Front page news from the Rapid City Journal indicates the Rapid City Board of Education has placed limitations on the School Superintendent's authority. It appears to me that these restrictions are sensible application of South Dakota laws and regulations that should actually apply to ALL SD school superintendents. Too often it seems that Board of Education members forget that they are to manage the Superintendent rather than the superintendent manage the BOE. All BOE members need to remember they represent taxpayers and school children best by following SD law and prioritizing real education and academic achievement rather than Superintendent's wishes, opinions, and self-aggrandizement schemes.
Below is some text from the RC Journal Story:
In recent months, the public and school board members became increasingly critical of Mitchell's management. The public chastised him for "mismanaging" the district's finances. At the same time, the School Board questioned his decision-making processes.
According to Mitchell's new one-year contract, the School Board intends to stand by President Jim Hansen's declaration it would be taking a more hands-on approach to school district operations.
Mitchell is required to seek School Board approval before he can do any of the following things:
• Hire, fire, transfer, assign or reassign district personnel.
• Initiate, develop, terminate or substantially amend any educational program or curriculum.
• Enter any agreement or contract exceeding $25,000.
• Travel to any conference, meeting or seminar outside the school district at the district's expense.
Those are all duties he was free to perform in his 2014-2015 contract.
Source: Rapid City Journal June 7, 2015 story by Andrea J. Cook
I tried to find this information on the Rapid City School webpage. There are hundreds of pages there on contract details, vendor payments, school policies, etc. but I could not find any information related to the RC Journal story on the limitations placed on the Superintendent Mitchell.
***Stay tuned for more on education...a never-ending story in South Dakota-- Doug Wiken
I agree! Our School Boards need to be more active and do their job!
Posted by: Conservative | Jun 09, 2015 at 01:29 PM