MCCSC board settles superintendent legality issue

In the wake of former Monroe County Community School Corporation Superintendent John Coopman’s retirement, the search for a new leader has been complicated by legalities.

After Coopman announced his retirement on Nov. 9, a group of 22 MCCSC administrators proposed a collaborative leadership team instead of a sole superintendent.

The MCCSC school board agreed to consider the proposal.

“It’s an idea that certainly we will discuss,” current board President Jeannine Butler said at a public work session on Nov. 30. “It’s an idea that I think has merit, and I don’t know where it will go.”

Butler said the idea, as well as other possible solutions for an interim superintendent, would be discussed in a private executive session on Dec. 7 and announced to the public at the regular board meeting on Dec. 14.

And by Dec. 14, the school board had come to a consensus: it had rejected the collaborative leadership proposal and instead appointed Tim Hyland to be interim superintendent.

However, the board’s decision did not stand.

The legality of the Dec. 7 meeting did not sit well with Eric Knox, a professor of biology at IU and a father of two children enrolled in MCCSC schools.

Knox said he tried to contact the school board with his concerns prior to the Dec. 7 session, but, after receiving no reply, chose to file a formal complaint with the Indiana Public Access Counselor.

According to the Indiana Open Door Law, public officials are allowed to hold executive sessions under 13 circumstances.

The MCCSC board posted a notice that the board would be meeting for an executive session and cited a section of the law that limits sessions to receiving information about and interviewing prospective employees. Later in the same memo, the board stated that the session was to discuss personnel matters.

“The revised proposal from the Instructional Leadership Team has not been released to the public,” Knox wrote in his formal complaint. “But even if this proposal had been released, it cannot be discussed in tonight’s Executive Session because it involves changes in policies and procedures that are not covered by the legal reference.”

Andrew Kossack, Public Access Counselor, agreed that the MCCSC had failed to comply with the Open Door Law by citing the wrong provision on its notice.
 
The school board admitted it had made a mistake on the notice for the executive session, but Butler said the complaint was unnecessary.

“Having to pay our legal fees and your legal fess is unfortunate and could have been avoided,” Butler said in a public statement addressed to Knox. “These are dollars that could have been better spent serving our school district.”

To avoid more legal complaints, the school board agreed to redo its consideration regarding the interim superintendent in accordance with the Open Door Law.

On Jan. 7, the board once again rejected the collaborative leadership proposal and once again appointed Tim Hyland as interim superintendent.

Until the MCCSC finds a permanent superintendent, Hyland will be paid a daily salary of $650 but will not receive any benefits such as insurance or retirement.
 
Knox said he is worried about the way the school board has been proceeding with business but that transparency is the bigger issue, especially after the referendum.

“The issue I’ve raised is ‘look, you have to be honest and forthcoming with us because the community volunteered you their money,’” Knox said.

Now, the board is hoping to move forward with its search for a permanent superintendent.

The board will have four “community coffees” to hear input on the qualities the public is seeking in a new superintendent.

The first forum will take place today at 12:15 p.m. in the Jackson Creek Middle School cafeteria.