Dateline: December 21, 2006

HISD board clears Hill

Hedley School Trustees on Monday night cleared Superintendent Bryan Hill of recent allegations against him regarding inappropriate computer usage.

Bringing a close to its investigation, the board’s only action was to formally issue Hill a letter advising him to turn off his computer when he leaves his office and to change his password on a regular basis.

Board President Cary Don Neeley announced the board’s findings in a prepared statement after the board met in closed session for over an hour. All board members voted in favor of the letter except one – Jason Sargent, who abstained as a relative to Hill by marriage.

Neeley said Hill’s computer had been subjected to a forensic evaluation by Mandry Technology Solutions in Lubbock, and the board considered that firm’s report along with a review of documents and testimony of individuals.

"As a result, we have found no conclusive evidence of that any inappropriate Web searches were conducted by Mr. Hill, and there is no evidence that any inappropriate Web sites were accessed on any of the district’s computers," the statement said.

Neeley said a previous examination of Hill’s computer by school board members and the Region 16 Education Service Center had not compromised the investigation but said that some files had been erased "before school was out last year."

Following Monday’s meeting, Hill appeared relieved but had few words on the case.

"I’m glad it’s over," he said.

The Clarendon Enterprise made a formal request Tuesday morning under the Texas Open Records Act for all documents related to the board’s investigation and reviewed those documents Tuesday afternoon.

A 38-page server listing of Internet links visited by Hill’s computer between April 24 and June 22, 2006, shows several inappropriate searches conducted by someone and some adult Web sites that resulted from those searches. Thirty-six pages of screenshots reveal other inappropriate searches.

The documentation also includes 17 pages of more than 450 thumbnail images that resulted from the searches. One of the images was of a topless woman.

A ten-page report from Mandry Technology Solutions concludes that the company "Could not prove the user in question (Hill) was searching and viewing the inappropriate material" because the "Username and password (were) not secure."

Neeley told the Enterprise the server listings end in June because no inappropriate material had been found after that time. He also said there was no way to know for sure who had searched for the information and whether that person had been actually sitting at the computer or not even in the office at the time.

"We tried to find a footprint or a trail, but we couldn’t," he said. "We know the computer was remote accessed at one time. It was done with what they call a remote desktop."

Neeley said the board had learned a lot about computer security during the investigation.

"We’ve made some changes, and more will be done in the future to have more security," he said.