Klaus Placed on Paid Leave
Posted: 4:43 PM Apr 30, 2008
Klaus Placed on Paid Leave (4/30/08)
The Superintendent's Office for the Eau Claire Area School District says Middle School Principal Bill Klaus has been placed on paid administrative leave.
The school board had a closed-session meeting yesterday that lasted more than nine hours to discuss former superintendent, Klaus's contract.
The board says Klaus, along with former board president, Carol Olson, created a document that may have allowed Klaus to get his retirement stipends earlier than the board planned.
Members say Olson signed the document after she had left the school board.
Klaus' attorney, Tom Guelzow, said it is not disciplinary action and the motivation is to bring a sense of common responsibility to the city and the district. He says Klaus is prepared to continue to do his job and is dedicated to serve the district and will return as soon as he is able.
Tuesday's story:
Their meeting began at one in the afternoon and the Eau Claire School Board was still in the closed door session until after ten Tuesday night.
The board is looking into former superintendent, William Klaus's contract.
Members say they'll need to meet again.
The board says Klaus, along with former board president, Carol Olson, created a document that may have allowed Klaus to get his retirement stipends earlier than the board planned.
Members say Olson signed the document after she had left the school board
Vice President of the School Board, Mary Kneer says, “We felt the day was productive in terms of gaining a more complete understanding of facts and time lines. However, there may be additional individuals the board would like to speak with so at least one more meeting is planned."
Klaus is currently the North Star Middle School principal.
Olson is no longer on the school board.
Eau Claire Police continue to investigate the Klaus contract issue.
Deputy Chief Eric Larsen says he can't discuss details, but says investigators are gathering documents.
Larson says the district attorney's office asked police to look into the matter to determine if anything illegal happened.
The department will look those papers over and decide what other information it needs from there
Larson says, "We don't communicate with each other about what they're finding in their internal investigation on because whatever their employees tell them in their internal investigation can't be used for criminal investigation anyways."
Once the police investigation is complete, officers will forward their findings to the district attorney.
Original News Release from the Superintendent’s Office, Eau Claire Area School District:
MEDIA RELEASE
The Superintendent's Office for the Eau Claire Area School District has announced that Middle School Principal Bill Klaus has been placed on paid administrative leave. Interim Superintendent, James Leary, noted that “This in no way reflects on Dr. Klaus or on his performance as principal.” “However,” Dr. Leary continued, “we are committed to providing an educational environment that is as free of disruption as possible, and feel this decision will best serve that goal.”
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2 comments:
Now that Supt Leary has stepped in to provide leadership at this critical time, it is time for the BOE to take some time to think over next steps. Drastic action beyond determing basic facts could lead to a quagmire that could bog them down for some time to come.
Their next step is to determine new leadership next Monday and then to assure that the new leadership of the board has a complete and accurate understanding of closed meeting board procedures and their relationship to open meetings. It's almost as if the LT has taken over the BOE investigation by daily stories and leaked comments from closed meetings.
Commissioner Bollinger was right in his blog , it is time for the board to take a deep breath and slow the pace.
It is time for the Leader Telegram to do a much more complete and accurate
background story on retirement stipends and post retirement benefits.
The upcoming teacher contract possible settlement will provide the opportunity.
And an up to date copy of Roberts Rules would help.
The school district has known about the fraudulent Klaus-Olson document since October. Yet they decided to initiate an investigation only after it became public in late April.
This is the aspect of the issue that troubles me the most. It appears that the investigation is a reaction to the issue surfacing in the media, and not a response grounded in ethics and responsible stewardship.
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