CORRECTION: The original story read that CPA Mike Overby commended Brandi Rogers the school board attorney, the credit actually was intended for Brandi Burnette, our Treasurer.
Board members confront superintendant about
the creation of a new position at Dixon Elementary
by Matt Hughes
J-E News Editor
Monday night the Webster County School board heard the annual independent auditors report, which, according to Michael L. Overby, CPA, was filed on time for the first time in three years.
“You need to commend Brandi (Burnette),” Overby said. “She has worked very hard on this. When she took the board attorney’s position, I thought she might be overwhelmed, but she has done a good job.”
The school district General Fund saw a revenue of $15,789,620 during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2013. $11,802,352 of that was generated by funds from the state and federal government. The remaining $3,987,268 came from local sources.
The district generated $15,658,665 expenditures from that fund with the largest amount ($6,825,084) going to instruction costs.
The local sources came from five areas. Property taxes make up 65 percent of that amount, with utility tax providing 10 percent motor vehicle tax making up 10 percent, unmined mineral tax with four percent and other revenue sources generating one percent.
The Governmental Fund balance for the district grew $170,760, increasing from $1,282,278 to $1,453,038.
The district showed total assets for the year of $28,467,793, with 420,122,162 in liabilities, leaving net assets for the year of $8,345,631.
There were a few tense moments at Monday night’s meeting when three board members questioned Superintendant Dr. James Kemp about the creation of a new position at Dixon Elementary.
“When did the RTI (Response to Intervention) position at Dixon come open to be able to transfer someone to it?” asked board member Leland Steeley.
“It was a disciplinary action and I did not come to the board for permission,” Kemp explained.
“This creates a budgetary issue,” said board member Mickey Dunbar. “If someone was moved into a new position, then someone has to be hired to fill their old position.”
“I would like to answer that question, but I cannot answer it in public,” Dr. Kemp responded.
“We are talking about a position, not a person,” suggested board chairman Jeff Pettit. “Is this a board created position or a Site Based created position?”
Superintendant James Kemp told the school board the he had in fact created the position in response to a disciplinary action that he could not discuss, although he promised to email the details to board members first thing the following morning.
“Give us the basis by which the superintendant can create a position,” said Pettit.
“You will not want to hear the answer to this in public,” Dr. Kemp warned the board.
“We have an additional expense to our board that was not board approved,” said Dunbar. “I think our board attorney needs to look into this and let us know exactly how this needs to be handled.”
Pettit clarified that he wanted the board to receive an explanation of how this situation was handled, once again stating that the issue was not about the person, but the position.
Personnel issues are not covered by Kentucky’s open records laws and must be handled behind closed doors, but the explanation of positions and expenditures are generally public record.
In other business, board member Tim McCormick called on the board the board and administrators to consider taking a look at the 2014-2015 school calendar sooner rather than later.
“I think it would be good if we could give the teachers and administrators a heads up, especial since we might be looking at the four day calendar,” McCormick said. “This is not a normal year. There might be some major changes coming.”
At a previous meeting board members and principals discussed whether or not the four day schedule was helping or hindering students, and the fact that the state might very well not feel inclined to approve the alternative schedule again.
IN OTHER BUSINESS
•The board approved a $13,699.77 change order to the middle school project to install a fire alarm compatible with the one used by the high school, as well as to security access points.
•The board approved a second change to remove a $5,275.44 order for an incompatible fire alarm.
•The board approve the purchase of a waste oil heater for $8,195 that will allow to district bus garage to do 75 percent of it’s heating with waste oil from the bus fleet.
•The board reviewed a report on the expense of sodding the practice field constructed on the site of the hill that was removed near the football field. The expected cost will be around $10,000. No action was taken.
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