, NYSUT attorneys and DOE attorneys involved (no private attorneys) and as this is not a NYC DOE agency-only meeting and this meeting is open to public access (the arbitrators and NYSUT attorneys are not DOE employees), I asked you to explain your fees of $29.95/hour to access the documents and emails related to the creation of this meeting.

In any case, I asked you to reply to me no later than 5PM on April 17, 2015, so that I could get the documents on April 22, 2015. I received no response.

 

Now that you did not answer my request for clarification, I am left with the assumption that you are not going to give me the documents, as I have not given you the amount I would be willing to pay.

 

Therefore, I am sending this email and posting this email on my blog as Notice to your Supervisor, Courtenaye Jackson-Chase, that on April 22, 2015 I will formally appeal all of this, and add this to my lawsuit against you currently on for depositions in the Supreme Court. See The Second "Who Are You Kidding Award" Goes To Dennis Walcott

 

I respectfully suggest that you are retaliating against me for making my request for documents of this February 24th meeting, for placing your Facebook page on my blog, and for suing you for the almost 2-year delay in obtaining the contract of former Chancellor Dennis Walcott.

Please give me the fee for documents, emails and records requested, with details of each and every document and email, no later than 5PM on April 20, 2015.

Thank you in advance,

Betsy Combier

UFT, NYSUT, Department of Education, and Arbitrators Working in 3020-a Hearings Will Hold a Secret Meeting Today, February 24, 2015 at 4PM

We are wondering what new, secret policy changes will be handed down today at a mandatory meeting for all Arbitrators, NYSUT and DOE attorneys who work in 3020-a cases. Who is paying for the time of these attorneys and arbitrators? ( Some arbitrators on the NYC panel are not attorneys).

Laura Brantley, Naeemah Lamont and Dennis Da Costa prowl the halls of 49-51 Chambers Street 6th floor for any person who dares to challenge their authority - i.e. anyone who gives an extra date or cancels a 3020-a date because a private attorney cannot make it; argues that a Respondent must pay if they have a death in the family and want to postpone a hearing, or the Respondent cannot come in because he/she is in a coma, etc.

Nothing matters to them except termination, resignation, or anything similar.

The 3020-a arbitrators are supposed to be appointed by the Respondent and the Department of Education, but they are not. They are picked by Claude Hersh, Associate General Counsel for NYSUT in New York, and Theresa Europe of the DOE, but then Dennis Da Costa appoints the arbitrator for each case, my sources tell me.

If an arbitrator strays from the path created by Dennis, Laura and Naeemah, one of the three, usually Dennis, will come into the hearing room and either scream and yell abuses and insults, or sit quietly, letting his presence tell the arbitrator that he/she does it his/the Dept's way, or you, Mr./Ms Arbitrator, get the highway.

Today at 4PM there is a meeting for NYSUT, attorneys for the Department of Education, and all Arbitrators at 49-51 Chambers Street, set up by Adam Ross, UFT attorney and Courtenaye Jackson-Chase, General Counsel for the Department of Education.

Private attorneys are not invited (we tried).

This meeting should be in the public eye because it concerns the public.

In my opinion, the autocratic leadership by NYSUT/UFT/DOE over 3020-a hearings in New York City and the violations of due process which consistently plague the hearings must stop.

Every Respondent should have an open and public hearing (it's your choice) and open up these hearing to public scrutiny.

Postscript:  please email me anonymously or comment on this post if you attended this meeting, and tell me what happened, what was discussed, and how many people were there, etc. I don't need your name!!!

Betsy Combier
betsy.combier@gmail.com