Directors opt for status quo on contract, school attorneys

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Mt. Pleasant School Board members, meeting Monday night in regular session, made no changes in the superintendent contract policy and voted to retain its current school attorneys.

An amendment to the superintendent contract and contract nonrenewal (board policy 302.2) first surfaced last summer and was referred back to committee.

The current policy, which was retained, reads, ?The board of directors shall appoint the superintendent of schools for an initial term of not more than one year. After serving at least seven months, the superintendent may be employed for a term not to exceed three years.?

When current Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mike Wells was hired in 2013, he was given a three-year contract.

Some of the language in the proposed amended policy included:

?The length of the contract for employment between the superintendent and the board is determined by the board?

?The first two years of a contract issued to a newly employed superintendent is considered a probationary period. The board may waive this period or the probationary period may be extended for an additional year upon the consent of the superintendent. In the event of termination of a probationary or non-probationary contract, the board will afford the superintendent appropriate due process, including notice by May 15. The superintendent and board may mutually agree to terminate the superintendent?s contract at any time.

?If a superintendent?s contract is not being renewed by the board, the contract will be extended automatically for additional one-year periods beyond the end of its term until it is modified or terminated as mutually agreed to by the parties or until the superintendent?s contract is terminated consistent with statutory termination procedures.

??If the superintendent wishes to resign, to be released from a contract, or to retire, the superintendent must comply with board policies dealing with retirement, release or resignation.?

Director Ken Feldmann said he could not support such a policy. ??The policy puts the onus on us. We have to make the case why we don?t renew the superintendent?s contract. The school board also would have to negotiate a three-year settlement instead of a one-year settlement (in the event of termination).?

Lonny Morrow, board member, made the motion to approve the policy amendment (which died for a lack of a second). Morrow said that it would be difficult for the district to hire a superintendent without the amendment.

?You will never get a good superintendent to come here for one year,? Morrow said. ?Who would come here for one year? ?

?I have a problem with having to negotiate a three-year settlement,? answered Feldmann.

Morrow noted that ?this is a policy almost every school district in Iowa has.?

A motion slightly changing district legal services was defeated.

Wells recommended obtaining Mt. Pleasant attorney Mike Vance as the local agent (which he is now) and ending its association with Burlington attorney Toby Gordon. Currently, Vance handles all school legal matters except personnel which are handled by Gordon.

Morrow pointed out the school district has a conflict of interest with Gordon because Gordon and former Mt. Pleasant Superintendent John Roederer have a business relationship (superintendent consulting firm).

Feldmann asked Morrow to explain how that is a conflict of interest. Morrow declined Feldmann?s request.

Wells also told the board that a request for proposal (RFP) will be issued this month for legal advice regarding bonding on building projects. The board will deal with the matter in January, Wells said.

In his report, Wells said that last fall?s facilities study by a Waterloo engineering firm revealed approximately $660,000 in immediate work needed to district buildings. He said that he will be forming a committee to study facilities and hopes to begin work on repairing the buildings next summer.

Instructor Jennifer Slagel and student Brandi Simmons presented the preliminary 2015-16 school calendar to the board.

Slagel said the document ?is still a big work in progress. We have worked hard to be where we are at.?

The draft calls for the 2015-16 term to begin Aug. 17, 2015, and end May 17, 2016. Graduation is slated for May 15, 2016.

Other calendar highlights include Thanksgiving break from Nov. 25-29, 2015; Christmas/New Years break from Dec. 22, 2015 to Jan. 4, 2016. Easter break is March 25-28, 2016. Just one snow day is built into the calendar and that also is President?s Day, meaning that if a makeup day is needed, school will be in session on President?s Day. Remaining inclement weather days will be added onto the end of the calendar.

The calendar committee was comprises of faculty, administrators and students.

Six faculty members were presented awards from the school board for ?outstanding service above and beyond expectations.? Faculty members included Heidi Huckabone and Ashlei Venghaus, Harlan Elementary School; Yesenia Sosa, Lincoln Elementary School; Ronnie Waggoner, Mt. Pleasant High School; and Shari Moeller, Lincoln and Harlan Elementary schools.

In personnel matters, the following contracts were approved: Diana Johnson, one-on-one para-educator, Christamore House; Michael Pilcher, assistant boys? track; Deanya Birdsell, middle school one-on-one para-educator; Trent Hobbs, custodian/food service driver; Angela Lee, food service administrative assistant.

Resignations were accepted from Dawn Tomson, Salem custodian; Sara Francy, high school para-educator; and Rebecca Andrew, Van Allen para-eductor.

Board members approved a sabbatical leave for faculty member Kathy Holtkamp for the second semester of the current school year. Holtkamp must notify the district by May 1, 2015, if she plans on returning to her faculty position.

A public hearing was set for 6:50 p.m. Monday, Jan. 12, 2015, on an early start waiver. Districts must submit a waiver if they plan to start school sooner than the week in which Sept. 1 falls.

In remaining matters, Wells congratulated the board for being selected as the T.E. Davidson winner at last month?s Iowa Association of School Boards Convention.

The board meets again in regular session Monday, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m. in the high school media center.