Wisconsin school superintendent in battle over early retirement compensation
From Sunshine Review
August 22, 2009 Last month, former Eau Claire Area Schools, Wisconsin superintendent Bill Klaus filed suit against the school district, but his efforts may not stand up to the evidence the district says it has.[1]
[edit] The letter
Klaus denied having direct involvement in the creation of a document that would allow him to receive a $267,209 retirement stipend before retiring. This denial could be pivotal in determining how the federal lawsuit he filed in July proceeds.
The school district can discredit Klaus' $1.19 million lawsuit if it can prove he directed someone to create the document. The school board placed a 10-month suspension on Klaus in his position, for the most part because of they believed he directed someone to write the letter in question.
On the other side, if Klaus' lawyers can prove there was distance between Klaus and the creation and backdating the document, it could help the federal case. The document is now known as the "Olson memo." It is named for former school board President Carol Olson because he admitted he signed and backdated it.
"[Klaus'] claims regarding the Olson memo are clearly a key in this lawsuit and a matter of great interest to us in our defense," said Kirk Strang, a Madison lawyer representing the school district. "We have a strong case, and we plan on presenting it."
Scott Winston is Kalus' attorney who filed the lawsuit on his behalf.
Klaus faced suspension by the Eau Claire school board from Aug. 11, 2008, through June 15 without pay for his alleged attempt to access his retirement stipend before he retired without official board approval.
The board launched an investigation, determining that in June 2007 Klaus had Olson sign and backdate the letter that would allow Klaus to begin receiving his monthly stipend payments starting August 2007.[1]
[edit] July's suit
Klaus' lawyer filed the lawsuit against the district in federal court on July 31, 2009, alleging that the former superintendent "was not involved in the drafting or execution of said memo in any fashion."
These words are counter to prior statements Klaus made to the Leader-Telegram and others concerning his role.
The Leader-Telegram reported that during interviews that contributed to an April 19, 2008 Leader-Telegram story about the retirement stipend ordeal, Klaus said he had asked Olson to sign and backdate it. Klaus told other sources he had asked his administrative assistant, Patti Iverson, to draft the memo and have Olson sign it.
Sources familiar with the issue said that last summer Klaus told the school board he wasn't involved in the document's creation. He told Eau Claire police a similar statement, saying that he did not tell his assistant to type the memo and nor did he direct anyone to date it.[1]
[edit] Others' accounts
Olson told police that Klaus contacted her in June 2007 to ask her to come to the district's administration building. Olson said that Iverson showed her the memo and told her to backdate is to Feb. 5, 2007. This is the date the board had approved Klaus' most recent contract.
Iverson told the police she didn't recall details of who directed whom and what was said.
Klaus contends that the contract that the board approved included the stipend provision. However, board members who approved the contract disagree about whether their vote allowed Klaus to have access to his retirement money early.
Olson and former colleagues JoAnne Evans and Mike O'Brien said this was the intent of their vote, but others, including the current board President Carol Craig, disagree. The later deny the board approved Klaus' early retirement payments and board meeting minutes do not show the board voting on that issue.
The early retirement payments were not made after questions prompted a closed-door school board meeting, followed by a vote disallowing the former superintendent’s early stipend disbursements.[1]
[edit] Other claims
Klaus' suit makes many other claims against the district, including that Klaus's contract entitles him to early retirement stipend, that board members made defamatory statements against him, that the board denied Klaus the opportunity to tell his side of the story during its investigation last summer and that the board did not to provide public notice of Klaus' contract discussions in September and October 2007.[1]
[edit] External links
- Eau Claire Area Schools website
- "School board missteps were many," Leader-Telegraph, August 16, 2008
[edit] References
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