The Steamboat Pilot & Today

My wife, Kelly Stanford, is listed at the front of the transcripts among six "investigation non-participants." It says that Kelly did not return phone calls.

In reality, investigator Earl Rhodes called Kelly on June 6 and left a message at her work. Kelly returned his phone call during her lunch hour. They spoke briefly. He said he had some questions about June 2005. Kelly reminded him that she left the district a month prior to that to accept a position in Texas but that she would answer any questions he had.

Rhodes said he was having lunch and they arranged to conduct the interview later. Rhodes missed the phone appointment and never called again.

Kelly worked as the assistant superintendent in Cuero, Texas from May 6, 2005 through June 2006. The e-mails were gathered in June 2005.

Kelly returned to the Steamboat District Aug. 1, 2006. She left the district in February 2007 and was working for TIC when the e-mails were released to the newspaper.

Kelly understands that one of the pitfalls of being married to me is that you take some heat in the newspaper, even if it's not necessarily fair. She had nothing to do with the e-mails; yet, she still made herself available to the investigator to try to answer his questions.

Also, in her interview, Denise Connelly indicates that I heard about the e-mails a year in advance from former School Board President Tom Miller-Freutel. Denise was mistaken. Pat Gleason and John DeVincentis each indicated to me in May 2006 that John had been communicating with someone in Mercer Island, Wash. But Tom Miller-Freutel and I never spoke about the e-mails until after they were released to the newspaper. Our conversation indicated that he did not know the e-mails existed until after the newspaper received them.

This is a 157-page report and it's understandable that there may be some errors. Fortunately, through this Blog, I can clarify points in the report that are inaccurate on behalf of my wife and Tom MIller-Freutel.

If there are any other questions, please contact me.

Scott Stanford, Editor
sstanford@steamboatpilot.com

(970) 871-4221/(970) 291-9278