NP board questions lack of action on directive

Saturday, July 16, 2011

BAINBRIDGE -- At the June 18 board meeting, the North Putnam School Corporation board chose to post a job opening for the title of Director of Operations.

While the posting was originally intended to find a replacement for former assistant superintendent Kevin Emswel-ler, who moved to a different school corporation, the job posting was changed to instead try to hire a person who could handle the physical operations of the corporation as opposed to the curriculum and educational aspects.

Three weeks since that decision was made, the job had not been posted, and board members called for a special meeting Thursday night to find out why.

School Superintendent Mary Sugg Lovejoy was directed to make the posting and put it online, but she said she became confused and unclear as to what exactly the board wanted in the description.

"I didn't know ... whether it was all or nothing," Lovejoy said, explaining she was unclear as to whether the board wanted someone who had more business experience or more operations experience. "I felt we had a huge hole."

Lovejoy said she attempted to contact board members Oliver Haste and Mark Hoke for advice and recommendations with the application, as they were the two board members who brought up the idea of a Director of Operations. However, due to miscommunication and conflicting schedules, she was unable to do so.

Lovejoy instead went to the board with recommendations for a restructuring of the central office in order to give other people currently in the corporation different responsibilities, job titles and positions.

The board felt differently about these recommendations and did not understand why the original directive was not fulfilled.

"I feel like our directives have been ignored ... and we're going back down this road again," Haste said.

Board members Charlie Boller and John Hays agreed with Haste's sentiments about the job not being posted.

"This seems very simple and I don't understand how it got to this," Boller said.

In the end, the decision was made that Lovejoy meet with Haste and Hoke to discuss the job description on Monday, with the job likely being posted before the next board meeting on Thursday. Acting President Debbie Sillery said it was important to get the job posting out there and have it be correct for what the corporation is looking for, adding that there was no ill will between board members after the heated discussion.

"With the job market the way it is, we really need to open this up," Sillery said. "When we're having discussions we need to have an open mind."

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  • What, the superintendent didn't follow through on something? I'm shocked!!!

    -- Posted by all4advocacy on Mon, Jul 18, 2011, at 6:26 PM
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