Caledonia Argus

School board considers its treatment of employees

Posted: 3/19/02

By Shannon McKinney
Argus News Reporter

School board members of ISD #299 met for an informal meeting Monday night, March 11, to relax with a potluck meal and discuss goals and board relations.

E-mail prompts discussion about treatment of administration

Board Member Bruce Bulman reported on an e-mail that he received from Dan Daley, a lifelong resident of Caledonia, who recommended that the board assess the way it conducts business and treats its employees of the school district.

Bulman read from Daleyís message. Daley wrote,ìThe board needs to assess the way it supports the very valuable and hard to find employees we have working in the district. This does not mean that we need to support every idea or position these employees take on issues, but it does mean that they need total support when it comes to public issues like finances of the district, the new school etc.î

Daley went on to say that the board is responsible for protecting the districtís employees from the public in open forums. ìLetís not have the uprooting of families that love it here, but are having problems at their job due to the dysfunction that can be handled,î Daley wrote.

Bulman said, ìAs a board, we havenít done as good a job as we could have in supporting our administration. We need to support them in public and criticize in private. People will only take that so long.î

He referred to Superintendent Percy Lingen, who he thought has done an admirable job given the difficult financial situation that she inherited.

It is public knowledge that Lingen has interviewed at a few other school districts.

Board member Suzanne Roesler commented that the ìuprooting of familiesî may be misleading since administration that she has talked to have told her they are happy with their job.

Board member Dave Klinski commented that the board does not have a lot of liberty to be talking about personnel matters at a public meeting, but noted that a trickle down effect is occurring. ìBecause of the dynamic of the volume of the things that weíre handling, some times the administration does take a hit for some things that do or donít get done.î

Board member Charlie Wray added, ìWe do get frustrated and say some things that we wouldnít say if we werenít frustrated. We should be polite and professional.î

Looking to the future, Board member Chuck Schulte noted that the district will be totally different in 12 months because it will not be handling the load it has now. ìHow many districts do you know that are in SOD, are doing a retrofit and building a new school? So, if youíre in administration, thereís a whole lot of time eaten up on other issues,î he said.

He did agree that it did not behoove the board to dismantle the administration in public.

The administration did not attend the meeting. Because of the many meetings lately, they were given the night off.

Schulte shares concerns

After sharing personal board meeting goals and looking at long range goals for the district, Schulte addressed several issues of concern.

He questioned whether the district should employ someone for researching and writing for grants. He referred to an article where the Onalaska school district is spending some money to have someone research and write grants.

Board chair Cheryl Whitesitt noted that past boards have steered away from writing grants especially when in a financial crunch. ìA lot of grants are start-up dollars and we have to consider if we got something then how do we keep it going?î

Although, it was agreed that the idea was worth researching and so it was given to Roesler to investigate.

Schulte reiterated his concern with regard to Esch Drive and getting it developed into a second access to the new school. ìSooner or later the street will go in. The community is not going to stand for coming out of the parking lot, and waiting 50 minutes.î

Schulte also talked about a letter that he will submit The Argus later this month with or without the boardís signatures on the letter. He explained, ìI feel this ties into a referendum. I think we have to start planning; itís not that far away. When I travel around the district, people will not change their minds on a darn thing unless they know what happened (with the districtís financial issues and how it plans to resolve them).î

Roesler commented, ìIt would be nice if it came from the whole board.î

Schulte replied, ìIíd rather not ride off into the sunset by myself. Itíd be nice to get a collaboration, but how many people know our current situation?î

Klinski said the board may look worse if there isnít agreement on this kind of letter.

Board members will read the letter to decide how they will respond to it.

Schulte also noted that some numbers in the SOD (Statutory Operating Debt) plan are not correct. The SOD plan is a long range financial plan that the district submits to the state to explain how it plans to get out of SOD in the next three to five years.

ìWeíll have to pull out that little line where there are revenue increases. Weíll be lucky if we keep our status quo,î he said.

Whitesitt noted that much of the revenue increase is dependent on what happens at the legislature.

Board member Barb Hurley reported that the moving of the high school to the new school is in the planning process, and that everything is going well. She has talked to several people about finding out the costs for getting semi trailers and fork lifts. ìIíve received nothing but positive responses,î she said.

Schulte reported that a meeting for the curriculum committee did not go well. He was voted as chair after no one wanted to be chair. It was decided that a board member could not be chair of a committee so that issue will have to be revisited with the committee. Also, Charlie Wray and Bruce Bulman volunteered to help on the committee.

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