GC school district resident still waiting for answers regarding $40,650 paid to former superintendent
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TIM JOHNSON
By LeAnn R. Ralph
GLENWOOD CITY — After three years, one resident of the Glenwood City school district is still waiting for answers about whether a former school superintendent actually took the classes for which he was reimbursed $40,650.
Amy Dopkins of Glenwood City said she has presented the information she received from open records requests to the Glenwood City Board of Education three times concerning classes taken at Viterbo University in La Crosse by former school superintendent Tim Johnson and reimbursements the school district made to Johnson of $40,650.
Johnson tendered his resignation as the school superintendent in May of 2023.
Dopkins has questioned the reimbursements because the receipts Johnson provided to the school district that he said were from Viterbo do not look like the receipts for payments to Viterbo that Dopkins obtained from another teacher in the school district who took Viterbo classes at the same time as Johnson.
Dopkins provided a stack of records to the Tribune Press Reporter, many of which she had obtained through open records requests from Tim Johnson, as well as other information and records she had obtained through open records requests.
A Viterbo official said the receipt Johnson had submitted to the Glenwood City school district that he had said was from Viterbo, did not originate at Viterbo, Dopkins said.
An e-mail message from the Viterbo business office dated April 7, 2022, confirms that Dopkins was told the documents did not originate from Viterbo.
Newspaper request
The Tribune Press Reporter sent an open records request to Patrick Olson, the current superintendent of the Glenwood City school district, on January 18 for information on payments made to Tim Johnson as well as letters Olson had reportedly sent to Johnson on December 6 and January 1.
The newspaper received a reply that the records could not be provided because the matter is “part of a pending investigation.”
The following reply was received from the Glenwood City school superintendent on January 18 at 2:28 p.m., “At the current time, the School District of Glenwood City is unable to produce the requested information as it is currently classified as private due to the fact that it is a part of a pending investigation pursuant to Wis. Stat. 19.36 (10)(b).”
The Tribune Press Reporter asked for the two letters because of a news story published by Fox 9 KSMP on January 17.
Fox 9 reported that the December 6 letter had asked Johnson “to sign a consent form under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) that would allow the school district to obtain a transcript from Viterbo University.”
The purpose for the Glenwood City school district asking for the transcripts was to corroborate that Johnson had actually taken the classes and was entitled to receive public funds to reimburse him for the classes, according to the Fox 9 report on the December 6 letter.
Fox 9 reported that the January 1 letter had stated if Johnson did not sign the consent form and return it to the school district by January 12, that the issue could be turned over “to outside investigators.”
Shawn DeWitt of the Tribune Press Reporter said he had talked to Glenwood City Police Chief Joel Klatt on Friday, January 19, and that the police chief had confirmed the matter is under investigation.
Chippewa Falls
The Tribune Press Reporter sent an open records request by e-mail on January 18 to the Chippewa Falls school district, where Tim Johnson is now employed, asking for Johnson’s resume or any other application materials that he had provided to the Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District.
The request also asked for the amount that the Chippewa Falls school district is paying Johnson.
The following e-mail response was received January 22 at 8:44 a.m. from Jeffrey Holmes, Chippewa Falls school superintendent: “Thank you for reaching out. Please know that I am in the process of considering your request and will put together the information you’ve requested. However, I must give Mr. Johnson the opportunity to augment the information once I’ve compiled it. Once that occurs, I’ll forward your requested information.”
Staff members at the Tribune Press Reporter are having difficulty understanding why someone would have to “augment,” or in other words, add to or enhance, a resume that had already been used to apply for a particular position.
Salary and benefits
According to information Dopkins had compiled on Tim Johnson’s paychecks and compensation that Johnson had provided in response to open records requests, the school district reimbursed Johnson $40,650 for classes at Viterbo between July 1, 2017, and September 10, 2021.
Readers should be aware that information about payments made to public employees is a matter of open records because taxpayers deserve to know what they have been paying the public employees, which in this case is an employee of a public school district.
The amounts for class reimbursements were $5,625 on August 10, 2017; $3,150 on December 8, 2017; $3,300 on January 25, 2018; $3,700 on December 21, 2018; $3,950 on March 25, 2019; $5,925 on August 23, 2019; $3,950 on November 8, 2019; $5,500 on August 10, 2020; and $5,500 on December 10, 2020.
There were no reimbursements for classes at Viterbo in 2021.
During that same time period, the Glenwood City school district paid nearly $75,000 for Tim Johnson into a 403(b)/tax sheltered annuity account with Thrivent along with $75,000 in “performance stipends” to Tim Johnson and nearly $41,000 paid into the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) for Johnson.
According to state law, the employers of public employees must pay half of the state retirement, and the employee must pay half of the state retirement.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds website, the percentage for employers and employees to each pay into the state retirement account has remained between 6.75 percent and 6.9 percent for the past few years.
Prior to the July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2024, administrator contract with the Glenwood City school district, it appeared that Johnson had automatically received $25,000 per year to go toward continuing education, which apparently was in addition to the reimbursements for classes taken at Viterbo, Dopkins said.
According to the July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2024, administrator contract, instead of a $25,000 automatic payment for continuing education each year, “a payment for the cost of graduate courses successfully completed will be reimbursed with prior approval of the School Board.”
The last contract with Johnson also included “an annual stipend of $25,000 will be paid to the administrator through the normal payroll process.”
The contract also included a $30,000 contribution each contract year to the administrator’s 403(b) plan (tax-sheltered annuity for retirement).
Johnson’s annual base salary, according to information Dopkins provided, was $150,796 in 2021-2022.
Johnson’s total compensation, then, was a little over $205,000, which included the base salary, 403(b) contribution and the $25,000 stipend.
Other districts
The Glenwood City school district had 682 students, according to Dopkins’ information, and compensated the district administrator $205,000 all together according to the latest district administrator contract.
The Elk Mound school district had 1,207 students — nearly twice a many as Glenwood City — and paid the district administrator a base salary of $146,600 in 2021-2022, according to information Dopkins had obtained.
In addition, the Elk Mound school district provided a maximum payment to the superintendent of $1,600 per year for continuing education, and any 403(b) contributions were entirely employee funded.
The total compensation for the Elk Mound superintendent in 2021-2022 was $148,200, if the superintendent had taken a class — or $56,800 less than Glenwood City.
To look at it another way, Glenwood City paid the superintendent about $300 per student, while Elk Mound, with about twice as many students, paid the superintendent about $123 per student.
Readers are reminded that larger school districts, in addition to more students, have more buildings to manage, or have larger buildings, as well as more staff members.
The Mondovi school district, according to Dopkins’ information, had 923 students (241 more students than Glenwood City) and paid a base salary of $132,000 to the superintendent.
Mondovi did not include any money for continuing education and offered $1,000 annually on the employee-funded 403(b) account.
The Mondovi school district paid $133,000 in 2021-2022, or $112,500 less than Glenwood City, with 241 more students than Glenwood City.
The Mondovi school district paid the superintendent $144 per student, compared to Glenwood City’s $300.
The Spring Valley school district had 740 students, according to Dopkins’ information, or 58 more students than Glenwood City, and paid a base salary in 2021-2022 to the superintendent of $140,000.
Spring Valley will reimburse continuing education with prior approval and proof of course completion with at least a grade of “B.”
Spring Valley also would match up to $2,000 annually for the 403(b) retirement account.
All together, Spring Valley paid the superintendent $142,000 in 2021, if the superintendent was not reimbursed for any pre-approved continuing education classes, or $63,000 less than Glenwood City, with 58 more students in Spring Valley.
The Spring Valley school district, then, paid the superintendent $191 per student, compared to Glenwood City’s $300 per student.
What’s next?
Amy Dopkins says she does not know what comes next.
Dopkins says she hopes she does eventually find out whether the former Glenwood City school superintendent actually took and passed the classes for which the taxpayers of the school district paid an additional $40,650.
For right now, Dopkins says she is exhausted and is tired of being denigrated, disparaged and bad-mouthed by some community members.
All she ever wanted to know was whether the taxpayers of the school district received what they had paid for, Dopkins said.
