Board divided on tab for trip
SOUTH COVENTRY >> A motion to spend over $1,000 for conference attendance for a board member who is up for re-election in the fall led to a heated discussion among Owen J. Roberts School Board directors at a recent meeting.
The board remained divided when it voted 5-3 to approve the motion for board member Heather McCreary to attend the Pennsylvania School Board Association conference in Harrisburg in October.
Board President Lisa Huzzard said she had requested all out-going board members and those up for re-election in November not to attend the conference, which takes place Oct. 16-18.
There will be six open seats on the ballot in the fall, including that belonging to McCreary, who was the only incumbent to earn a place at the polls in the primaries.
Board members Pamela Clouser Wolfe and Matthew Fitzgerald both lost their seats in the primaries. Huzzard, along with board members Cathy Whitlock and Doug Hughes are not seeking re-election.
“I had asked the board members to be fiscally responsible for expenses to the district,” Huzzard explained when the motion was introduced.
She said she had suggested that McCreary sign up for the conference and pay for it out of pocket, and then, if she is wins her seat back in November, the district would reimburse her. If she isn’t re-elected, McCreary would not be reimbursed, however.
“We’ve had, in the past, where a school board member had attended a conference at the expense of the district, and was not re-elected and was not in his position within two months of attendance,” Huzzard said.
McCreary voiced strong objections to Huzzard’s suggestion, noting that the conference was “a pretty big expense.” She argued that she had attended two previous PSBA conferences that had provided her with valuable information that she brought to the board.
“Each time that I went I did bring back a lot of information that we’ve used,” McCreary said.
She noted that improvements had been made to superintendent evaluations and district goal settings as a result of information gleaned from earlier conferences attended by her and other board members.
But Huzzard pointed out that “if you’re not reelected, you’re not sharing that.” McCreary persisted. “We have plenty of time between October and November,” she insisted, adding that in the past she had shared information immediately.
Wolfe agreed with Huzzard, noting that she herself would have liked to go to the conference.
“If those of us who didn’t make it through the primaries don’t go, it saves us a heck of a lot of money to cover people who will go and will be on the board,” Wolfe said.
However, Whitlock seemed puzzled by the proposal to have McCreary pay for the conference because she is up for re-election.
“Is this standard practice?” she asked.
When Huzzard responded that it was not, Whitlock recommended that the board establish criteria regarding conference attendance for board members facing re-election.
“If it’s not written anywhere, it just seems inappropriate (not to approve the motion),” she noted
McCreary continued to argue her point until Hughes asked to stop discussion and a vote was taken.
The board voted 5-3 in favor of approving the $1,025 for McCreary to attend the conference from October 16-18. That cost includes registration, hotel accommodations and travel expenses.
Voting in favor were board members Melissa Booth and Leslie Proffitt, along with McCreary, Whitlock and Hughes. Opposing were Fitzgerald, Huzzard and Wolfe. Board member Karel Minor was not in attendance.
Following the vote, discussion continued. Booth asked whether board members who had lost their seats in the primaries or otherwise not up for re-election could attend the conference.
“I think it’s a matter of honor and moral integrity that those of us who won’t be on the board, or possibly won’t be on, just don’t go,” responded Wolfe.
But Hughes maintained that current district policy does not make exceptions for outgoing board members when it comes to attending the PSBA conference.
“Currently, our policy is that anyone who wants to attend can attend,” Hughes said.
Huzzard said she would have Minor, who heads the board’s legislative and policy committee, look into developing criteria regarding PSBA conference attendance for outgoing board members and those up for reelection.