On April 19, 2008 Julian Emerson was finally able to publish his news story that he had been seeking information for for several months. Numerous requests made under the Wisconsin Open Records laws were filed but consistently delayed, refused, or ignored by Pres. O'Brien and the ECASD Administrative staff who were under O'Brien's orders to not discuss the matter with the press.
Thank You, Julian for your persistence!
Maria
Memo skirted school board
Olson said intent of backdating it was to move up stipend date for Klaus at his request
By Julian Emerson Leader-Telegram staff
Former Eau Claire school board president Carol Olson signed and backdated a document at former Superintendent Bill Klaus' request that would have provided Klaus with a portion of his retirement payments before he was eligible to receive them.
On Feb. 5, 2007, the school board approved changes to Klaus' contract allowing him to become Northstar Middle School principal, but several board members who voted on the agreement said issuing the stipend to Klaus before age 55 and his retirement wasn't part of the deal.
Just before his move from superintendent to Northstar Middle School principal in July, Klaus, 53, asked Olson to sign a document stipulating he begin receiving those payments - totalling about $45,000 annually for five years - starting Aug. 1.
The document signed by Olson was dated Feb. 5, the same date the board approved Klaus' contract changes allowing him to become a middle school principal.
However, Klaus and Olson admitted the document was placed in Klaus' personnel file sometime in June or July and backdated, making it appear as if it was part of the original agreement. The Leader-Telegram obtained the document after filing an Open Records request seeking information related to potential changes to Klaus' contract.
School board members and others familiar with the situation said that arrangement was not part of changes to Klaus' contract the board had approved in February. Several board members said they were unaware of the document signed by Olson until it surfaced in October amid questions by the Leader-Telegram and district educators.
Board members said they were stunned when they discovered the document signed by Olson had been made part of the agreement without their knowledge. Several questioned why Klaus sought Olson to sign the document when she had been off the board for at least two months.
District Personnel Director Jim Kling said granting Klaus or any other administrator stipend payments before retirement is "highly unusual." In fact, Kling, a longtime personnel director, said he is unaware of any other administrator or teacher in Wisconsin receiving early stipends.
"It's just not something I've ever seen," Kling said.
Klaus and Olson conceded that in hindsight, signing the document wasn't the best way to handle disagreement about the timing of the early stipend payments. But they defended their actions, saying they did not intend to circumvent terms of Klaus' contract.
Instead, Klaus said their actions were the result of a misunderstanding about when he was to begin receiving stipend payments, which represent the portion of his retirement to be paid by the school district. The timing of when Klaus would receive those payments does not change the total amount of money he would be paid.
Klaus said he requested the early payments because of concerns his family wouldn't receive his stipend money if he died before retirement. Instead, he said, the district would retain that money.
"In hindsight, we probably should have handled this differently," Klaus said. "But the intent was not to do something illegal or secretive."
Klaus said he approached Olson about signing the document because she was board president at the time the issue had been discussed. The longtime board president affirmed she was no longer a board member when asked to sign the document but said she did so because she believed the board had agreed to the early stipend payment.
She backdated the date the document was signed to Feb. 5, she said, to reflect that it was related to changes in Klaus' contract the board approved on that date.
"To the best of my recollection, (the early stipend payment) was what the board intended," she said.
The document bears only Olson's signature. Typically, documents signifying board action bear the signatures of the board president and clerk.
Olson denied that she and Klaus were part of a secret effort to pad Klaus' salary. He made $141,000 during his last year as superintendent, a salary that was reduced to $94,000 when he became principal.
"There was no discussion between us about this ahead of time," Olson responded when asked about assertions she and Klaus had conspired to secretly get around previous school board action regarding Klaus' contract.
Seeking the stipend
Klaus said he first mentioned his desire to receive the early stipend when he announced in January 2007 that he would become Northstar principal. In midsummer as he prepared to transition from superintendent to principal, Klaus approached Kling about the stipend payments, saying the board had authorized them.
Kling and Business Services Director Dan Van De Water subsequently reviewed Klaus' request and his contract, and they determined they could not authorize stipend payments without further evidence that the board approved it. At that point Klaus requested a document approving those payments be typed up and that Olson sign it.
Still, Kling and Van De Water refused to authorize Klaus' payments, in part because they questioned the timing of the document signed by Olson, Kling said.
"For us, Carol's letter wasn't enough to (approve the early stipend)," Kling said. "We felt like we needed to clear up the issue of what was the intent of the entire board."
Prompted by questions raised by the Leader-Telegram and district educators, board members called a special meeting on Oct. 24 to review the matter. During that meeting, board members denied the early retirement option and reaffirmed other portions of the February contract agreement. The board also added a provision guaranteeing that Klaus' family would receive his stipend payment in the event of his death.
"For me, that's really what I was concerned about," Klaus said of ensuring stipend payments would go to his family.
The board discussed the issue at subsequent meetings in closed session, and in December reiterated terms of Klaus' contract.
Keeping secrets
The board's December announcement that it was verifying Klaus' contract spurred questions about the matter, but district officials weren't forthcoming with details.
The Leader-Telegram in December filed an Open Records request seeking access to Klaus' personnel file, his contract, district e-mail messages related to the proposed changes to Klaus' contract and minutes of closed-session discussion of the topic.
District officials initially released a copy of Klaus' contract but did not include the document signed by Olson. Subsequent requests for information went unanswered. Various district officials, most notably board President Michael O'Brien, fought to delay release of the information. When asked why the district refused the Leader-Telegram's request for information, Kling said O'Brien told him that "the issue was taken care of."
O'Brien has refused comment on Klaus' contract, saying the topic is exempt from public scrutiny because discussion of it occurred in closed sessions.
Other board members gave similar responses or failed to respond to repeated requests for comment regarding the proposed change to Klaus' contract. Several of the seven board members said they could not discuss the issue because O'Brien, an attorney for the Weld, Riley, Prenn and Ricci law firm of Eau Claire, had advised them against it while the district awaits a decision regarding the matter from a Madison law firm.
District officials ultimately granted the Leader-Telegram access to Klaus' personnel file but have not yet provided copies of board meeting minutes about the topic or related e-mail messages.
Emerson can be reached at 830-5911, 800-236-7077 or julian.emerson@ecpc.com.
Updated: 4/19/2008
Weighing In
Eau Claire school board members did not want to be identified in this story because of concerns about violating closed-session meeting rules. But they agreed to make on-the-record statements as long as they weren't identified by name.
Board member Carol Craig was willing to make the following statement on the record.
"In the fall of 2007, the board of education became aware of rumored changes regarding Dr. Klaus' new contract as principal; we immediately addressed these concerns in closed session. There was unanimous board agreement that Dr. Klaus' contract did not allow for retirement stipend payments until he actually retired. Therefore, we took action to re-validate the original contract stipulations."
The Eau Claire school board is scheduled to discuss issues related to Klaus' contract on Monday in a closed-session meeting.
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