August 22, 2013 Special Meeting

As always, these are my opinions only, and not the opinions of the Pendleton County School Board or any other individual board members.

Upon the advisement of Pendleton County Board Attorney Don Ruberg, our board needed to revote on past business.  I don’t know if there is a legal precedence for this in any other districts. 

 I voted against our Superintendent R. Anthony Strong’s contract that will go into effect this coming July 2014 for many reasons.  First, his pay and compensation package would be a statistical outlier compared to districts of comparable student and budget size.  Secondly, I greatly believe in the democratic process, and when someone doesn’t believe and honor those same fundamental principles, I struggle with keeping that person in a position of leadership.

I also voted against paying for Mr. Strong’s doctoral degree.  As a board member, it is extremely important that I be fair to all the employees in the district.  Our teachers have to obtain a mandatory Master’s degree by their 10^th year of teaching.  We do not pay for teachers to obtain their Master’s degree.  Therefore, why are we paying for our Superintendent to get his doctorate degree, which is not necessary for his job?  If Mr. Anthony Strong’s skillset requires that we need to pay a higher than normal salary to retain his caliber of talent, why would we also pay for him to get his doctorate degree.  I couldn’t justify having it both ways.  The assumption is that he already has the skills necessary to do his job.  If our board wanted to be fair to all employees in the district, a more appropriate way to do this would be to offer a scholarship and allow everyone in our district to apply for it.    In Fort Thomas Schools, a small scholarship is awarded every year.