By Tracy Ouellette
It took longer than probably anyone involved would have liked, but Monday night the Waterford Graded School District (WGSD) Board approved a new three-year contract with the Waterford Special Education Cooperative.
The agreement was reached after months of back-and-forth meetings and communication between WGSD officials and the Co-op – including some contentious comments from WGSD board members about the Co-op administration and budget process.
The Co-op consists of four area school districts – Waterford Union High School (which serves as fiscal agent), Waterford Graded, North Cape and Washington-Caldwell.
One of the biggest sticking points in negotiations was WGSD’s request that some sort of conflict resolution be added to the contract to give any Co-op district veto power over the annual proposed budget.
The new contract includes a conflict resolution clause, which states if any of the school districts vote against the proposed budget, then the Co-op’s Executive Committee will convene and review the budget.
The committee can make changes to the budget at that time if deemed necessary, or it may decide to move forward with mediation, mediation/arbitration or just arbitration to resolve the matter.
If the Executive Committee chooses to make budget revisions, it would then be brought back to the Co-op school boards for another vote. At that time, if three of the four boards approve the resubmitted budget, then it will be approved.
Monday night WGSD board member Doug Schwartz said he would have liked to see some clarifying language in the conflict resolution and he questioned what happens if there is a 2-2 vote on the budget the second time around.
Other board members said they believe it was time to put the matter to rest and take a vote on it.
“The high school board has heard us and responded,” said board member Dan Jensen.
“I believe it would be in the best interest of the district to hold this (special ed) district together.”
Board member Paul Beyerl agreed, stating that while the new contract isn’t perfectm it’s time to move on.
He applauded the high school’s response to information requests from WGSD and its willingness to listen to and address the WGSD board’s concerns about conflict resolution and other matters.
“I think this has gone on long enough,” said Beyerl. “I appreciate the efforts the high school has gone to.”
The WGSD board then voted unanimously to approve the contract.
The high school board was set to discuss the Co-op contract at its monthly meeting, being held Wednesday, May 22, after press time.
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