Fallsnewspress.com - Falls School heads reprimanded after missed deadline

by Ellin Walsh

Reporter

Cuyahoga Falls -- After being reprimanded for the city school district's failure to meet a state filing deadline, Superintendent Dr. Edwin S. Holland outlined a new procedure to the School Board Feb. 6 to ensure it doesn't happen again.

The superintendent and treasurer Kathryn Sines were reprimanded at a closed session of the Board Jan. 29, Board President Barbara Gunter said. Holland reprimanded the assistant superintendent Walter Davis and the education management information systems (EMIS) coordinator Linda McCann in connection with the missed deadline.

The missed deadline could mean the loss of an estimated $289,000 in state revenues to the city school district, according to Holland. Holland said Feb. 6 the district will begin billing other school districts directly Feb. 8 in an attempt to recoup costs as it awaits an answer from the state on its request to process its late filing.

Karla Carruthers, press secretary for the Ohio Department of Education, told the Cuyahoga Falls News-Press Feb. 7, "The request for reconsideration is currently being reviewed; however, ... we have not approved other payments past the established deadline."

In written responses, Sines, Davis and McCann all disputed their reprimands.

Board President's reprimand

"... The Board, the citizens, and the students of this school district rely upon you ... to monitor the activities of subordinates; particularly when those activities involve such a substantial amount of money," Gunter's reprimands to Holland and Sines state "... In this instance, we find your performance to be unacceptable."

"I take full responsibility for the district missing that deadline," Holland told the Cuyahoga Falls News-Press Feb. 7. According to the superintendent, his ongoing investigation into the circumstances surrounding the mistake have revealed "poor communication from ODE officials" regarding the new deadline.

Holland said it was McCann's immediate job as the EMIS coordinator to collect and file the data. McCann has been responsible for submitting the data for the last five or six years, he noted.

"Never in prior years has there been a deadline for submitting excess costs," McCann wrote in a rebuttal to her reprimand. "... I received no notification of this change."

According to McCann, the change in deadline was included in documentation sent to the superintendent and treasurer's office in July, which she did not receive.

McCann's position was placed under the supervision of the assistant superintendent in late summer 2007; it was previously overseen by the treasurer's office.

"... I feel I have been unfairly reprimanded for an action that I did not have supervisory responsibility over," Sines wrote in her response to Gunter's reprimand.

Davis called his reprimand "baseless," saying he told McCann she was to complete the excess cost filing, while also asking to discuss the fact she was performing a task routinely completed by district treasurers.

"Unaware of any deadlines," Davis said, "I continued to seek assistance [from the superintendent] only to be put off each time."

Both McCann and Davis refused to sign their reprimands from the superintendent.

Dissent

Because the reprimand was delivered as an official act of the Board president, Gunter said the matter did not require action by the Board as a whole. The reprimands were drafted by the Board's attorney, G. Frederick Compton Jr. of Akron.

In a dissenting opinion, Board member Kellie Patterson stated, "I feel this reprimand is an attempt to place blame rather than applaud [Holland's and Sines'] efforts to recover district monies and rectify an employee mistake."

"It's our duty and responsibility to the citizens of this community that disciplinary actions of our employees are taken when deemed appropriate by the Board," Gunter stated Jan. 29. " ... The Board's employees have received the appropriate discipline from the Board president. We all regret this occurrence and hope that the actions taken will prevent similar incidents in the future and will continue to build the community's trust that, when warranted, we will respond appropriately and responsibly."

Holland said Feb. 6 his investigation into how district officials missed the deadline was "far from over."

The Feb. 20 Board meeting will be preceded by a 6:30 p.m. work session in the Falls High library, 2300 Fourth St.

E-mail: ewalsh@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-686-3908