4 GLARING Inconsistencies Concerning The State Superintendent’s Letter to Ampify About Their Protest to iStation’s Contract

/ caffeinatedrage

Yesterday, Mark Johnson delivered his letter to Amplify concerning their protest of iStation’s contract with DPI. In it, he simply reaffirmed his “decision” to stay with iStation because:

“Istation is the best diagnostic tool for the state of North Carolina. Istation received the contract award through a fair and objective process conducted by an evaluation committee that adhered to all laws, rules, and policies.”

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The appeal meeting that Amplify had with DPI occurred on Thursday, July 18th. It was said to many that it would be an open meeting. That’s why public school advocates were in attendance. But them it became a “closed” meeting.

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So the meeting occurred and Johnson gave Amplify his response.

But there are some interesting inconsistencies that beg questions and concrete answers.

  1. Mark Johnson was not in that meeting. He was on an overseas trip at the time.
  2. The meeting was run by Jonathan Sink, whose last day at DPI was July 19th as he just took a job with the NC GOP.
  3. While Amplify was there, iStation’s legal counsel was also in attendance. That included Kieran Shanahan, who is the financial chair of the NC GOP that Sink now works for and who sent three threatening Cease & Desist letters to including one of the people who came to the “open” meeting but was escorted out by security without explanation.
  4. Jonathan Sink was in the RFP Committee (although non-voting) that did decide to go with iStation. It was the third RFP.

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So, the state superintendent responded to an appeal laid out in a meeting that he was not part of that was run by a man who no longer works at DPI but now works with the head legal counsel of iStation within Johnson’s political party and that legal counsel for iStation actually got to BE IN THE MEETING that Johnson was never part of.

Sounds like a public records request should be filed for all communications between Johnson and his office and iStation.

And part of Johnson’s letter has this “Exhibit C” attached – a screen shot of text messages that is the foundation of his claim that the second RFP had to be cancelled. Justin Parmenter already has issued a post that needs to be read about this and more and more questions about “Exhibit C” are being asked and will definitely be posted.