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Sunday, January 25, 2015

Letter To The Editor

To the Editor:

I attended the Rich County School Board meeting last week Wednesday (1/21/2015).   I learned a lot.  Although this was a good experience for me and I wish I was more involved in the school board prior to this point in time, I am not happy to say it was a good experience. 

One of the first things to happen at the meeting was the newly elected school board member were sworn into their positions by the secretary.  The new members were Mr. Bryce Huefner, Mr. Monte Weston and Mr. Eric Wamsley.  Three out of the five board members are new, which indicates to me that the Rich County electorate wanted some new ideas and new representation on this board.

One topic of discussion at this school board meeting was the compensation received by the board members.  I asked openly was exactly that compensation was.  This question was answered by the secretary, and now I want to share this with the public.  Although this compensation may have been public knowledge before, I highly doubt the vast majority of Rich County residents (including myself) had any idea of what that is.  

Rich County school board members each make:

$250 per month +
$60 per board meeting +
$0.45 per mile (for travel reimbursement) +
$12,000 - $18,000 per year for health insurance benefits

This comes out to $3,000 + $720 cash + health insurance.  To make it simple that roughly comes out to $20,000+ per year per board member!   I served on several board appointments in my life and I would estimate I spent an honest 8-10 hours per month working on board-related work outside of regularly scheduled meetings.  With that level of involvement our school board members are making in between $167-$208 per hour!   That amount of compensation is simply not acceptable to me.  That is comparable to what lawyers and doctors are making!  Is this what we want in Rich County? 

While I thought the monthly fee, meeting attendance fee, and travel reimbursement were acceptable, I was absolutely shocked to learn that school board members received any type health insurance.  I asked the question of WHY and HOW school board members received health insurance benefits. This is where the meeting really became interesting.  Instead of a board member answering the question, Dale Lamborn (school superintendent) immediately spoke up and indicated that State Statute says they can have compensation.

 John Spulher, mayor of Garden City, who was in attendance at the meeting, asked if the health benefits were mandated by State Statute, or simply allowed for the board members.  Again, I found it rather odd that the superintendent answered that question and indicated it was only “provided by Statute and not required”.   I then asked the board WHO decided that Rich County School Board members should receive Health Insurance benefits?  After some discussion and no clear answers, as far as I could decipher, it was indeed the school board themselves!  Granted this health insurance was not granted by the currently standing school board to themselves, but the tone of the meeting turned very defensive even at the asking of these questions. 

Two of the most shocking (and disappointing) things were then said.  President of the board, Pete Cornia, indicated that in the last 32 years that only 3 people have run for school board in his district and without offering monetary compensation and health insurance benefits no one would even be interested in running for the position.  I indicated that his statement was his opinion.   Does that sound like a statement a school board president should ever make?  Should not wanting to serve the students of Rich County be a priority?  I sure as heck think it should!    If no one in Mr. Cornia’s district wants to run for school board unless there is pay and health insurance benefits offered, I’m sure we could find someone in other parts of the county to represent Mr. Cornia’s district for a lot less!

Secondly, Eric Wamsley, newly elected board member from Laketown indicated that “I’m a small business owner”.  Mayor Spulher asked out-loud what that had to do with anything pertinent to the current discussion?  Mr. Wamsley then answered saying as a small business owner he pays thousands of dollars in taxes and does not feel guilty of taking the compensation or health insurance either.  Again, I ask you…..does that sound like a statement a NEWLY-ELECTED school board should make?  Should not wanting to serve the students of Rich County be a priority?  I sure as heck think it should! 

Finally, Rich Larsen, Principal of Rich High School, said he thinks the compensation for the board was fine since he equated the members of the board to Chief Executive Officers (CEO’s) of a multi, multi, million-dollar enterprise.   This is a person in a position who directly benefits from decisions made by the school board and was openly campaigning for them at a public meeting.  Maybe I was reading too much into his statement, but it sure appeared to me of a: “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”-type of opinion, and not appropriate for school official to comment on, especially when they board sets the principal’s salary.

Immediately after the discussion ended, Mr. Huefner made a motion to eliminate all compensation to school board members. Not one person on the board seconded the motion and therefore no one on the board had to “vote” to show whether they wanted to keep or eliminate benefits for board members.  I do have to give kudos to Mr. Huefner for making the motion and brining up this topic on the agenda.

What was interesting was that the 4 other board members (other than Mr. Huefner) pointed out no one on the board is forced to take their compensation and benefits and could turn them back to the school.  That is a most honorable point, but none of these members (with the possible exception of Mr. Weston who said he hasn’t yet decided if he will take the benefits) were willing to give up their benefits in lieu of saving the Rich School District over $100,000 per year!    

In summary and in my opinion, paying our Rich County School board members close to $200 per hour in compensation is ridiculous.  Perhaps years ago when health insurance was not astronomically costly, and the School Board voted to give themselves a fully-funded health care plan, it may have not been a big deal.  However, the fact is health insurance is something the School District should not be paying to  school board members that only meet once per month and are already compensated by a salary/stipend.   As far as I can see, the only way this situation will ever change is to elect people to the school board who will actually vote to eliminate their health insurance benefits and use the money saved by hiring additional teachers or provide better materials for the children of our county. 

Fortunately, we do have a bunch of great teachers in our Rich County school system and I am happy that both of my daughters had the opportunity to attend and graduate from school in Rich County.   With that said, I am in a position now where I can speak out freely about what some perceive as inadequacies and questionable practices in the school system.  Unfortunately, I feel I could not speak out about these sooner, while my children were attending the school for fear of reprisals against them.   The sad part is that many other parents who still have kids in our school system feel the same way.  


Finally, for comparison the Mayor of Garden City makes:

$520 per month + mileage
NO HEALTH BENEFITS
A total compensation of $6,240 per year

Rest assured the Garden City mayor puts in significantly more hours each month and attends more meetings (uncompensated for meetings)  than any board member (planning & zoning board, variance board, or school board) does.

Scott Tolentino,
Garden City, UT

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