Bobby Wilson
Tracy Press
Jefferson Unified [sic] School District board members have raised questions about a conflict of interest for one of their own who hosts and maintains the district's Web site for free on his company's server.
The issue surfaced at a Nov. 9 meeting, in which the district's board of trustees directed staff to eventually take over the Web site duties from Trustee Dan Wells.
"They've given me direction to do it," Superintendent Ed Quinn said. "Now it is my job to work with Mr. Wells to make it happen."
Wells said that he is not benefiting financially from the site, noting that there are no advertisements or links to his software development company, WinBiz Inc., on the site.
"We are offering this completely without charge," Wells said. "The gain is for the students. That is the point."
Trustee Deborah Wingo said a district employee — not a board member – should maintain the site, and it should be hosted on a server that is independent of the Jefferson school board. "I feel that is a conflict of interest," she said. "It was generous of him to donate his time."
There would be a conflict of interest if Wells could gain financially from hosting the site on his company's server, said General Counsel Joanne Lowe of the California Department of Education, citing state law.
The California School Boards Association encourages districts to follow the conflict-of-interest code laid out by state law, but there were no CSBA officials available to comment on the issue Monday, said Matt Nicols, a spokesman for the group.
In the interim, Quinn said he will research the district's options, adding that he doesn't know how much it would cost to buy a server. He also said district staff would maintain the site, so he would not have to create a new position for that task.
A server costs anywhere from $3,500 to $6,000, and an additional $1,000 in required software, said Kerry Johnson, Tracy Unified School District's director of information services and educational technology.
Johnson added that someone has to update the site and perform other maintenance tasks, which require more than low-level skills. He said that a full-time technician working for the government in California makes about $38,000 to $40,000 year – not including benefits.
Jefferson pays the San Joaquin County Office of Education $54,625 for all services connected with the county office's information technology department, which gives them access to a server on which to host Web pages, said Jerry Springer, the county office of education's director of information technology. Jefferson is not using that access at the moment. He also said that the office of education does not build district Web sites.
Wells said he built the district's Web site, which launched in February. And he said he would continue to maintain and host the site until he is told otherwise.
Wells said the earliest he can help Quinn is in February 2005 because of business responsibilities.
To reach reporter Bobby Wilson, call 830-4221 or e-mail bwilson@tracypress.com.
© 2004 Tracy Press