TISD board selects Ballinger

By Basil Gist

Staff Writer

The TISD school board held their special meeting Tuesday evening in the cafeteria again due to over-attendance from the community.

During the meeting, the board accepted the resignation of Dr. Charles Holloway as well as his separation agreement, which will see his payment through Dec. 31.

“He’s getting paid what he would have been paid through the end of this calendar year, there’s no additional severance, no additional backpay, vacation days, holidays; his last employment date with the district is the last day of this calendar year,” board member Brandon Miller explained after former board member Sharon Lawton asked for clarification.

He further stated the board would be saving the $91,000 they would have paid him in the second semester.

“Next year, that’s $182,000 that’s not on the budget,” Miller said.

The board instated Assistant Superintendent Josh Ballinger as interim while they begin the search process for a new superintendent.

“We have to have a search process, that’s a state requirement,” Board President Paul Rodarmer said.

Board member Stacy Price made the motion, which received applause from the community members in attendance.

The other topic of interest at the meeting was once again the financial status of the district. Though an update from the financial committee was an action item on the agenda, the board adjourned to executive session before addressing it or voting to table or postpone it.

“I’m one of the 750-1,000 [tax payers], I just wanted an update as to what exactly the dire situation I keep hearing about is,” John Teltschik said after the board moved to executive session. “They skipped it [on the agenda], if you don’t have anything that needs to be addressed then you don’t have an update.”

Two members of the community, Kelsey Whitesell and the aforementioned Lawton, also spoke at the beginning of the meeting regarding the district’s financial status.

“I am truly baffled at the lack of responsibility and ownership that has taken place regarding taxpayer dollars over the last several years,” Whitesell said. “We all know that public school funding is an ongoing issue, but that does not justify what has taken place here.”

Whitesell, a realtor, asked a number of questions of the board, each of them focusing on the specifics of the creation and management of the budget. She also inquired as to what the board was doing to ensure teacher’s jobs were safe as the district attempts to adjust its trajectory.

“We’ve had lots of outreach on people wanting to help with these issues, so in order to do that efficiently, we have a form up here,” board member Dugan Rainey said. “It has your community involvement, employer and employment history, basic information, that way, when the financial committee starts going though these issues, we can see what your specialty is.”

Whitesell, as well as many others, filled out the form, which should be returned to Sondra Hall. To contact Hall about the form, her email is Sondra.Hall@tiogaisd.net.

“There is a lot of information we have to process,” Rainey said. “We have to be efficient on what we’re doing.”