Shawano School District business operations director Bryan Kadlec has also been providing business services to the Beecher-Dunbar-Pembine School District over the past year, and the Shawano School Board has approved a deal allowing him to continue to do so.
Kadlec was contracted last year to provide up to 26 days of service, or 10% of the year, to the other school district, but the new deal allows up to 15 days over the next 12 months. The deal is expected to bring anywhere from $9,500 to $10,500 in revenue to the Shawano School District.
“The reality is the district doesn’t need as much time, so overall that’s a good thing,” Kadlec said. “Last year, when we went through this, the fact is it’s a win-win for our school district, and it continues to be.”
School board members expressed concern about whether Kadlec’s attention was fully focused on local school business operations. Board member Frank Kugel asked where Kadlec’s “base of operations” is, to which Kadlec said that he spends one or two days each week in the district office but works remotely the rest of the time.
That news didn’t sit well with board member Bobbi Lemerond, who expressed concern about whether it was helping or hurting the district having Kadlec on-site for only part of the time.
“Considering you’re also managing human resources and other areas, my concern is that if you’re going to be splitting services with another district, and you’re already splitting time on-site, are all of those people going to get the time that they require when they need you?” Lemerond said.
Kadlec said the remote work hasn’t caused an issue in the three years he has worked in Shawano.
Board member Tim Renard said that was fine when Kadlec was just handling the finance side of things, but because his workload has increased to oversee other departments, it brings into question whether the director should be working in-person in the district.
“I want you focused on the Shawano School District,” Renard said. “You’re taking on a new role, something that you’ve not done before.”
Kadlec said he’d previously worked in other school districts where he was overseeing both finance and human resources.
Board President Christine McKinnies disagreed with the concerns about where Kadlec was working. She noted that she usually prefers staff to be working at the schools, but she said the remote work has been going on the last three years, with the board never asking about the arrangements.
“In your role, it makes the most sense for finances and all that,” McKinnies said. “A phone call or an email can get questions answered. I don’t have to have you in-person to deal with a student who is misbehaving.”
Kadlec said he has a contract with Shawano for 260 days of work, minus any vacation or personal time. Last year, he worked for 280 days, 26 of them for the Beecher-Dunbar-Pembine School District.
“If there’s any time between Shawano or Pembine, Shawano takes priority No. 1, and that’s not been questioned,” Kadlec said.
Renard said he still believes district employees should be focused solely on Shawano schools, even though there is money coming to the district for Kadlec’s services.
“Nine thousand dollars is not a lot of money,” Renard said.
Board member Jeana Winslow questioned the wisdom in keeping Kadlec strictly for the Shawano School District, especially with budgets getting tighter and candidate pools shrinking.
“We can’t afford a Bryan 100% of the time. Neither can Pembine or Gresham or Marion or all the other school districts,” Winslow said. “We have to start getting creative, even with teachers down the road.”
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
