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Resident tells Tipp City board contracts are 'hidden,' urges transparency and evaluations
Summary
At public comment, resident Kathy Bone accused district leaders of hiding superintendent and treasurer contracts on the agenda, failing to set goals or perform annual evaluations, and alleged deficit spending of about $2.5–$3 million; no board member directly rebutted those specific assertions during the meeting.
During the public-comment portion of the Tipp City Exempted Village School Board meeting, resident Kathy Bone delivered an extended critique of district transparency and personnel oversight.
Bone told the board that the superintendent's and treasurer's employment contracts were "by design, hidden from public scrutiny on the agenda" and said the board had not required goals or annual evaluations for those two employees as board policy requires. She asserted the district had engaged in deficit spending "of 2 and a half to $3,000,000" and raised concerns about questionable elements in past projects, contract use and FOIA responsiveness.
The transcript contains the following representative passages from Bone: "Tonight's agenda includes 2 employment contracts, the superintendents and the treasurers, which both run through July ... These contracts are by design, hidden from public scrutiny on the agenda" and later, "somehow under his guidance since 2023, we went into deficit spending of 2 and a half to $3,000,000." The board did not record an on-the-spot rebuttal to Bone's assertions in the transcript; later in the meeting the board moved to approve the superintendent's contract and tabled the treasurer's contract to a special meeting on Nov. 25, 2025.
Board members and staff who spoke in other agenda items provided routine procedural and financial reports during the meeting; the treasurer presented the October financial reconciliation and noted investment limits under state law and an arbitrage calculation to be completed by bond counsel. Those financial remarks in the treasurer's report do not appear in the transcript to directly confirm or deny the specific deficit figure Bone cited.
Bone's comments are recorded as public testimony in the meeting transcript. Verification of her assertions about missing goals, annual evaluations and the deficit level would require review of board minutes, personnel files, contract language and district financial statements and audits.
