I WANT TO KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY WAS WASTED AND SHOULD HAVE GONE TO OUR UNDERPAID TEACHERS!!

Andy Francis serves on the TJCA Board of Directors Executive Committee as Vice Chairman of the Board, and Chairman of the Facilities Committee.

As chairman of the facilities, it is part of his responsibilities to see to it that construction projects the school needs are bid out to multiple contractors.

This summer the school needed new roofing over the 6th grade modulars. There are many contractors in the Tri-City area that could have done the job. Andy Francis even had the Committee wait to start the job so his family business could bid out the project. He made sure his father, would get that bid.

Only one other bid was obtained by Mr. Francis according to public information obtained from the school.  However the information was incomplete and there was no response to further questioning on the matter.  The date is missing on the first bid (as indicated as #1) from Unlimited Resources.  (See picture-This is public information)

Mr. Francis would have knowledge of this bid amount (privileged information) so that his father could submit a bid for less money. The roof work required additional replacement of soffit. The only other bidder was not notified in order to submit a bid correction.  I called and confirmed this with the owner. Additionally, he was never contacted regarding other “jobs too small” that Mr. Francis insisted as the reason his father would be needed to complete the work on other projects. (Refer to Board Minutes June 5, 2018 page 3 )

Then mere days after Joe Maimone was forced to resign, Andy Francis’ family business was awarded the contract for $10,200 to redo the four roofs for the small modular buildings for the 6th graders. Andy Francis was seen doing the roof work with his father’s company.  It is a shame that Mr. Francis insisted on delaying the project for his benefit and put our kids at risk as the work was done after the kids returned to school. 

This is not the first time Mr. Francis has done this. In fact, not only did Andy Francis have his family’s company bid on other jobs for TJ over the last 10 years. He went even further. When his father was submitted a bid, he told his committee that it didn’t matter because if the bid was kept below $5000.00, it wouldn’t have to go to full board for approval.  It could just be done and the Board would never have to approve it. 

Board Chair Ray Maxwell works for the government and manages bids all the time. He should know better than to turn his head and let Andy Francis get away with this. Mr. Paul Foley, Treasurer and CFA Representative, is also responsible as he made the motion to approve many of these projects. It was only when parents like me stood up to the injustice did Mr. Maxwell take notice.  Only now, Mr. Maxwell is trying to cover his tracks.  I appreciate that he is now having the maintenance jobs posted for bidding but the past injustices need to be addressed and reparation given.  In my opinion, that is money wasted that should have gone to our teachers who are still underpaid despite their recent pay increase. 

Unfortunately, the Board has failed to acknowledge their mismanagement of TJCA and has refused to step down.  I have proof of the information contained on this page.  It is not illegal to to be a whistleblower!! 

The Board and the Board’s attorney, David Hostetler of Lex-is Services in Durham, NC have prevented and obstructed the release of documents by requesting $1000 to view public documents. 

Is there breach of fiduciary duty of loyalty??TJCA is considered a Non-profit corporation that runs on public funding. Therefore, they have a duty then to the taxpayers to serve the stakeholders with the utmost care.

Duty of Loyalty means the Board Members (fiduciaries) must put the corporation’s interests ahead of their own. "Corporate fiduciaries breach their duty of loyalty when they divert corporate assets, opportunities, or information for personal gain."[1]. The duty of loyalty is breached when the Board Member puts his or her interest in front of that of the corporation. 

[1] Corporations. Fifth Edition. Examples and Explanations. Alan R. Palmiter. ASPEN. New York. p. 192.