March 20, 2014 Board Meeting

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

 

Martha Gosney addressed the board during the audience comments regarding the possible outsourcing of janitorial services.  Ms. Gosney spoke very eloquently in opposition to this effort.  I would be reluctant to ever outsource most jobs in our district.

 

During the board member comments, I responded to our board attorney’s concern about my board oversight role from last month’s meeting.  The following is what I read:

 

“I would like to say how delighted I am that we are going to be addressing the topic of a board member code of ethics tonight.  If we adopt something similar to the state recommended code of conduct, it is unfortunate that this code does not apply to every employee in the district.  I realize that as an elected official, I speak for one fifth of this county, and I am held to a higher standard than those who are not elected.  For the record, I would like to say to any employee who tries to tell me that I shouldn’t question the decisions made by our district leadership that they do not understand the role of a board member. To suggest that I owe them an apology for doing this is shocking.  I was elected by my constituents to do this, and my duty is to them.”

I was pleased that we had our first reading for two new policies – Legal Status of the Board (Student Representative) and Code of Ethical Conduct for Local School Board Members. 

An issue of concern at this meeting was the continued approval of Denise Keene, CPA for our outside annual audit of our district finances.  It is best practice to change auditors every 3 years.  Denise Keene has been our auditor for eleven years which included some “turbulent” financial periods in our district.  In no way am I questioning her proficiency.  I just think it is better to have another fresh set of eyes looking at our books.  In fact, State Auditor Adam Edelen suggested changing audit firms every few years in the same article I mentioned in my last blog from February 20th.  I was the only board member that had this view.  Her services were renewed for another year by a vote of 4-1.