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Bonner Springs-Edwardsville USD 204 Board members Monday night failed to approve two terminations after form letters had already been sent out to two district workers notifying them their jobs had been cut.

A motion to pass the terminations of Larry Randall, custodian with Delaware Ridge Elementary, and Roger Smith, district maintenance worker, failed 3-3, with members Ray Cox, David Pierce and Lewis Wood opposed. Board member Connie Hadley was absent from the meeting.

Though the cuts were part of a package of layoffs approved at the May 20 board meeting, Cox said he took issue with the way Randall and Smith were informed of their terminations: by way of a form letter dated June 16, telling them June 16 would be their last day of work with the district. Randall and Smith will still be paid a two weeks severance package.

“It’s very impersonal,” Cox said. “I just swore after the December vote (where layoffs were approved) I was just going to re-evaluate any (future) vote (regarding terminations made by form letter).”

Prior to the vote, Pierce asked that an executive session be held to discuss the matter. The board met in closed session for 10 minutes, following which the vote was taken and the motion failed due to the tie vote.

Having never experienced an incident such as this, board president Gregg Gibson said he had no idea what would happen with the layoffs and whether they would be upheld. After the vote, he asked if any members wanted to reconsider their vote. The response was a silent room.

Tami Koppang, business and finance director, specified that it wasn’t the staff members themselves being eliminated, but their positions — positions the board removed from the budget in an effort to make ends meet next school year.

She said the next step would probably be to hold a special meeting of the board so that a final decision as to the layoffs can be made.

• More of what went on during Monday night’s Board of Education meeting will be in the June 24 issue of The Chieftain.

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