BonnerSprings.com

During a special meeting Tuesday night, the USD 204 Bonner Springs-Edwardsville Board of Education unanimously approved two terminations forced by budget cuts: Larry Randall, custodian with Delaware Ridge Elementary, and Roger Smith, district maintenance worker.

The special meeting was needed to finally pass Randall and Smith’s terminations, after the June 21 board meeting where the motion to pass them failed 3-3, with members Ray Cox, David Pierce and Lewis Wood opposed. Member Connie Hadley was absent from that meeting.

After the June 21 meeting, board president Gregg Gibson questioned whether the layoffs should have been voted on for the second time in the first place. He reasoned the layoffs had been approved already in May and when form letters alerting the workers to the loss of their jobs had already been sent out. This method of handing out the pink slip before a layoff had been officially approved is standard practice, district officials say.

Regardless of whether the June 21 motion had been necessary, Gibson said after the special meeting that district attorney Charles Thomas had advised the board that, having made a motion already, another motion should go ahead and be made in regards to the layoffs.

During Tuesday night’s meeting, the board broke for a 15-minute executive session, following which the layoffs were unanimously approved. Cox, who had originally opposed the terminations due to his disagreement with how they were handled, said he changed his vote based on what occurred during that executive session.

“We had a pretty good conversation in the executive session,” Cox, who refrained from giving any specific details as to what was discussed, said. “Everybody said what they wanted to say, so I was satisfied.”

Also during the special meeting, the board:

• Unanimously approved warrants totaling $340,669.15.

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