Questionable pasts raise concerns, cause removals
The Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD#2) Board of Trustees has removed Lowell Taylor, of Oregon, Ill., and Robert Lewandowski, of St. Ignatius, Mont., from consideration for the Superintendent position.
CCSD#2 chairman Diana Berger said that board members “discovered some stuff” last week pertaining to two of the finalists.
The board plans to find two qualified candidates to replace the two removed finalists.
Board members would not comment specifically what caused Lewandowski and Taylor to be removed from consideration.
In its own investigation, this is what the Saratoga Sun discovered.
Misappropriation of funds
The Ogle County News in Oregon, Ill. reported that Lowell Taylor had previously resigned from the Forrestville Valley School District on Feb. 4, 2014.
Taylor had reportedly diverted funds intended for a tax-sheltered annuity and his IRA account for his children’s education and cashed them for his immediate use. Both accounts were set up by the Forrestville Valley School District and funds were moved without permission, which is required by the board.
Forrestville Valley School Board members declined to tell the Ogle County News the amount of money involved or whether the IRS was investigating the matter.
Taylor had been suspended by the school board on Jan. 8, presumably while the accounts were being investigated. He is currently using his accumulated vacation time until April 4, then he will be on unpaid leave from the Forrestville Valley School District April 5 to Jun. 15.
Pay raises bring controversy
Robert “Bob” Lewandowski has been in the midst of financial controversy at his last two jobs.
On March 16, 2010, the Cody Enterprise in Cody Wyo. Park County School District #16 (PCSD#16) in Meeteetse Wyo., Lewandowski, at that time, was the superintendent of PCSD#16. Cash reserves were being spent at a rate where the school district could have “run out of money in 7-10 years”, in order to pay competitive salaries to their teachers.
PCSD#16 was forced to eliminate several school programs and four district positions while Lewandowski was superintendent.
Following the announcement that Park County School District #16 was in financial trouble, the Cody Enterprise reported the following week that Lewandowski was involved in a controversy involving district-provided housing.
In 2010, Lewandowski was scheduled to earn an additional $29,000 on top of his $95,000 salary. Instead of taking the $29,000 raise, the money was “going toward the house at 1901 Hays Ave., where Lewandwoki and his family lived.”
The house was owned by the school district at the time.
When Lewandowski became Superintendent of St. Ignatius School District in Montana, he ran into another controversy involving pay increases in March 2011.
According to the Lake County Leader in Polson, Mont., Lewandowski had accepted a $14,800 pay increase to his $100,000 a year salary seven months after he took the position.
This raise occurred while several St. Ignatius teachers were taking salary cuts due to insurance increases.
Since 2011, Lewandowski has also been a finalist for Superintendent positions in Trinidad Colo., Hamilton, Mont., Weston County School District #7 in Upton Wyo., and most recently in Carbon County School District #1 in Rawlins.
Special Meeting
Upon receiving information on Lowell Taylor Thursday, the Carbon County School District #2 Board of Trustees announced a special meeting to be held Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Central Administration Office to “discuss and screen Superintendent Candidate Applications.”
Before going into executive session Sunday afternoon, the board described their process of choosing the candidates for the superintendent position.
The Wyoming School Board Association (WSBA) proposed being a search consultant for the CCSD#2 board in November. The WSBA conducted a national search with 54 applications requests. Of the 54 requested applications, the WSBA read all 21 of the completed applications.
In the Oct. 23, 2013 edition of the Saratoga Sun, it was reported that a fee of $6,000 would be used from the general fund to pay the WSBA for the search.
The WSBA conducted preliminary background checks and recommended a list of 10 applicants to the CCSD#2 board, and sent the other eleven completed applicants that were not recommended to the CCSD#2 board as well. The recommended candidates were based on resumes, an assurance form, screening designed by the board and stakeholder surveys and letters of recommendation.
The CCSD#2 board members reviewed these applicants at a Feb. 18 meeting. Mark Higdon from the WSBA was present at these meetings to guide the CCSD#2 board members through the selection process.
Board Members said that the WSBA recommended the top three candidates by using a point system led by Higdon.
After the three finalist were chosen, the candidates agreed to interview and their resumes had been posted on the CCSD#2 website.
Berger said that the assurance form protected the school district from any expense for travel for the candidates if “hypothetically something had surfaced later on.”
Berger added that the CCSD#2 board will pick additional finalists before moving forward.
Mixed Reactions
School board members said though they were upset about selecting these specific candidates, they expressed relief that they were able to catch the concerns with the candidates sooner.
“We have excellent board members who are working very hard,” CCSD#2 Board Clerk Tonya Bartholomew said. “Janice Peterson was the one who started to do her homework on these top three candidates and found some concerns immediately. I think Diana has done a great job of responding to (the concerns) and so has everyone on our board. That is why we are meeting on a Sunday … because we feel like this was a really important decision for our school district.”
Berger said that the board members have interest in picking a quality superintendent.
“Just remember, we all, for the most part, have kids in school.”
Jerry Paxton, a Wyoming state representative and former Encampment educator, said in a phone interview that he was disappointed in the CCSD#2 board member’s judgment.
“I don’t think we have ever had a [superintendent selection] process that has lacked this much transparency to the public,” Paxton said.
Paxton said he heard concerns from parents in Encampment saying that they were bothered by lack of parent involvement.
“It upsets me that the parents were not involved,” Paxton said.
KayCee Alameda, president of the Saratoga Parent-Teacher Organization and Voices of the Valley Executive Director, said she hopes to see a positive solution in hiring a new superintendent and more involvement from the community when the candidates are interviewed.
At press time, the CCSD#2 Board of Trustees has yet to announce a decision on future applicants.
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