Florence writes:
In fall 2006, we did not perform criminal background checks afaik.
Are we doing that now ? From what I understood, Mike took care of this and this is now being done. It is fairly recent, the board did not get any report on this, so I can not further comment.
I can confirm that the Foundation has retained an independent firm that conducts criminal background checks, consistent with state and federal law in the USA.
I asked Mike to work on a policy related to conflict of interest for the staff. We already have made that policy at board level several months ago, and it is successfully implemented. However, the policy at staff level is a bit broken and was never implemented. I told Mike I would like him to work on this.
This is in progress.
There comes a point when we must balance between telling you guys stuff, and shutting up to avoid further troubles. Unfortunately.
I wholly agree with Florence on this point, especially the "Unfortunately" part. My own inclination is to be as upfront and open as possible. So when you see me cautioning against public statements, you should infer that it's for some compelling legal reason, and not out of disregard for the importance of community information and participation.
--Mike