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Parents, union members press Evergreen board on alleged undisclosed supplemental contracts and audit delay
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Summary
Several public commenters, including former district payroll staff and union representatives, told the Evergreen School District board the State Auditor's Office will delay release of the district's accountability audit while it examines supplemental contracts; commenters urged transparency and asked the board to hold administrators accountable.
Rebecca Goldman, a parent of a preschool student, warned that the board's proposed revisions to Policy 14.40 would reduce accessibility for disabled and multilingual community members by eliminating video recordings and automated captions and would increase staff work to fulfill records requests.
"Please don't create more work for our overburden admin staff with this absurd policy, and please provide better accessibility for our disabled and multilingual community members," Goldman said during public comment.
Former payroll employee Danny Stephenson told the board he lost his job after enforcing internal controls and said the Washington State Auditor's Office notified the district that this year's accountability audit likely will not be complete until mid-May. Stephenson said the auditor did not consider supplemental contracts dated Sept. 4, 2023, in last year's audit and urged the board to hold the responsible administrator accountable.
"This falls at the feet of the superintendent, and as a result, the board should request her resignation," Stephenson said.
Camille Lohman, a parent and volunteer, cited state public-records and transparency statutes and argued the board should focus on accountability rather than tightening public-comment procedures. Lohman specifically referenced RCW 28A.150.230 and RCW 42.56.030 in urging the board to keep meetings accessible and to follow open-government obligations.
Angie Bunda, another parent, criticized the board for allowing an outside attorney who is the subject of public comment to draft revisions to public-comment policy, calling that appearance of conflict inappropriate. Adam Aguilera, speaking for the Evergreen Education Association, thanked the board for restoring closed captioning and repeated public concerns that district managers did not disclose the supplemental contracts earlier to auditors.
Kendall Timan, also representing the union, said the state auditor's office is re-examining internal controls related to the Sept. 4, 2023 supplemental contracts and asked the board to correct public statements previously made about the auditor's review.
The public-comment period closed with repeated calls for transparency and for the district to correct the public record; the board did not take immediate disciplinary action during the meeting.
