Carroll County schools reviewing why board members say they never got Westminster Wire’s emails

A note from the publisher: I'm the subject of this story, and as a one-person newsroom I can't hand it to another reporter. So it's written the way I'd write about anyone else, relying on documents, including the meeting video, emails and the full record I sent CCPS, rather than my own account. CCPS and the board received the record Oct. 18 and were asked to respond by Oct. 21 for this article. — Mike Holden

Carroll County Public Schools has asked its Technology Services Department to look into why members of the county Board of Education say they never received emails sent by Westminster Wire's publisher, Mike Holden, including questions about the board's decision to end overnight stays at Outdoor School.

The review follows the board's Oct. 14 meeting, where Board President Stephen Whisler told Holden from the dais that board members had checked their email and found nothing from him. Records Holden provided to CCPS show emails sent to three board members since June, none of which bounced and none of which received a reply.

The records also show that at least one of Holden's emails was caught by a CCPS spam filter. In June, CCPS communications officer Carey Gaddis wrote that she had found his first email in the record in her spam folder, four days after he sent it.

The same records point to a separate issue that doesn't depend on whether emails were delivered. Of nine requests for information or comment Holden sent to the CCPS communications office between June and October, three received substantive responses and six received no reply, including questions about the library book policy and paraprofessionals' devices, according to the records. An assistant superintendent did not answer questions the office forwarded to him in June.

Gaddis said Oct. 21 that she had given Technology Services the two email addresses Holden uses. "They are looking into this and I will get back to you as soon as I have more information," she wrote.

During public comment on Oct. 14, Holden told the board that getting information from CCPS "has been a real challenge." He said he had reached out "about 10 times" in six months and had gotten "real answers three times," and that he had written to several board members and "I never hear back." He said the communications staff had been "super professional and friendly."

About 20 minutes later, as public comment ended, Whisler addressed him.

"A few of us on the dais, we checked our email. None of us have received an email from you," Whisler said, according to the meeting video. He encouraged Holden "and others in the community" to use a link on the board's website, saying, "The superintendent, every board member will get it."

That night, Whisler sent Holden a Facebook message thanking him for attending the meeting and sharing his cell phone number "in case you want to call me directly."

On Sunday, Oct. 18, Holden emailed Superintendent Dr. Cynthia McCabe, Gaddis and all five board members at the addresses CCPS publishes for them. He attached a 17-page record of the emails he had sent the communications office and board members between June 11 and Oct. 8, and asked them to confirm receipt and answer six questions by 5 p.m. Oct. 21. Holden said he also submitted the request through the board's online comment form and received a confirmation page.

The record lists 21 emails. Seventeen were addressed to Gaddis, with Whisler also included on three of them. Four went only to board members: one to Board Vice President Dr. Patricia Dorsey in June, two to board member Kristen Zihmer in August, and one to Whisler in September. None was returned as undeliverable. Gaddis replied eight times. No board member replied.

The record doesn't include emails Holden has sent board members or CCPS staff as a parent and resident.

All five board members confirmed they received the Oct. 18 email, and Gaddis confirmed the next morning. McCabe did not respond.

Whisler replied within minutes. "This is the first and only email in my queue that I have ever received," he wrote. He said he had searched his phone for Holden's email address during the Oct. 14 meeting "and saw others do the same on the dais," and found nothing.

In a second email that afternoon, Whisler said he would "certainly ask the Superintendent to investigate with IT why the emails hadn't been routed to us if we indeed received them." He said he received 14 emails on Sept. 10, the day the record shows Holden emailed him at 6:14 a.m., and none was from Holden. He said his spam folder goes back to Aug. 3 and held nothing from Holden. Holden's other three emails to Whisler were sent in July.

Dorsey wrote, “I’ve checked and don’t see the others.” Board member Tara Battaglia wrote that she had checked her history and had “no others” from Holden. Board member Dr. Greg Malveaux confirmed he received the Oct. 18 email.

Zihmer, writing Oct. 19 from out of the country, said she was "troubled to learn of this disconnect." She said a search of her account for Holden's name and for Westminster Wire found only his two emails from Oct. 18. CCPS keeps certain electronic records for 90 days, she wrote, so "it is possible that I missed an earlier message," but she did not recall seeing any. She said she makes a point of responding to reporters, "even if only to let the reporter know I do not have a comment," and offered to answer more questions after she returns. Holden's emails to Zihmer were sent Aug. 3 and Aug. 6, 77 and 74 days before her search.

The communications office is the school system's point of contact for reporters. Gaddis frequently replied within a day, and her replies show that much of Holden's email reached her: they quote his messages or answer them directly.

According to the record, three of Holden's nine requests received substantive responses:

Six requests received no reply:

On June 16, Gaddis wrote that she had forwarded Holden's Outdoor School questions to Jonathan O'Neal, the assistant superintendent of operations, and that he "is going to get back to you." O'Neal did not reply, according to the record.

None of the six unanswered requests bounced, and each went to an address that had delivered Holden's other emails to Gaddis. CCPS has not said whether it received them.

Holden's Oct. 18 email asked how CCPS decides whether and when a media request forwarded to staff is answered, and who is responsible for responding. On Oct. 19, he asked Gaddis whether CCPS's records match his. CCPS has not answered either question as of Oct. 23.

As of Oct. 23, CCPS had not answered the six questions in Holden’s Oct. 18 email beyond saying its Technology Services Department is reviewing his email addresses.

Among the questions were whether CCPS’s email system had filtered or quarantined his messages, particularly to board members; who checked their email at the Oct. 14 meeting, and whether those searches included spam and quarantine folders; and who reads board members’ district email accounts.

The June spam-folder email to Gaddis shows CCPS’s filters have caught at least one of Holden’s messages. Beyond that, the record can’t show what happened to messages after they reached CCPS’s system. The record lists the exact time each email was sent so the district’s mail administrators can look for them in its logs.

Since the meeting, residents have described their own experiences contacting board members and CCPS staff, in comments on Westminster Wire's social media posts and in private messages. Westminster Wire has not yet verified those accounts.

On Oct. 21, Holden asked CCPS and the board whether the technology review covers email from the public generally, who monitors board members' accounts, and whether board members are expected to respond to parents and residents. He asked for answers by Oct. 26. Westminster Wire will report CCPS's response and the results of the technology review.

Entry numbers refer to the record Holden sent CCPS on Oct. 18.

June 10: The board votes 5-0 to end overnight stays at Outdoor School, the sixth-grade program at the Hashawha Environmental Center, two days after adding the item to its agenda. Published story

June 11 (entry 1): Holden asks the communications office why the vote moved so quickly and why security details couldn't be shared. On June 15, Gaddis writes that she found the email in her spam folder (entry 2).

June 15-16 (entries 3, 5): Holden sends expanded questions. Gaddis forwards them to O'Neal. No reply from O'Neal.

June 16 (entry 4): Holden emails Dorsey about her plans when her term ends. No reply.

June 24 (entries 7-9): Holden checks in. Gaddis relays the superintendent's response. A follow-up that afternoon gets no reply. Published story

July 6-9 (entries 10-12): Holden asks Gaddis and Whisler to respond to a retired Outdoor School teacher's account before publication, sends the published story, and asks about the July 15 closed session. No replies. Published story

July 17-31 (entries 13-16): Holden files a public records request for the Outdoor School risk assessment. CCPS acknowledges it July 29 and provides the records July 31.

Aug. 3-6 (entries 17-23): Gaddis answers follow-up questions about the risk assessment. Holden emails Zihmer twice about safety concerns she described at the June 10 meeting. No reply from Zihmer. Published story

Aug. 26 (entry 25): Holden asks the communications office about paraprofessional devices. No reply.

Sept. 10 (entries 26-27): From his Westminster Wire address, Holden asks Whisler at 6:14 a.m. about a Facebook comment attributed to him that was read aloud at the Sept. 9 meeting. At 10:34 a.m., he asks Gaddis about the library book policy. No replies.

Oct. 7 (entry 28): Holden asks Byrd and Gaddis about that evening's reading information night. No reply.

Oct. 8 (entry 29): Holden sends Gaddis and communications coordinator Brenda Bowers a link to a Westminster Wire post about the Career and Tech Center. No reply requested.

Oct. 14: Holden speaks during public comment. Whisler says board members found no emails from him. That night, Whisler messages Holden on Facebook, thanking him for attending and offering his cell number.

Oct. 18-19: Holden sends the record to the superintendent, Gaddis and all five board members. All five board members and Gaddis confirm receipt.

Oct. 21: CCPS says Technology Services is reviewing Holden's email addresses. CCPS doesn't answer his other questions by the 5 p.m. deadline.

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