The board must always defer to the superintendent, even when they KNOW they shouldn’t (from 2006).
“The March 14, 2006 school board meeting contained the perfect example of the dysfunctional board in action. Here is a recap of the board’s action on the cell towers.
Allen had been working on a lease agreement with American Tower, the company that now leases the towers on the football field. They wanted to add another antenna on the present tower, with more equipment on the ground. He had just finished the contract the morning of the meeting, and was presenting it to the board without prior review.
Heydinger correctly asks for time to review the contract, and says the vote should be delayed. Allen claims that the cell tower company might walk away from the deal that they just approved, and says the motion to approve should be voted on immediately.
Heydinger backs down, the board votes, once again a unanimous five yea.
Even if you though that Mr. Allen was an expert on contract negotiations with call tower companies, the board still had the duty to review his actions. Why would there be a time constraint on signing the contract – the school has been leasing the towers to this company for years, why is the contract now a priority item that must be approved and signed immediately? This stinks of an improper deal, and Heydinger knew that it stinked. Yet Allen pushed the board into immediate vote.
The board has the responsibility to be involved in every financial transaction that the school engages in, both as a review and an actual physical seat at the table. Heydinger should have been a part of the contract negotiations, but like many other issues, he doesn’t have the time to come to the school and be part of these meetings.
Heydinger was right to ask for more time to review the contract. But he was forced to drop his request for more time and voted in favor of the contract. His vote against the motion would have broken the three-year string of unanimous votes. Instead of doing what he knew to be the right thing, he was forced to do the expedient thing.
This was the perfect example of what is wrong with the Grandview school board. The fact that this incident was just business as usual and didn’t even create a ripple in the community shows that low standards have become the norm for this board. More crappy action from a subservient board.”
2006
Watching Grandview Heights 