Group brings its school board questions, allegations into the public arena
* Clarifications on the subject matter can be found in italicized print in this article.
It is a topic that has split the Butterfield-Odin Public School (B-OPS) District community. At issue is the relationship of Butterfield-Odin Public School Superintendent Lisa Shellum and the majority four members of the seven-member Butterfield-Odin Public School Board.
On Thursday night, July 16, a group of district residents – under the banner “Save the School District” – held a community meeting in the Butterfield Fire Hall to bring its questions for, and allegations about, that school board majority into the public arena.
Facilitating the meeting were school district residents Brenda Meyer and Karen Hiebert, whose two stepchildren attend Butterfield-Odin Public High School, and Lori Urevig, whose high school-aged daughter is open-enrolled into the district. With complete disclaimer, Hiebert is the daughter of School Board Member Kristy Haseman, Meyer is an aunt to B-OPS Head Custodian Doug Meyer and to his wife, B-OPS Board Member Renae Meyer. and Urevig is the sister of Superintendent Shellum. Urevig stated that Shellum has knowledge of the group and its meetings, but no knowledge of the content of the group’s operations.
Approximately between 40-50 district residents and interested persons attended the meeting, including a videographer from KEYC CBS/FOX in Mankato and a Watonwan County Deputy Sheriff standing at the doorway. The meeting notice and advertising stated that the group invited, “Those in support of restoring the integrity of and order to our public school are welcome to attend.”
Invitations to the meeting had also been extended to school board members, but none of the board was on hand as it would have constituted an illegal meeting if a quorum was in attendance, as no prior board meeting notice was issued.
Among the concerns raised were questions about the school district’s budget, the management style of board members, the direction the school board is taking the district and if the board is following Minnesota School Boards Association (MSBA) guidelines, along with allegations against individual board members.
According to Hiebert, these questions and allegations are backed by e-mail correspondence and documentation released to the group by Superintendent Shellum. Cross-Counties Connect has not independently verified that paperwork. She stressed that this information is available to district residents by request from Superintendent Shellum, while information abut the school district, including its financial status, can be received on request from the school’s district office. Superintendent Shellum’s personal e-mails and information from either evaluation can only be made available by she – the subject of the data – and not by the school board.
The difficulties between Superintendent Shellum and the school board majority bubbled over when the board voted to hire Keith Dixon (on the recommendation of Kevin Rupp, school attorney) to complete an evaluation of the principal half of Shellum’s superintendent/principal position. An evaluation had not been completed on Shellum as principal for a number of years, although at the time she noted that she had herself completed self-evaluations. Urevig stressed that Shellum was not opposed to being evaluated for either of her roles with the school district.
Meyer, Hiebert and Urevig, however, stated that it is their understanding that problems initially began when school board write-in candidates were recruited in November 2014 to serve on the school’s governing board, and following their election, began serving their terms this past January.
Allegations that the trio say are based on fact include the following:
* One of the successful board write-in candidates was promised the board chair post if he ran.
* There is teacher-to-teacher bullying on the school campus causing teachers to leave the district.
* Board members are micro-managing the school’s day-to-day activities.
* One board member had stated that Superintendent Shellum was bringing bad kids to Butterfield, and bringing the school down, via open enrollment.
* The board is not doing the business of the school; is not sticking to an agenda and is on a premeditated personal vendetta.
* To date, there is no tentative school calendar set for 2015-2016, including no school start date for this fall.
* The board chairperson is stating that the school district is broke.
* The board chairperson might eliminate the public’s Open Forum portion of the agenda at school board meetings.
* At Superintendent’s Day at the State Capitol, a legislator representing the district in which B-OPS is located, had shared with Superintendent Shellum that a fellow legislator had told him that his brother had been elected to the local school board (B-OPS) to get rid of the school superintendent.
* The evaluation of the principal portion of Shellum’s contract was completed differently than that of her male counterpart. Additionally, that other area principals or the school’s other associate principal, Barry Schmidt, could have completed the evaluation at little or no cost.
* The night before Dixon was to conduct his first interviews in connection with the principal evaluation, a group of district residents held a meeting with him in his hotel room. According to Meyer, Hiebert and Urevig, four board members knew of the meeting, while three did not.
* Following a four-hour closed session evaluation of Shellum’s job as superintendent by the seven-member school board held on Tuesday, June 30 in the school’s Media Center, she was placed on a performance improvement plan.
It is the choice of Dixon to complete the evaluation of Shellum as principal, and his $3,000 fee, that raised the most red flags for the group, even though they admit their fears are based on assumption. (Dixon’s evaluation was held May 5 and 6.)
“Google Keith Dixon,” Urevig told the group. She added that while he has spent his life working at various levels in public school districts, “while he served as superintendent of Faribault Public Schools, he wrote a proposal to turn that public school into a charter school. Today,” she emphasizes, “he works as a consultant on how to transform public schools to charter schools and has little experience in doing evaluations.”
“Yes,” Meyer stated, “It is an assumption. But the board majority strongly wanted him. Let’s get to the point – the board majority is trying to take over and shut it (the school) down. For perhaps, a charter school? I don’t know.”
Todd Langeland of Odin, school board member during 1996, 1997 and 1998, questioned whether what was presented was just hearsay, stating, “Lisa still has her job, right?,” and district resident, Karen Laingen of Butterfield, interjected from the floor, “You have no idea what is going on.”
Another district resident, Nancy Olson of Butterfield, wondered if what was being done at the meeting is the same thing of which the group claims majority board members are doing to Superintendent Shellum – bullying. “Isn’t what is being said here tonight the same thing?”
At the May school board meeting, board members agreed to enter into mediation with Superintendent Shellum in order to address the differences between the two parties in order to have resolution. The goal of mediation is to identify the issues that have led to the division that currently exists in the district. There is no charge for the mediation process by the MSBA. Such a mediation meeting would involve one board member and Superintendent Shellum. Once the issues are identified via the mediation meeting, work will be done to understand each other’s position in an attempt to reach common ground.
Twice during the meeting, Jill Saunders of Odin, a district resident, raised the issue of if and when mediation would be held. Hiebert stated that in e-mails given to her by request, no concrete date had been set; only that it would be scheduled soon.
Due to the upcoming mediation session, school board members are limited in what they are allowed to say.
A small group of those attending the community meeting raised questions concerning the validity of the information being presented, disputing some of the statements.
As no school board members – or their representatives – were in attendance, no response argument or rebuttal to what was reported during the course of the meeting was presented.
At the close of the meeting, Hiebert, Urevig and Meyer circulated a petition for those attending to sign – if they wished – requesting the resignation of the majority four school board members (school board members cannot be recalled).
The group will be taking its concerns to the Monday, July 20 school board meeting in the school’s big gymnasium, set to begin at 6 p.m.
