Malta Bend school board accepts resignations, certifies election results

Sunday, April 19, 2009
By SYDNEY STONNER/Staff writer

Many changes in personnel were on the agenda at the Malta Bend Board of Education's special meeting Friday evening, April 17. The board certified the results of the April 7 election, with Susan Jansen receiving 56 votes, Ann Gorrell receiving 47 votes and Scott Moore receiving 42 votes.

After just being re-elected, Gorrell resigned her position on the board because she has been hired to be the librarian and business teacher at Malta Bend School and remaining on the board would be a conflict of interest.

Superintendent Melissa Vesser told the board that, during her application process, Gorrell was careful to keep her career and her public office separate.

"I just want everybody to know...she's been very professional about it," Vesser said.

In closed session, the board appointed Scott Moore and Casey Klein to fill vacant seats. Those interested in the positions were Scott Moore, Casey Klein, Becky O'Donnell and Cassie Painter; Klein and O'Donnell were present at the meeting.

In other business, the board accepted the resignation of first-grade teacher Veronica Bondy, who has been hired to teach at Bosworth.

Bondy was present at the meeting to talk to the board about summer school. The theme is "Adventures in Learning," she said, and 56 students, grades kindergarten through eight, are currently enrolled.

Because of the number of students, Vesser said another teacher must be hired to teach summer school. The board agreed to employ Melissa Jones for that purpose.

The board also approved four field trips for the summer school students: Paradise Park in Lee's Summit, at a cost of $750; Union Station Science City, minimum expense $360; Rock Bridge Memorial State Park in Columbia, which is free; and Burr Oak Nature Center in Blue Springs, which is also free.

The board's next meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, May 14, at 7 p.m., at which time the board will reorganize.

Contact Sydney Stonner at marshallbusiness@socket.net.

Comments

Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please Login or Create an account first, and then you will be able to flag a comment as objectionable. Please also note that those who post comments on marshallnews.com may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.

Gee............it's sad isn't it? That the people in Malta Bend will make tons of comments about the people in town who commit crimes, or the former school employees getting out of jail, but noone seems to want to talk about what is going on in the school. These are children, and their education should be the hottest topic of conversation out there.

-- Posted by ozark prof on Thu, Apr 30, 2009, at 5:19 PM

It seems to me that when you speak of professionalism, you have to take in account the siuation. Malta Bend has a reputation that is not good, they have kept this hidden for a long time, but now everyone knows. When you replace a teacher, you cannot do so with a school board memeber if they are still on the board. It doesn't matter if they were present for the entire meeting or not. Why should a school district be allowed to get away with such a thing? Does the superintendent/school board not know their school law? It is a shame that this kind of thing happens in this day and age. Does this community protect it's members to such an extent that they are willing to fill teaching possitions with their own board????

-- Posted by ozark prof on Tue, Apr 21, 2009, at 7:19 PM

Conflict of Interest in Malta Bend

Malta Bend school district hires a board member to teach; board member resigns due to conflict of interest. Sorry, too late -- the conflict has already occurred. Ms. Gorrell may be a fine candidate, but the conflict occurred when she applied for the job while still on the board. A conflict continued when she interviewed for the job while still on the board. (See P. McCorkle) The resignation needed to occur before the job search began.

Saline County school boards don't seem to recognize a conflict of interest even when it hits them in the face.

-- Posted by commish on Tue, Apr 21, 2009, at 7:05 AM