At least four Scranton School Board members revolt against new board president

Dec. 12--Scranton School Board's new president may have a revolt on her hands.

On Tuesday, Kathleen McGuigan proposed funneling board communication with district employees through Superintendent William King among organizational chart changes she said would prevent micromanagement and restore professionalism to the board.

But on Wednesday, school director Lyn Ruane described the proposal to follow a "chain of command" another way: "dictatorship." She also called a second proposal to consider replacing solicitor John Minora "a witch hunt."

School director Cy Douaihy also railed against Mrs. McGuigan's proposals, asking how they can be "effective directors" without the opportunity to call "the appropriate person in the district" for information.

"If this is a new era of leadership on the board, then we've got problems," he said. "And if this is a breath of fresh air, off of what landfill?"

The pair on Wednesday joined fellow dissenting school directors Bob Sheridan and Robert Casey plus at least 130 district union members at Isaac Tripp Elementary School, the site of a budget committee meeting and a special meeting Mrs. McGuigan had canceled hours before.

The group tried to get a quorum to meet anyway but did not have a fifth director.

Late Wednesday, Mrs. McGuigan called the ensuing discussion, during which the directors read the resolutions and slammed her proposals, "an illegal meeting."

The four directors at Isaac Tripp said Mrs. McGuigan needed five votes to cancel the meeting. Mrs. McGuigan said the board president can cancel committee and special meetings.

Mrs. Ruan claimed Mrs. McGuigan cancelled the meeting at the last minute when she didn't have enough votes to approve the proposals. The group of directors expressed confidence they had a fifth vote against the changes.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sheridan said the school board should have formally met because "we have an $8 million deficit to deal with" and only until the end of the month to solve it.

Mrs. McGuigan later responded she does not know if she has the votes, and the proper place for that conversation is in public session at a board meeting.

She agreed the deficit is pressing and said she cancelled the meeting because directors Jason Shrive and Carol Oleski were sick. Mrs. McGuigan added Mr. Douaihy and Ms. Ruane initially indicated scheduling conflicts, and she knew Mr. Casey was in the midst of college final exams.

Rosemary Boland, president of the teachers union, called cancelling the meeting disrespectful to people whose livelihoods depend on how the district handles the deficit.

Of the resolutions, Mrs. McGuigan said her goal is not to prevent communication but for board members to behave consistently with other policy-making bodies and school boards.

As an example of micromanagement, she cited Mr. Sheridan climbing on the roof of John G. Whittier Elementary Schoolto investigate a problem rather than relying on the district director of buildings and grounds, architect and engineer.

"I think that's out of line," Mrs. McGuigan said. "What if he fell off the roof? Who's on the hook to pay for that? I'll tell you who: the taxpayers of the Scranton School District."

Mr. Sheridan said he was the board's buildings and grounds committee chairman at the time, and "there's nothing wrong with being hands on" to help solve a problem. He said he brought pictures back to the board for a group decision and did not see his approach as micromanagement.

The four dissenting directors cited several examples of situations they said Mr. King did not communicate to the school board in a timely manner as arguments against the organizational change. Those ranged about $800,000 in pending special education settlements about two years ago to learning about mold at William Prescott Elementary School more than six months after the district received a report.

Mr. King did not return late messages seeking comment.

The solicitor said that, over his last two years, special education lawsuit frequency fell from at least four per month to four per year. In the same time frame, the district has switched to a self-insured health care plan and kept premiums flat for three years. He also has kept labor peace with district unions and saved the district substantial sums of money in tax lien transactions.

In all, Mr. Minora said the moves saved the district about $6 million over three years, steps the directors who met at Tripp Wednesday said saved programs and staff while keeping taxes in check.

Mrs. McGuigan said the flip side of less special education lawsuits is that the district provides services that are not required by law. She said one result has been the proliferation of special education vans from 14 to 44 over the last two years and a transportation budget that with an approximately $600,000 overrun.

Mrs. McGuigan said the health insurance switch was a team effort, and Mr. Minora cannot claim sole credit. She also expressed concern about the attorney conducting union negotiations without the rest of the administrative team.

Mrs. McGuigan said conducting a request for proposals would not necessarily mean the district would get a new solicitor, and it would just be a basic effort to make sure the district gets the most for its money.

The board will hold a budget hearing on Monday at 7 p.m. at the Administration Building, 425 N. Washington Ave. A meeting to pass the 2014 budget will likely happen Dec. 23.

Contact the writer: [email protected], @kwindTT on Twitter; [email protected], @hofiushallTT on Twitter

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