Public commenter raises questions on MOA tuition reimbursement, senior fundraising and grant spending

A member of the public, Jerry Lee Snorville, used the Oct. 21 public-comment period to press the board on several fiscal and personnel issues, asking why the district had approved tuition reimbursement in a memoranda of agreement (MOA) that he said appeared to benefit a single employee, questioned the logic of using sweatshirt sales to offset senior-ball costs and asked about an unused $100,000 grant earmarked for PACE students.

Lee said the MOA (released Oct. 9 when requested) appears to provide tuition reimbursement for graduate coursework for an employee identified in the MOA as employee number 5520. He asked whether the master's degree was a job requirement for the executive-assistant position approved at the Oct. 7 meeting and questioned whether the district should hire an applicant who already holds the degree rather than pay tuition. Lee described the reimbursement as taxpayer-funded and questioned the equity of that decision.

Assistant Superintendent Ken Silver replied that the newly posted executive-assistant position (from a Putnam County job description) is advertised with a salary range of $81,000 to $91,000. He said the position was posted internally, that two of four applicants had been interviewed and that a recommendation to the board may or may not be made at the next meeting.

On the senior-sweatshirt fundraising question, district staff clarified that the sales are a student fundraising activity to offset senior-ball ticket costs rather than a donation to an outside entity. "Not so much a donation. It's we're allowing the senior class to fundraise using sweatshirts so they can make money to offset the ticket price of the ball," a district staff member said. The paperwork in the agenda packet lists production cost for the sweatshirt as $25.77 and sale price examples were discussed in the meeting.

Regarding a $100,000 grant mentioned in the minutes, Trustee Curzio said that the grant was provided by an individual named Pete Harkman and that it is intended to benefit PACE students at a single elementary school; the funds had not yet been expended.

Lee also raised concerns about personnel transparency, noting a teacher he said had been disciplined and whose public records were limited. Board members responded that state law and employee privacy can limit public disclosure of personnel files. Lee urged greater fiscal accountability and said he would continue to follow up.

The board did not take action on any of the public-comment items at this meeting but asked staff to follow up on personnel and MOA questions and to share details about vacancies and hiring timelines where appropriate.