Report 2018-131 Recommendation 16 Responses
Report 2018-131: Alum Rock Union Elementary School District: The District and Its Board Must Improve Governance and Operations to Effectively Serve the Community (Release Date: May 2019)
Recommendation #16 To: Alum Rock Union Elementary School District
To comply with district policy and improve transparency, the board should work with district staff to evaluate law firm proposals against criteria when it next contracts for a general counsel. Further, the board should publicly report the results of its evaluation.
6-Month Agency Response
Board followed up steps in recommendation #16 as evidenced during Special Board Meeting on May 9, 2019. Evidence will be submitted to Mr. Boone.
- Completion Date: May 2019
- Response Date: November 2019
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented
The district provided its board meeting agenda and meeting minutes from its May 2019 board meeting where it evaluated competing legal firms to become the district's next general counsel. The minutes indicate that the board worked with district staff to develop a scoring mechanism to evaluate the competing firms. Further, these publicly-available minutes show the results of the district's evaluation.
60-Day Agency Response
1. The selection of the new general counsel for the district followed best practices. Staff issued RFP. Firms were vetted by the CBO and Asst. Sup of HR for paper accuracy. Interviews with firms were held during a public meeting and selection of firm was conducted during a public meeting.
- Completion Date: March 2019
- Response Date: August 2019
California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending
The district did not provide any evidence pertaining to the evaluation process it described. Accordingly, we have assessed the implementation status of this recommendation as pending.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
All Recommendations in 2018-131
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.