The Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board has accepted the resignations of Chief Financial Officer Katy Dowling and Chief Operations Officer Jimmy Lake, at the Wednesday evening board session.
Dowling has served as the district’s Chief Financial Officer since June of 2021. Lake has served as COO for HSE Schools since May of 2022. The item posted on the school board agenda says each of their contracts have been “paid in full.”
The board approved the consent agenda unanimously, which contained approval of those two resignations.
There have been a number of changes in the HSE Schools administration lately, starting with the resignation of previous superintendent Yvonne Stokes last September, then the recent hiring of Patrick Mapes as the HSE Schools Superintendent.
Two things concern me about this issue. First, the consent agenda for school board meetings is generally reserved for routine things like hiring a new teacher, accepting a resignation, maternity leaves, etc. These are typical matter-of-fact actions that happen routinely. These administrators had contracts with the district, I assume. I would also assume that everyone understands that at this point their resignations were forced. If removing them from their positions was so important that the Board saw fit to do that. I guess i understand that. However, was there a discussion of this at the Board meeting? Were there separation agreements with these two employees that would specify the district paying them not to work for approximately 20% of their contracted days? if so, was that part of the consent agenda? Their replacements were announced before their resignations were accepted? This seems like pretty slipshod practice to me.
Yes, the writing was on the wall pretty much since this school board was elected. The tension between Dowling and Ben Orr was palpable during public school board meetings so I could only imagine what it was like day to day. When the school board brought on a consultant to micromanage her, I knew it was only a matter of time before she “resigned”. I wish Ms. Dowling the best. I believe she served our school system well. The school board members Orr, Pascoe, Lang, and Albright, who ran on being fiscally responsible and transparent, need to look up the meaning of the terms “fiscally responsible” and “transparent”.
Administrative bloat is a problem in public school districts. The COO position was a new position that HSE never needed before. There are many redundant administrative jobs. Cutting down on administrative bloat is fiscally responsible.
Another important task is to hire candidates qualified for their positions. It is commonly expected that a CFO should have an academic background in accounting/finance. And that a CFO should be knowledgeable in accrual based accounting so they can submit correct financial statements to the Indiana State Board of Accounts.
You assert these arguements without supporting facts. You say the COO position was not needed before. How do you support that assertion? Because such a position didn’t exist, do you assume it wasn’t needed? Why then was it created if not to serve a perceived need? Administrative bloat? The point of an operating officer is to guide the operations of a buisiness to increase efficiency. They are trypically self supporting in the sense that they save more money with their guadance than they cost to employ. Removing that position will tend to increase costs.
You go on to imply that Dowling and Lake were unqualified for their positions and/or that they were unable to perform their jobs. What evidence do you present to support that assertion?
Mr. Mapes should be applauded by taxpayers for streamlining administration and reducing administrative bloat. Also the Indiana State Board of Accounts is a public website available for anyone to review the financial statements of Hamilton Southeastern.
Hopefully, with the enormous increase in the superintendent salary and benefit package Mr. Maples will be the one who picks up the extra work left by eliminating the COO position. I find it hard to believe that the COO was unnecessary considering the size of the school district, 28 schools, 21,000 students, 2,500 employees.