RFP Staff
♦ In public documents obtained via North Carolina General Statute 132, the RFP received the following emails in which former Salisbury City Manager Doug Paris was embroiled in maneuvering “influence” in Rowan-Salisbury School System matters. As seen in the email chain below, Paris negotiated with Superintendent Lynn Moody and two new RSSS principals to create consulting contracts for the principals so that the City “will some skin in the game to be able to influence the administration and future path of these schools.”
Paris requests $15,000 for each of the two per year for four years in an email to financial department manager John Sofley (Now Salisbury’s Interim City Manager) and financial service manager Teresa Harris. Moody’s email mentions that Catawba would pay the two more than twice that amount as well.
One day after Paris was “mutually terminated”, one of the principals requested confirmation of payment as per the contracts sent to Paris.
Paris’s unusual email request for school employees to be paid as “skin in the game”:
From: Michael L. Waiksnis <waiksnisml@rss.k12.nc.us>
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2014 7:35 AM
To: Doug Paris
Cc: Latoya N. Dixon
Subject: RE: Knox
Good morning, We have not heard back regarding the contract so we just wanted to touch base. In it we indicated we would like the first payment by June 30. Is that still on track?
Thanks,
Mike Michael Waiksnis, Ed.D.
Knox Middle Co-Principal
@mwaiksnis
@knoxmiddle
From: Doug Paris [dpari@salisburync.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2014 10:01 AM
To: Michael L. Waiksnis Cc: Latoya N. Dixon Subject:
Re: Knox
Got it. We are reviewing.
Doug Paris
City Manager City of Salisbury, NC
http://www.salisburync.gov/citymanager
http://www.twitter.com/parisdoug
704-239-2038 (cell)
On Jun 10, 2014, at 10:01 AM, “Michael L. Waiksnis”< waiksnisml@rss.k12.nc.us >wrote:
Good morning, I am following up to make sure you received the contract. I think I may have sent it from my gmail account but now we are on RSS email. Thanks and have a great day!
From: Doug Paris [mailto:dpari@salisburync.gov]
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2014 9:16 AM
To: John Sofley; Teresa Harris
Subject: FW: Knox
Folks,
This is highly confidential and not to be shared as it is currently RSSS unfinished personnel. RSSS will be hiring a principal team to tackle Knox and the elementary education pipeline. I was part of the recruitment team and our top draft picks have accepted. They have done this before and are the very best. I will be contracting with each of them for 15k per year for four years for the to be point on the city council’s school improvement goal. It is critical we have some skin in the game to be able to influence the administration and future path of these schools. This is also a much better value than taking the city school system back on. They will be preparing and presenting a school improvement plan to me, and I will be holding them accountable for the targets. I’m sharing this with you prior to anyone else as I will need you to work out the financial arrangements once they sign a consulting agreement. They impressed the President of Catawba so much, they will also lecture for him.
DP
From: Lynn . Moody [mailto:moodyl@rss.k12.nc.us] Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2014 8:44 AM To: Lewis, Brien; Doug Paris Cc: Michael Waiksnis; Latoya Dixon Subject: Knox
It went extremely well with my Board last night. They are supportive of our initiative.
Next Steps
1. You guys both need to talk with Latoya and Michael about your contract with them. They need to know your expectations. I’m sure they will want something in writing. They are expecting 35K from Catawba and 15K from the City.
I have talked with our attorney and I plan to offer them a four year contract (very unusual for us — it is typically 2 years at most).
Dr. Michael Waiksnis
803.984.7003 (cell)
Dr. Latoya Dixon
803.517.6860 (cell)
2. Our Board plans to meet at 2:00 on Monday to vote on this. They will come out of Executive Session and vote. It will be public Monday afternoon. Will this timing work for everyone?
3. I think we need to contact the Salisbury Post and schedule an editorial board meeting Monday afternoon around noon if possible. I would hate to leave this up to whoever wants to report. Your thoughts?
What have I forgot?
Lynn P. Moody, Ed.D.
Superintendent
Rowan-Salisbury School System
Extraordinary Education Every Day
