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Friday, May 9, 2008

From the Mailbag

I received this email today and thought I would share it with you.

Thank you for the compliment. I do try to be fair.

What do you think about this?

Hello,

I read and enjoy your blog every day.It is very informative and you seem to be even handed about issues that affect our children's education.

Recently I saw a job posting in my daughter's school, Grandview Elementary. The job entails "taking minutes at school board meeting once or twice a month".

I was under the impression that this was Ms. Mihok's job,for which she receives a stipend.

This does not sound(to me)to be a very good use of our tax money.If you get a chance, please look into this and "put it out there", because I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere. Thanks for your time and effort on behalf of our children, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't use my name.

Morrisville Parent
Posted by Save The School at 9:55 AM

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

To be honest, there is a difference between "Secretary to the Board" and "Board Secretary". The "Board Secretary" has not, traditionally, been a recording secretary. That job falls to a paid "Secretary to the Board" (at one time, faithfully held by Jeanne Corrigan).

However, the "Board Secretary" is responsible for bringing the minutes to the board for approval, for signing board correspondence and as a signatory on certain documents.

In the past, to my recollection, the stipend was donated to some scholarship or other. However the board always allotted funding for a "Secretary to the Board" for attending meetings and taking minutes and preparing them for board approval.

Some research may be in order to determine what Ms. Corrigan's standing is with regard to taking minutes.

May 9, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Jon said...

The board voted 4-2 at the Feb. 27th mtg. to pay an outside person(not Jeanne or Marlys) to prepare meeting notes. Hellmann & Worob were the nays. Ironically, Marlys (and Al & Gloria) were absent. I seem to remember the board discussing costs on the order of $100 per set of minutes (6 hrs. @ $17/hr = $102, or something like that) - at least before the vote. Anybody know if actual costs have been in line with this?

As Solicitor Kelly explained at the time, there is no specific time limit for the board to produce meeting minutes, but the State can penalize the board/district for not making them available to the public in a timely manner. Personally, I wouldn't have voted to hire someone until Board Secretary Marlys explained in public the reasons (excuses?) for the hold-up.

If Marlys is keeping her stipend, I find it ironic that:

1. An extra hiring had to be made in a cash-strapped district to fulfill her minute-producing responsibilities;
2. She publicly busted on Donna Wilson being paid $1,000 to coach the drill team, while incorrectly claiming that 2 of the 4 drill team members were Mrs. Wilson's daughters.

May 9, 2008 at 1:33 PM

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