Report: Langan part of District 2142 financial woes

The meeting is set for 7 p.m. in the Falls High School cafeteria and includes a Truth in Taxation hearing, where taxpayers may provide input on the district’s financial plan.

Prior to the meeting, the board will meet at 4 p.m. in closed session to continue negotiations on the district’s still-unsettled employment contracts.

Key financial topics are on the agenda such as a professional audit report on the 2009 fiscal year, the proposed adoption of the 2010 budget, and the proposed approval of the tax levy payable in 2010.

The 2010 total levy amount proposed for approval is $2.15 million, an increase of 11.69 percent over the 2009 amount of $1.9 million, reports show.

According to Superintendent Don Langan, two of those levy items produce the vast majority of the $225,290 increase: $118,818 for retirement liabilities; and a $76,058 operating referendum increase approved by voters in November.

“If these two elements had not been added to the 09-10 levy, the increase from last year to this year would have been $30,463.93 — or 1.6 percent,” Langan reported to The Daily Journal via email.

Some budget components are assumed in the proposal, such as the effects of three labor contracts that, at press time, are still unsettled. Contracts for teachers, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 510 and principals, as well as salary and benefit considerations for at-will employees, and a salary benefit package for a new superintendent are still out.

But Langan said that he will be reporting Monday on other, more major assumptions in the proposed budget such as student enrollment projections, legislative actions, employee retirements/replacements and instructional program changes.

Langan’s involvement in District 2142 (which includes Orr, Cook, Tower-Soudan, Cotton, Cherry, Babbitt-Embarrass and Albrook) while he served as superintendent there, is considered a major influence in that district’s financial woes, according to a November report by the Orr Timberjay.

That district’s financial crisis has resulted, in part, in a recently approved and highly controversial bond referendum for $78.8 million to build two new schools and remodel three others. Voting results show a clear division in the northern and southern halves of the district, with the Orr-Cook-Tower area in opposition to the bond.

Reported by the Orr newspaper is that it was Langan who, while serving District 2142, initiated 2001-03 contract spikes for teachers with masters degrees. This reportedly resulted in consecutive spikes in that district’s 2003-05 contracts, in effect to equalize increases for unhappy teachers at the baccalaureate level, layered with further increases for those with the masters degrees. These types of contracts are more typically used by wealthier districts to encourage teachers to further their expertise, the article said.

It also states that these major salary gains put the small rural district’s pay scale among the top 20 districts in the state, above areas such as Wayzata, Edina, Duluth or Rochester. The district’s base contract now provides higher salaries for senior teachers than any of the Iron Range districts, and is well above peer districts such as Littlefork-Big Falls.

The article also reported that before the final settlement of the District 2142 2003-05 contract, “Langan was essentially ousted by the board.”

The financial impact of the increases which stemmed from an initiative originally authored by Langan, according to the report, has been more than $700,000 per year, which worsens over time. Over the five years since the original approval, the two contracts have cumulatively drained millions of dollars from District 2142’s general funds.

The recently approved referendum in that area will now lead to the closing of the Cook and Orr schools with a new school to be built five miles north of Cook for those combined students. Officials in the small communities are worried about the financial impact of that new plan.

Langan’s response to the newspaper account is that it is “purposely fraudulent.” Asked how the perception will influence financial decisions in District 361, Langan replied, “ If this board were to base its decisions on reports in the Timberjay, it would be an egregious error.”

“It (the report) sought to generate a whipping post for the district’s fiscal woes and essentially lay them at my feet,” Langan said. “I don’t mind taking blame. I get paid well to do that. But I do take offense when it tries to convey to a population a conclusion in and of itself that is totally wrong. The only reason I can conclude, that it was sought to be made true, was to perhaps seek to avoid discussion or to assess what other factors could indeed have led to these fiscal woes.”

Assistant Superintendent Kevin Grover told The Journal that he has heard various sides of the issues of the Orr and Cook schools, from teachers, administrators, and sources over the last couple of years.

“I do not feel I have enough information to weigh in on what caused ISD 2142 to get to where they are today, be it good or bad. I would congratulate Dr. (Charles) Rick and the board of ISD 2142 for a successful referendum.”

In related action, Monday’s agenda includes a discussion on receiving students into District 361 from the Orr area, on which Grover said discussion was originally requested by officials in that community.

“Dale Long (Orr mayor) contacted me in late October to see if our district would be interested in sitting down with Orr to look at options in the event that their school would be closed,” Grover told The Journal.

Other business

In other business, the board is slated to consider potential action on the transition of a new superintendent. Langan’s contract with the district ends June 30, and he will be leaving the position. He said he has no intention of seeking renewal, but will continue in his part-time position in the Ely district at least through 2011.

The board is also expected to consider a parent request for the provisional reinstatement of an expelled student.

Grover is expected to report Monday on grants, and to-and-from transportation outside of the district. Principals Jerry Hilfer and Tim Everson are scheduled for enrollment reports and Langan is expected to report on Q-Comp new procedures, and an FHS facility project.

Personnel 2009-10 changes on the agenda for approval are as follows:

Terry Thompson, Kevin Gordon and Brittney Bolstad as volunteer coaches for girls hockey; Carrie Clark, Matt MacKenzie and Chris Heibel as basketball coaches for grade seven and eight recreational programs; Ron Peterson, Alyssa Ruelle and Katie Prettyman as volunteer coaches for girls basketball; Gerald Bolstad as volunteer coach for girls softball; Jeff Wickstrom as volunteer coach for boys hockey; Jamie LeDuc as assistant girls hockey coach; and Diane Wenger, Maxine Corrin and Raija Bergstrom as paraprofessionals.

Personnel changes also on the agenda for approval are the resignation of Lisa Kockelman-Broadt as educational support professional; the hiring of Kristal Mayfield as a non-union cafeteria helper; and a request by BethAnne Slatinski for aleave of absence in lieu of her resignation.