Board of Education Denies Superintendent Right to Transfer Funds

On Tuesday a motion which would have allowed the Superintendent of Schools to transfer funds up to $10,000 from one line item to another, without prior Board approval,  failed when the vote was tied four to four.

The proposal would have codified a practice that has been going on for some time.  Officially, the Superintendent was only allowed to transfer $10,000 in the case of an emergency.  Fund transfers were handled once a year, in June, at the end of the budget year to redistribute, what Board member Ryan Kennedy called, "surplus funds."

The motion would have allowed the transfer of $10,000 at the Superintendent's discretion, and would have allowed a transfer of $350,000 on an emergency basis.  The motion would also extend the regular supervised transfers from once in June to three times annually in January, April and June.

Board members Shiela Daniels, Renee Johnson-Thornton and Corinne Gill protested the change in policy because it would have allowed the superintendent too much discretion to transfer without Board oversight.

"I think if we adopt this policy, we rescind our authority," Daniels said.

"Our major responsibility is the expenditure of funds," Gill said.  "And we should do that very diligently."

"I think this will give us more authority," Board member Sally Boske said.  "It gives us three times a year when we can transfer."

Board member William Grady indicated that the new motion was only putting into effect a policy which has been practiced for years.

"I find that the old written policy is ineffective, inefficient and happily ignored," Grady said, noting that the new policy would reflect what is, in actuality practiced regularly.  "Our practice has been effective and efficient."


Comments on the Audit

Both Budget and Finance Committee Chair Jay Keiser, and Board Vice-chair Bill Boyd said that they had seen a preliminary version of the annual audit conducted at the Board of Education.  The audit, which is due to be released by the end of December, is controversial because of claims of irregularities in the handling of Board of Education funds.

"We've seen preliminary results of the audit and their is nothing serious in that audit," Keiser said.

"I think there were unsubstantiated allegations," Boyd said after viewing the BOE and the city audit.

Piling On the Executive Sessions

There were two executive sessions noted on tonight's Board of Education agenda, one to discuss "pending litigation," and one to discuss union negotiations.  They called a brief public session to add an additional executive session to the agenda.  Sheila Daniels protested the addition, but was voted down and the board went into executive session for a third time.  Daniels left the meeting before the final executive session began.

When the Board cleared the room for the initial executive session they then invited Police Chief Patrick McMahon to enter with Sargent Mike Marino to discuss SRO's (School Resource Officers).  There is no pending litigation involving the SRO's.  On his departure from the meeting Acting Chief McMahon would not confirm or deny a discussion of SRO's, but when questioned after the executive session Vice Chair Boyd, who was chairing the meeting in the absence of Chair Ted Raczka admitted that they had discussed SRO's.

"I guess there was some confusion," Boyd said.  "Pending litigation was listed on the agenda, but we discussed SRO's."

When he was informed that discussing something other than pending litigation was illegal under Freedom of Information laws, he was encouraged not to answer by his colleague William Brady.

'I didn't make the agenda," Boyd said apologetically.

This reporter informed the remaining members of the Board that he intended to file a complaint with the Freedom of Information commission.


Bullying Topic of Public Session

Once again, bullying in school was the main topic of discussion in the public session.  Cheryl Miller gave an impassioned speech about what she calls an injustice that was done to her son Aaron, who was expelled from school after being found in possession of a knife.  She indicated that he had been cleared of charges in court.

Alexa McCain also made another appearance claiming that her grandaughter has been consistently harassed and bullied on the bus to school and at Woodrow Wilson Middle School.

"Now I ask you to feel & imagine this" McCain said.  "You walk to and from the bus while constantly watching for stalkers, you sit on the bus, face front always ignoring the sneers, the name calling and stuff being thrown at you. And worse of all, constantly wondering everyday if today you're going to be hurt once you get to school.

McCain said that neither administrators at the school or the Central Office have been responsive to her pleas for help.