Not so fast – School Board backtracks on setting its own pay

By Tracy Ouellette

Staff writer

Setting your own salary? Isn’t that a little like letting the fox in the hen house?

That question ­was among those asked Monday night at a lively meeting of the Waterford Graded School District Board.

Resident Brian Klemko, who lives in the Town of Norway and is a Graded School District resident, referred in his question to the board’s new compensation policy, which it adopted in a split vote last month.

The policy allows the school board to set members’ compensation – an action it adopted in response to a vote held at the district’s October 2012 annual meeting in which board members’ salaries were totally eliminated for 2012-13.

But legal questions arose soon after the board’s Feb. 18 vote, and the compensation issue was placed back on the agenda as an action item March 18.

Monday night, it was explained that the school board has been advised it needs to call a Special Meeting of the Electors in order for its members’ compensation to be voted upon by residents of the school district.

Or, the board can wait until the next Annual Meeting in the fall to try and make a change so its members are again paid. The matter would then still have to be decided by a vote of the residents in attendance.

Calling the legalities of the matter “a little gray,” Board President Dan Jensen said the new policy approved in February will most likely be rescinded.

Not all board members were in favor of calling a special meeting to settle board pay for 2012-13, with Robert Kastengren and Paul Beyerl preferring to wait until the next Annual Meeting in the fall to address the issue.

Kastengren noted that new board members will be elected April 2 who “shouldn’t be penalized by the sins of the previous board,” but he said the pay issue may become a battle the board doesn’t need at this time.

“I just think it could get very messy in the press,” Kastengren said. “The electorate did vote. I didn’t like it, but we should wait for the next Annual Meeting.”

Board President Dan Jensen disagreed, saying he has concerns about the October 2012 vote being valid, since the board has discovered that some people who voted were not residents of the Graded School District.

“If we want to have this fight in public and people show up, let’s have it,” Jensen challenged.

Jensen said a small minority of parents of special education needs students had voted in October. He said he doesn’t feel they represent the majority of district residents.

Jensen went on to say the Annual Meeting is where voters have real input on the budget for the year. Not one person last October had a question about the $18 million of taxpayer money being spent, which includes the salaries of the board members, he noted.

Carlene Chavez, the resident who put forth the “no salary” motion for the board at the October meeting, defended the action.

“I stand by what happened,” Chavez said Monday night. “We needed to send you a clear message and you guys haven’t taken on that message.”

Chavez continued, saying she feels some of the board’s recent decisions, such as dropping S&J Bus Co. for Dousman Transport, were “short-sighted.”

In a 3-2 split vote, with Beyerl and Kastengren against, the board approved calling a Special Meeting of the Electors for 6 p.m. on Monday, April 22. The sole agenda item for the meeting will be board members’ 2012-13 salaries.

In other business

• The board accepted the resignation of Assistant Superintendent and Director of Curriculum and Instruction Ron Rivard at Monday’s meeting. Rivard has accepted a position as the new director of instruction for the Waukesha School District.

Board members praised Ron’s service and wished him well in his new position, which begins in June.

• The board also approved a temporary contract to keep the district in the Waterford Special Education Cooperative until June 30, 2014. The board is still in negotiations with the Co-op for a new contract for special education services after June 30, 2014.

When Chavez asked the board where it was at in the contract negotiations, Jensen said there are only “one or two” more items to be worked out by June 30 of this year on a new contract.

He indicated they expect to be able to come to an agreement with the other districts in the Co-op soon.

“We want to solve it and come up with a contract that’s workable,” Jensen said.