The restructuring of personnel at the top of the St Joseph School District continues, as the district seeks to fill the opening left by Steve Huff, the now-retired assistant to the superintendent. A help-wanted ad was posted on the district’s Web site last week to fill the newly created position of communications director.
That was a large part of Mr Huff’s job and may be one of the most difficult tasks in St Joseph in the year ahead.
The district and many of its top staff face a whistle-blower lawsuit, filed by former Chief Financial Office Beau Musser. Musser claims in the lawsuit that on his second day of work he received some surprising news.
In the lawsuit, Musser says an internal audit report outlined some very controversial and possibly illegal financial dealings within the district. He says he was fired for bringing those dealings to light.
Topping the list of irregularities was a quarter million dollars in stipends paid to top administrators without school-board approval. After the details of the stipends went public, administration officials brought a number of them to the board’s attention for approval. Superintendent Dr. Fred Czerwonka has said he withheld details of the stipends from the full board at the urging of school board member Dr. Dan Colgan, himself a former superintendent in St Joseph, and former president of the school board.
In their response to the lawsuit, the school district and four individual defendants denied that Musser was placed on administrative leave because of his investigation into the stipends. In court documents, they deny that Musser was threatened with sexual-harassment charges if he didn’t accept a separation agreement, as he claims in the lawsuit. But the filing does go on to make sexual harassment allegations against Musser. It also asserts that the exchange over the separation agreement was part of a privileged settlement conversation, and thus was confidential.
There is also a possible Sunshine Law investigation pending. And an ongoing investigation by the Missouri State Auditor’s Office. Auditors have been going through the district’s operations with a fine-toothed comb for months.
There are also ongoing criminal investigations by the FBI and a U.S. grand jury. The school district announced the grand-jury subpoena in May.
There are lingering complaints about insider-treatment for some outside contractors, and special treatment for special people, namely the relatives of staff and school-board members.
They must also plan the campaign for renewal of the district’s 63-cent operating levy, which will be presented to voters next spring.
The other half of Mr Huff’s job will be filled by Dr. Jake Long, who has been designated deputy superintendent. Long will oversee human resources, the business and finance office, and the district’s continuous-improvement effort. He will also oversee the new communications manager.
Superintendent Dr. Fred Czerwonka reorganized top staff last spring. In March, Dr. Czerwonka proposed reducing the number of people reporting directly to him from eight to four. At the time of the announcement, those four were Dr Long, Chief Operating Officer Rick Hartigan, and two chief academic officers, Brian Shindorf and Dr. Jaime Dial. Dr. Dial and her husband Mike Dial have since resigned their positions in the school district.
As you can see, the person eventually hired as communications director will have a full plate from day one. If you’d like to apply, click here.