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Central office staff for Sullivan school system operating without contracts

Published August 2nd, 2008 | 1 Comments

BLOUNTVILLE — Public records indicate no effective employment contracts exist for central office management staff of Sullivan County schools. However Jack Barnes, who was hired as director of the county’s school system earlier this year, said that as soon as things settle down from the start of school this week, he and his staff plan to develop performance-based employment contracts.

In addition to the lack of contracts, none of the central office management staff had performance evaluations on file, in contradiction to a requirement set by the Sullivan County Board of Education (BOE).

BOE policy number 4011, approved in November 2001 and last revised in June 2006, states: •“All professional personnel are subject to evaluation.”

•“Supervisors and the assistant director shall be evaluated by the director.”

•“ ... supervisors, and the assistant director shall be evaluated at least every three years ...”

•“Evaluation folders of ... supervisors, assistant director and the director shall be kept at the director’s office.”

The records were reviewed by the Times-News under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, which also revealed some public documents were being held by Sullivan County Board of Education Chairman Jack Bales at his home.

For sampling purposes, the Times-News asked to review personnel files and evaluations for several school system employees, including: Jack Barnes; Janie Barnes; Larry Hall; Mary Rouse; Elizabeth Sells; Gene Johnson; Deborah Morelock; and Evelyn Rafalowski.

The school system’s Central Office provided an employee file for each of those people, but none contained a performance evaluation.

Also absent: employment contracts with effective dates past 2004 — or in some cases, earlier.

The term of such contracts, when they exist, is typically tied to the employment of the sitting director.

State law requires county school system directors to contract with principals, and calls for the link between effective dates and the director’s own employment with the system.

For example, “This contract shall begin on (blank) and shall end on (blank), or the date the director’s employment contract with the Board of Education ends, whichever is earlier,” according to several contracts issued by the system

A check of personnel files on Friday showed that only five of the system’s 28 school principals — during the 2007-2008 school year — had employment contracts signed by Director Glenn Arwood.

Others did, however, have “tentative placement“ documents in their files for that period.

The newspaper’s FOIA request also sought copies of ballots cast by BOE members during the selection process that led to Jack Barnes being hired as the director of the county’s school system earlier this year.

The school system, board legal counsel Pat Hull said, “had to scramble to locate” the ballots — but did manage to do so.

Hull said, however, that the ballots were not among the other documents system staff had assembled in answer to the newspaper’s request.

He said they wouldn’t be available until a day later.

Asked who had the ballots, Hull at first tried to avoid a direct answer.

“Do I really have to tell you?” Hull said.

Pressed for an answer, Hull said the ballots were at the home of BOE Chairman Jack Bales.

Reporters waited while Hull and Barnes sent a school system employee to Bales’ house to retrieve the ballots.

Without the ballots, it would be hard for anyone to say how any BOE member voted on the matter — official board minutes simply say there were five votes in favor of Barnes and four in favor of Bob Bowers.

Hull said the board’s procedure for the vote was set by the Tennessee School Board Association and he believes all BOE members were told that their ballot would be a matter of public record.

Contacted by telephone at home Friday night, Bales said he realized the ballots were public record and needed to be preserved.

Like Hull, Bales pointed out this was the first time a paper ballot was used by the board.

Bales said he agrees the ballots are public records — “That’s why they’re maintained,” he said — but also indicated that that status doesn’t mean they should be on file with other public documents at the county’s Department of Education.

“I don’t see that that would necessarily end up in the Central Office,” he said.

Asked where the board keeps its files, Bales said, “The only files we really keep would be at the ... well, whatever the individual members would keep, in terms of minutes and stuff of that nature. But all the other business papers and everything would be at the Central Office. But we’ve never done a director’s search in this way or cast a ballot in that way before, so nothing was set up in terms of putting that in a file at the Central Office.”

Bales was asked if he knew the official board minutes don’t reflect individual BOE members’ votes — making it hard for a member of the public to figure it out without the ballots he’d kept at home.

“So what’s your point?” Bales said. “You’ve got the ballots, don’t you. Nobody’s asked for them before now.”

The BOE’s search for a new director — to replace Glenn Arwood upon his retirement — was conducted by the Tennessee School Boards Association and brought four candidates to a selection process earlier this year. Two candidates were from within the system (Jack Barnes and Evelyn Rafalowski) and two candidates were from elsewhere (Bob Bowers and Beth Wright).

During a May 19 meeting, BOE members were asked to narrow the field to two by listing their top two choices on a signed written ballot.

Each of the seven BOE members split their two votes, casting one for a local candidate and one for an outsider.

According to the ballots obtained from Bales through the FOIA request by the newspaper:

•Bales voted for Wright (non local) and Rafalowski (local).

•Betty Combs voted for Barnes (local) and Bowers (non local).

•Jerry Greene voted for Barnes (local) and Wright (non local).

•Larry Harris voted for Rafalowski (local) and Wright (non local).

•Jim Kiss voted for Barnes (local) and Bowers (non local).

•Ron Smith voted for Barnes (local) and Bowers (non local).

•Dan Wells voted for Bowers (non local) and Barnes (local).

The final tally: Barnes, 5; Bowers, 4; Wright, 3; Rafalowski, 2.

“Each board member made the ballot, signed it, passed it to Board Attorney Pat Hull, he tabulated the ballots, he totaled up on a tally sheet and then he passed the ballots and the tally sheet to me. I was the last person to have custody of them, and when the meeting was over I folded them up and put them in my briefcase,” Bales said.

Once the field was narrowed to two candidates, five board members — Betty Combs, Jerry Greene, Jim Kiss, Ron Smith and Danny Wells — voted in favor of Barnes, making him the “candidate of focus.”

On June 2, the BOE met and approved a contract for Barnes on a 6-0 vote, the original five who voted for Barnes plus Larry Harris. As board chairman, Jack Bales did not have to cast a vote.

As for the lack of performance evaluations for the supervisors and assistant directors in the central office, Bales said “I’d be surprised if there’s not evaluations, if that’s the policy.”

Bales questioned whether that was a board policy or administrative procedure.

Told the policy number, approval date and revision dates, Bales concluded, “Then they obviously haven’t operated according to board policy.”

Asked about the lack of employment contracts among central office supervisors, Bales said “That’s an administrative issue.”

BOE Attorney Pat Hull, sitting in on a Times-New interview with Barnes earlier in the week, said he would recommend employment contracts be put in place.

“I would think that that is a better way to proceed,” Hull said. “I don’t know what other school systems do. But I think it would be good for everyone to have a written contract. On the day-to-day basis I guess that falls under several people. The director sort of sits in the overall administrative seat and just like any other CEO, they don’t get involved in every detail of everything that goes on.

“Human resources, obviously is the one I think specifically that would do that. There’s a breakdown of responsibility, but I would think those two positions would be the natural ones.”

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Sir Walter Scott once wrote "Oh what a tangled web we weave; When first we practice to deceive!" The professional journalistic team of Musick/Osborne certainly found a pronounced web of deception as they perused public documents in preparation for this article. Most interesting was the fact that no other news media had requested such documents from Mr. Bales. Mr. Bales' defensive stance in response to their questions regarding the control of important documentation leads one to question his motivation. These professional reporters knew that documentation is the key to accountability. Also uncovered in their research was a breakdown of responsibility during the last four years in the Central Office. By using public records, research, and good honest reporting, the team of Musick/Osborne has given us a glimpse inside the most recent record-keeping of the Chairman of the Board and the lack of duty performance inside the prior administration. Good news reporting calls public servants to be accountable to their constituents. The following of policies one is sworn to uphold must be maintained. Again, a job well done by Musick/Osborne.

Kevin May | 8/5/2008 - 8:20 PM - ( Comment

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