School board wants new leader amid crisis
Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2008
GREENLAND - His district is threatened with forced annexation to another district, but Superintendent Ron Brawner may soon be out of a job for another reason.
The Greenland Board of Education voted during a special meeting Tuesday to demand Brawner immediately resign and to fire him if he does not.
Board members cited "the best interest of the district"as the reason for the demand. The motion stated that if his resignation is not forthcoming, the board would terminate his contract.
Most board members declined to comment following the vote.
Brawner did not attend the meeting. He is in South Carolina to get married today.
School board President Bill Groom said hoped to have an answer from Brawner today.
The most detail Groom would provide for the board's action was a concern about some of the financial information Brawner had provided.
"It's more about accounting issues than anything else," he said. "None of this stuff was intentional on his part. The bottom line is we're under a great deal of scrutiny."
The district was notified on June 13 that the Arkansas Department of Education wants a neighboring school district to annex Greenland because of its fiscal distress status and a projected budget shortfall of $ 300, 000. The department said the Arkansas State Board of Education will act on the recommendation July 14.
The state board placed Greenland on the fiscal distress list in April.
Brawner boldly predicted last week that the district would likely finish the budget year with about $ 4, 000.
Groom said he spoke with state department employees Hazel Burnett and Bobbie Davis. Their projections for the district's bottom line "are coming our way," he said.
The Greenland school board plans to hold a special informational session for the community about the district's finances at 5: 30 p.m. today in the high school cafeteria.
Groom said he the budget cuts Brawner planned for the upcoming school year will improve the district's financial state if given the chance.
Groom said he also talked to Education Department Commissioner Kenneth James on Tuesday. They had a good conversation, he said, but James didn't given any indication that he will withdraw the petition to annex.
The motion to demand Brawner's resignation came following a closed session to discuss personnel that lasted about 45 minutes.
The Tuesday meeting followed a special meeting on Monday when the board met in closed session for an hour and 15 minutes. No action was taken.
All seven members attended the meeting Tuesday. Board member Terry Reed was absent from the Monday meeting.
Groom said he called and spoke with Brawner after the first meeting.
Brawner has about two years left on his contract.
Groom couldn't say whether the district will have to buy out his contract if it comes down to firing Brawner. The board also doesn't have an interim superintendent lined up.
Middle School Principal J. J. Gardenhire served as interim superintendent in the spring semester while Brawner was on medical leave.
Groom said he doesn't know how this action will affect the state's evaluation of the district. He said the decision to part ways came solely from within the district.
"I can't speak on whether that will change their attitude," he said.
Voters approved a 2. 6-mill tax increase and bond debt restructuring in June that was designed to address the district's financial problems.
The most important thing is that the public supported the schools and the financial state will improve if the state gives Greenland a chance, Groom said.
Brawner was hired as superintendent in the spring 2005 semester during the first year following Greenland's annexation of the Winslow School District. Winslow had been mandated to dissolve due to a new consolidation law that set a minimum school district size of 350 students.
One of Brawner's first actions as superintendent was recommending Winslow High School be closed, mainly due to high operating costs. The board closed the school in June 2005.
Brawner and the board closed Winslow Elementary two years later.
The district was on fiscal distress for prior problems when Brawner took over in 2005, but Brawner convinced the state to take Greenland off the list in 2006.
Board members have generally been highly supportive of Brawner and haven't blamed him Brawner directly for the district's financial problems. The problems have mostly been blamed on an enrollment decline due to Winslow patrons leaving after the high school was closed.
Some members, such as Dennis Caudle, have conceded recently the district wasn't as proactive as it should have been in planning for the enrollment decline.
Brawner served as principal of the middle school in 2004-05 before his appointment as superintendent. He also worked as an administrator in the district from 1988 to 2002.
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