Answer to a question

After Monday evening's meeting, I went home & searched the minutes from July 2008 - July 2009. I wasn't able to find where Elena Wilson had been voted on for the Assistant Principal position. I e-mailed Mr. Norris, who followed up with Dr. Newcome. Below is Dr. Newcome's response:

What I was able to reconstruct:

During the March 9, 2009 budget discussion a slide (Slide 14) from a power point presentation by Dan Carsley with the following text was presented and discussed:

LITERACY COORDINATOR REMOVED FROM BUDGET
This position was grant funded. We do not expect to see an increase in the grant funds so we are eliminating this position in order to assure we have the funds to pay for increases in salary and benefits for the teaching positions funded by the grant.
Ms. Elena Wilson served in this position and we have transferred her to the open position of Assistant Principal for Grades 5 through 8 in the Intermediate and Middle Schools.
If we have enough money in the grant we will be asking the Board to allow us to hire a halftime Dean of Students for OIS and place Ms. Wilson in the OMS as Assistant Principal half time and have her serve as Literacy Coordinator for the secondary half time.
This item does not affect the General fund.

This would never have been an action item since it was a transfer from one administrative position to another. However, it would be an information item and it appears I neglected to get this on an agenda as an information item. I apologize for that mistake – I would have sworn it was done. But it was not that we were trying to keep secrets from the public as evidenced by the forthright manner it was presented in the budget presentation. Elena’s salary was approved by the Board with all salaries. The Board was given a copy of administrative salaries in executive session and we had a discussion about them before they went to the public vote. So her new salary was publicly voted on – her transfer was not presented as an official information item – but the Board and the public had the opportunity to get the information.

Brian Dikun was hired using funds generated from alternative education and the half of the funds we secured by paying Elena half of her salary through a grant for literacy coordinator. If we lose the grant funds – we would need to switch funds back to Elena from Brian Dikun. We would either need to cut half his position or fund another half position through the general fund. If we cut half a position – Elena would be shared between OMS and OIS – we would lose the literacy coordinator piece of her position.

Bottom line – Ellen is correct. There is no statement in the minutes from a Board meeting under information items that officially informs the public of the transfer from one administrative position to another.

Bottom line #2 – Elena’s salary and thus her position was Board approved.

Hope this helps – I will speak to it on Monday at the meeting.

Tom N.


I thank them both for their quick response (much quicker than I at posting it).

I am still trying to figure out how "literacy coordinator" is an administrative position.... does that mean that all of the "literacy coordinators" in the district are administrative positions?