Local residents look for answers from the Glenwood City School Board but find none
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GLENWOOD CITY superintendent Patrick Olson read a prepared statement at the January 22 Glenwood City Board of Education meeting concerning an ongoing investigation into former superintendent Tim Johnson. Because it is an ongoing investigation, Olson said the district would not publicly release any information or comment on the matter at this time. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
By Renee Bettendorf
GLENWOOD CITY- About 40 people attended the Glenwood City School Board meeting including a Fox 9 news photojournalist on Monday evening. The large turnout was in response to a news article published by Fox on January 17 that implicated former District Administrator, Tim Johnson of improperly billing the district for thousands of dollars in continuing education classes.
After Board President, Dr. Lisa Kaiser called the meeting to order, which was held in the commons area instead of the boardroom due to the large number of attendees, the board immediately adjourned into closed session and retired to the boardroom.
According to the agenda, the reason for the closed session was for “considering financial, medical, social or personal histories or disciplinary data of specific personnel problems or the investigation of charges against specific persons”.
After nearly an hour, the board returned to the commons and reconvended into open session and Dr. Kaiser reported that no action was taken. Since they did not take any action, no information from the closed session was given.
District Administrator, Patrick Olson, read a statement that stated that the district is aware of a recent news article regarding the former district administrator and that the district is not able to comment further on this matter at this time.
“We would like to assure the Glenwood City community that we are taking these issues seriously,” read Olson.
The statement went on to say that the board appreciated the community’s patience and promised to provide more information when they were able. It also stated that the staff will continue to support students and continue to focus on the educational process.
“The Glenwood City School District is cooperating with all outside investigating authorities at this time,” concluded Olson.
After Olson read the statement, Dr. Kaiser asked if anyone attending the meeting had any comments. She read the board’s policy regarding public comments. The policy states that commenting is only open to district residents, is limited to three minutes and that the board does not answer questions during community comments.
Even so, folks asked questions.
Matt Schutz, district resident and Middle School Language Arts and Math Teacher, asked “how would you have reacted if one of your school employees had done the records request and brought these same findings to you? Would we have been dismissed and treated the same way?”
Schutz stated that he thinks Amy Dopkins and Nicole Miller were treated unfairly by some of the board members after they submitted record requests regarding Johnson’s continuing education receipts.
“I can’t imagine how our previous superintendent would have reacted considering how he treated past employees in this district over his time here,” said Schutz as fellow meeting attendees applauded.
Lisa Heller, accountant and district resident, asked the board what changes would be made to the district’s accounting practices going forward. She said no one should be submitting and approving payments to themselves.
“That should have never happened,” said Heller. “So what are we doing to stop this from ever happening again and stealing from our kids?”.
Olson reminded the audience that the board does not answer questions during public comments.
“It’s not a two way communication,” said Olson. “Comments are welcome, but there’s not going to be a response.”
Jeremy Hawkins, district resident, asked the board who was handling the investigation. He went on to say that he didn’t think St. Croix County should be handling it because, according to Hawkins, one of the board members is an employee of the county.
Amy Dopkins, district resident and one of the individuals who started asking questions about Johnson’s continuing education records, wanted to know more about the districts’ cooperation with the authorities.
“I would like to question what they are looking into,” she said.
She wants to know if Johnson ever took college courses, if he committed forgery on his receipts and if a forensic audit is being done.
“It would be nice to know as community members what is being investigated,” she said.
After Dopkins spoke the board moved on to the rest of their agenda.
The Rest of the Agenda
In his report to the board Olson said that the facilities summary, a 27 page document that details various maintenance projects in the district, was recently updated. The summary, which can be found on the district’s website, includes progress on repairs to the damage caused by the July 19 storm.
Olson also told the board that after receiving feedback from the staff, he’s proposing some significant changes in the school calendar.
“These are major changes that we are recommending,” he said.
For one they would like to start the school day 35 minutes earlier. Currently, the district starts classes at 8:20 a.m. and ends the day at 3:30 p.m. According to Olson, they have one of the latest school dismissal times. Which causes students involved in extracurriculars to miss more class in order to participate in sports or other events.
Another idea they are proposing is to schedule a full day for professional learning for teachers, this would give students an extra three day weekend. Start and end dates would be September 2 and May 29 respectively for the 2024/2025 school year.
Olson said they are still working out some details and will bring a draft of the 2024/2025 calendar to the February meeting.
Director of Student Services, Erin Spaeth, reported on a training that 14 staff members attended about de-escalation strategies, a cold weather activity day that was held for students on January 15 and child development day.
Elementary Principal, Betsy Haltinner, updated the board on an upcoming family fun night that will be held on February 15, library updates and academic assessments.
Middle/High School Principal, Marcy Burch, also updated the board on academic assessments and library improvements. And spoke about WIN time which stands for What I Need, an intervention/study hall held daily where students are grouped together based on skill level.
In other business, the Glenwood City School Board:
-Learned from Haltinner that $2,344.10 was raised and donated to WestCap during penny wars.
-Was thanked by student Savanna Millermon for the districts’ support after the death of her father.
-Heard from Dr. Kaiser, Burch and Board Member Chuck Draxler about the School Board Convention that they recently attended.
-Voted to allow all senior citizens who are 65 years or older to attend school sporting events for free.
-Approved a retirement request from Cindy Cuturia, who has worked for the district for 28 years.
-Drew lots for ballot order for the April election. The order will be: Chuck Draxler, Jodi Main, Tony Mielzarek.
