School board sides with hearing officer
Resolution of issue not announced
By Bobbi Mlynar (Contact)
Monday, April 14, 2008
The Emporia Board of Education accepted the recommendation of a hearing officer during a specially called executive session Monday evening at the Mary Herbert Learning Center.
The board met with Angie Stallbaumer, KASB attorney, who served as hearing officer for an issue involving a student. No information about her recommendation or about the student could be released because of privacy laws that protect the student's identity, Superintendent John Heim said.
Parents of the student were invited into the meeting when the board reconvened after the executive session. Board members had gone into the closed session 3 times: once for 20 minutes; the second time, for 10 minutes; and the third, for 5 minutes.
During the open session, board president Grant Riles moved to adopt the recommendation of the hearing officer, which was Item 5 on the agenda. Board member Glen Strickland moved to accept the recommendation and member Mike Helbert seconded the motion. The board approved the motion on a 7-0 vote.
Heim said that the issue involving the student had gone through the final process of appeals, which could include hearings by the teacher, the principal, the superintendent, and the board.
"That was the last step," Heim said of the hearing officer's recommendation. "... There's not always a teacher involved."
Comments
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Posted by Deepthoughts (anonymous) on April 15, 2008 at 11:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
So I'm just curious what the point of this story even was? We don't know the situation (can you tell us what the "issue" was?) and they won't release the recommendation (privacy laws), which was the resolution of the issue. So basically we knew nothing before and we know nothing now after reading this. There goes 2 minutes of my life I will never get back.
Posted by citizen (anonymous) on April 15, 2008 at 1:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I know what it was about. And it wasn't much of a resolution as it was the school and school board covering their butts. It was an issue that started before Christmas and just NOW getting resolved. They dragged their feet as long as they could and school is almost out. It is a sad case for the victim.
Posted by Bjnemp (anonymous) on April 15, 2008 at 7:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't get it. So... a serious situation occurred in one of our public schools supported by our tax dollars and which our children attend yet we are not privy to what, to whom, by whom, when, where or why? Oh yeah; that makes sense. Thanks, Gazette, for publishing the article and clearing this up for me.
Posted by tunit (anonymous) on April 15, 2008 at 7:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow, good one Gazette. That is some Pulitzer Prize winning reporting right there. I'll side with deepthoughts on this one and agree I just wasted two minuets of my life.
Posted by citizen (anonymous) on April 16, 2008 at 8:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
So Gazette, are you going to tell us what happened. Most of the parents know, all the teachers know, the principal knows and most of the students know. So why not tell us. Why don't you investigate. I beleive the issue went to Lyon County Court.
Posted by Deepthoughts (anonymous) on April 16, 2008 at 8:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Okay - my curiosity is killing me. Since the Gazette won't tell - will someone "in the know" let us in on it?
I can understand privacy laws and the names of the students not being released, but I don't understand the quietness surrounding "the issue" or why The Gazette would even bother printing this.
I don't know all the ins and outs of the School Board, but I'm assuming that an "executive session" is closed to the public and anything discussed therein is not made public, so they could hear the recommendation there and then in the Open session simply move to adopt the recommendation (which only they know the details of)? That's pretty clever.
Posted by bowyerfan (anonymous) on April 16, 2008 at 9:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I also know what the issue is about and also think that the administrators as a whole have acted very poorly from the prinipals to the superintendant.The victim and his family have been treated more like the ones who did something wrong in this case. Now the school board shows that all they care about is covering the district's butt. What kind of moral message are you sending to the children of this community. When the principal lies under oath and the victims family has proof that he has, I'm wondering how exactly he is keeping his job? You also didn't mention that this has been dragged out for months with Dr. Heim cancelling on them at times and last week they set through the whole board meeting before anyone telling them that the attorney wasn't going to show up, hence the meeting this week that was also handled very unprofessionally.
Posted by citizen (anonymous) on April 16, 2008 at 10:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Bowyerfan-I'm glad you brought all those issues up. I am a parent of a student that goes to EMS. I have had great concerns that my child would be hurt because he is friends with the victim. The parents and student (victim) have been treated horribly. Most of the teachers agreed with the parents. But I believe they have been coerced into changing their statments. Also, the interview with the vicitm was a farce. Can you really know a child by speaking with them for 20 minutes. This was an amatuerish. I even made calls to the school administration and left messages and not once was I called back. But the school board, principal "circled the wagons' so well that it has been a frustrating school year. I feel so sorry for the victim and his parents who went to great lengths to keep their child safe but it fell on deaf ears.
Posted by bobbi (anonymous) on April 17, 2008 at 12:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Would be happy to talk with any of you who know the circumstances that provoked the executive session so we can look into the situation. Also would be happy to talk to the parents who believe their child, as the victim, has been overlooked.
Board meetings are open to the public. Though the executive session was closed for the privacy of the student(s) involved (Kansas statute allows this), the meeting was open for anyone to attend, both before and after, when the board announced its decision.
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