The standing-room-only Sedona-Oak Creek School District Governing Board meeting Tuesday, Jan. 12, was a contentious one, punctuated by allegations between board members and interruptions from the public.

At the start, President Tommy Stovall nominated former board president Zachary Richardson as his replacement. Board member John D. Miller seconded.

Before a vote could be cast, board member Bobbie Surber spoke, nominating fellow board member Karen McClelland.

Surber praised McClelland, the longest-serving member of the board, saying, “She has the most experience on this board.”

According to Surber, McClelland had contributed more of her time and resources to area students than any other board member.

Regardless, Richardson was reelected with the support of Stovall and Miller. Under Richardson’s previous leadership, the board was found guilty of violating open meeting laws in 2015 and public criticism of the board increased in response to the perceived ousting of West Sedona School kindergarten- through fifth-grade principal Lisa Hirsch in that same year.

Richardson first moved to nominate McClelland as board vice president, which was unanimously approved.

As the next order of business, Richardson announced that per board approval the agenda order had been altered, moving calls to the public to occur prior to each agenda item. Speakers without a specified agenda item would be read first.

Village of Oak Creek resident Marc Kincaid alerted the board that his comments were of a general nature, to which Richardson said, “I hope they’re all positive.” Kincaid was also told by Richardson to “make it quick.”

“I’m a parent of three children in the district who has lost faith,” Kincaid began, saying that “there are discrepancies that must be addressed.” Kincaid asked the board why it had raised Lykins’ salary $18,500 — from $101,500 to $120,000 for the 2015-16 school year — when the district faced declining enrollment and a reduced budget.

Kincaid added that, given the economic situation impacting district students and teachers, turning down the extra pay would have been “the morally correct thing” for Lykins to do.

PR Firm Hiring

Following Kincaid’s comments, Surber stepped down from her seat to address the board as a member of the public.

“I asked multiple times where the idea of closing Big Park Community School came from at an open board meeting,” Surber said. “The board has now learned that this was promoted by board member Richardson at a private meeting with parents on July 30, 2015, stating to parents that he wished the board had closed Big Park in 2014.

“I was told that the idea of the public relations firm was a result of the forum and roundtable, only to find out that this idea was shared by Richardson at the same meeting with parents.

“The hiring of the PR firm took place in August long before the forums. We should have been informed that the PR firm was also hired by Stovall to promote his movie [‘Sedona: The Movie’]. Now we know that the process was tainted from the very start, involving board members and our administration.”

SOCSD recently admitted that Finance Director Colleen Toscano falsified public documents regarding the PR firm hiring process that ultimately resulted in hiring the Kur Carr Group public relations firm in August.

“My continued questioning of the ethics of this board and administration has led to me being personally attacked,” Surber concluded.

After a brief counsel with SOCSD attorney C. Benson Hufford, Richardson addressed Surber.

“I also spoke with the other people at that meeting on July 30,” Richardson said, “and they don’t recall any conversation at that meeting concerning the closing of Big Park.

“We are losing community support in our school district.”

Richardson did not address Surber’s allegations concerning hiring the Kur Carr Group nor Toscano’s fabrications of documents.

Restructuring

Lykins and Toscano delivered research on the district’s restructuring options.

The bulk of the presentation focused upon the current model, which, if maintained, would result in the reduction of school staff from 91 to 65.

After seeing the data presented on Sedona Red Rock High School — set to lose 12 of its 34.5 staffers over the next four years — Miller asked SRRHS Principal Darrin Karuzas if the challenge “would impact student achievement.”

“I don’t think ‘challenging’ is the word for it,” Karuzas answered. “I want to be hopeful, but it will undoubtedly impact student achievement.”

According to Toscano, each of the models would cut staff due to declining enrollment. Moreover, each model satisfied budgetary concerns, allowing schools to continue operating. The benefit of one model over another, Lykins added, would be in combining services within a single school as opposed to stretching them between the WSS and BPCS campuses.

Jeanette Nelson

The board addressed the issue of approving the termination of longtime special education teacher Jeanette Nelson in public. Nelson had requested that her possible termination for wanting to speak with one of her students facing a life-threatening surgery termination not be discussed in executive session.

Prior to doing so, however, the board heard from Nelson’s daughter, Jennica Simon.

“Working with special needs children is not an easy job,” Simon said. “It is not a hygienic job. It is not a well-paying job. But she loves the children and will do what is right by the children because they cannot advocate for themselves.

“All she asked for was one week — one week to keep a child’s mind occupied, to keep him focused on learning and not the risk. She asked for one week to keep the district’s mandate, to do her job.”

Lykins provided the board a timeline of events compiled by WSS Principal Scott Keller and SOCSD Director of Student Services Michael Remus, documenting the interaction with Nelson.

Lykins said prior to the current action, Nelson had never received formal disciplinary measures in her two decades of employment. Nonetheless, Lykins said, her actions resulted in the three special needs students — to which Nelson had been reassigned at SRRHS — to go without assistance.

“We help one, but leave others exposed?” Lykins asked, adding that the district’s mandate is to provide service to all students in need.

Stovall said, “We have procedures for a reason.”

Surber objected to being provided a “20-plus-page document” prior to the call to terminate Nelson’s contract with the district. “This is unique to anything I’ve been asked to address on this board …. I just want to state, we should have been given this earlier. A compromise and a better solution should have been found.”

Ultimately, the motion to terminate Nelson’s employment passed 4-1 with only Surber in opposition.

Executive Session

Five hours after the opening of the meeting, the board went into executive session to discuss Toscano’s  disciplinary action for falsifying public records regarding the search for a PR firm.

However, the session result in no public motion.

Surber left the executive session a few minutes after it began and well before its closure.

On Thursday, Jan. 14, Surber said, “I think I can legally say that I left the executive session approximately five minutes after it started because it was clear we were not going to discuss the issues.”