Tolentino Named Garden City's Ad Hoc Rep On School Board

Chris S. Coray, Reporter

Rich Civic Times 

RANDOLPH, Utah.   June 16, 2015.  The Rich School District Board held its regular monthly meeting  in Randolph.   All board members were present, as were Mayor John Spuhler of Garden City, School Superintendent Dale Lamborn,  Rick Larsen, Rich High School Principal, and Kip Motta, Rich Middle School Principal.

The first item of business was the board’s acknowledgment that Mayor Spuhler has the right to appoint a designee who will be allowed to attend and participate in all open board meetings.  The legislature changed the wording in the state law this year from "may appoint" to "shall appoint", after the Rich School Board declined to allow cities to appoint ad hoc board members to sit in on board meetings. 

Mayor Spuhler appointed Scott Tolentino as his designee.  Spuhler said that Tolentino would serve until the second board member from Garden City was elected in the proposed restructuring  and that would make Tolentino aware of what was going on and able to participate in the discussion.

Other municipalities have the same right to appoint designees.  These are not voting members but are fully equal for purposes of board discussions.  The board may construct an arrangement whereby these appointed designees may attend closed sessions of the board.

Richard Clark, School Administrator, who is filling in for  Brandee Johnson, who resigned her post last month, made a report on the budget.  For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015, expenditures exceed revenues by $210,053, which is a result of capital improvements resulting in a decrease in the total fund balance.  For the school year 2015-2016, the estimated revenues are approximately $100,000 less than estimated expenditures, also resulting in a likely decrease in total fund balance for the next year.

The board approved an increase in pay for assistant coaches at the high school level and extra compensation for coaches who attend end-of-year events like the state basketball tournament.

In an item without a lot of consequence but provoking considerable emotion, Superintendent Lamborn announced that the School Trust Lands Authority reclaimed $620 in distributed funds, indicating that their reason was that the money must be used for an academic subject and rejected its use for  basketball equipment.  The State Trust Lands Authority argues that  equipment  for physical education use, like basketball  equipment, was not academic, even though Rich School District strongly believes that physical education is an academic subject.