I've been reading about the possible elementary schools closures in the Oak Grove School district and how the school district administration is stalling on the releasing of their closure taskforce's recommendations.

You may want to advise interested folks on your website to do some "homework" by contacting the district to obtain copies of the School Boards' Fair Political Practices Commission Conflict of Interest Disclosures and their election donations list disclosures ahead of the district school making any decisions on the closures. It is my understanding that all elected officials need to provide an annual disclosure of interest within the jurisdiction they represent and that as part of their campaigns they must disclose donations greater than $1,000.

This information is vital for determining whether or not any "backroom" deals are being made over the possible disposition of these school sites. The important questions the community needs to be asking are "What will become of the school sites that are closed? Who will benefit from the closures? Are there any ties between the potential users or buyers of the closed school sites and the School Board? Will these prime sites which are located in residential neighborhoods will be sold off by the Oak Grove School District to housing developers in order to boost their budgets?" We also need to make sure that the school board members who have ties or who accepted campaign contributions from the development community abstain from the closure and surplus decisions because of the potential conflict of interest.

There is some information about the school district surplus property in the district's 5-year plan. See Pages 12-13 in the pdf file that is from the Oak Grove District website.