WB-M community digs deep
Raises more than $850,000 to cover district’s operating costsBy SANDY MICKELSON, Messenger staff writer
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WEST BEND - West Bend-Mallard schools got a hefty shot in the arm recently when the two communities raised more than $850,000 to get the school out of budget trouble.
That was cash money, too - pledges wouldn't count.
Without this influx of funds, the school might have been closed by the Iowa Department of Education. A similar problem, coupled with noncompliance in several academic areas, closed the Russell School District recently.
To add to its financial woes, the West Bend-Mallard School District lost its superintendent, Dr. John Phillips, by resignation on May 8 and its principal, Sam Swenson, on Monday night, effective immediately.
While both men resigned during the school's financial crisis, school officials would not say there was any connection.
School board president Pat Madsen said the financial problem isn't new to the West Bend-Mallard school, but it's a problem that finally came to a head.
''The first year that we found out we'd overspent, the following year we applied for a modified allowable growth to the School Budget Review Committee in Des Moines,'' he said. ''We submitted a workout plan; they reviewed that plan. If they feel it's a workable plan, they give you the authority to move money to the general fund account.''
That money kept the school afloat.
Being over budget isn't something that can be noticed and rectified immediately. The school, Madsen said, doesn't know there will be budget problems until the new year is already under way, with necessary hiring done. By the time the shortfall is realized, the school is well into another year.
A school usually can get a modified allowable growth plan twice, but by the third year something must be done.
Carla Montag, board secretary/business manager at the school, said, ''They approved our overspending. We didn't have to make it up right away. The third year they said, 'No, we're not authorizing this. You have to do something else.'''
That something else was a community appeal in the form of a letter sent to families of school children and alumni asking for financial help. The call was answered. Within 18 days, the communities donated $852,953.62 to the school through the West Bend-Mallard Achievement Foundation. More money, likely, will be coming.
Getting the money into the school's general fund by June 30, the end of the fiscal year, keeps the school from being overdrawn for a fourth year, Montag said.
''The raising of the money, that was really a community effort,'' she said. ''But that isn't the first time West Bend has rallied around.''
She said community support brought the medical clinic to town. Shareholders saved the Ford garage, which has since been sold back into private ownership, and helped keep the lumber store alive and built the Park View Inn & Suites. Community support both in West Bend and in Mallard raised money for playground equipment at each of the schools.
Because a school district must have a superintendent - a chief executive officer, so to speak - Pocahontas Superintendent Joe Kramer agreed to step in for Phillips until the end of the school year, June 30.
Now, Dr. Kay Forsythe, chief administrator of the Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency, will be acting superintendent. A search has been started for a part-time, interim superintendent, Madsen said, preferably someone with a strong financial background.
Community residents and alumni aren't the only ones donating to a school in crisis. Teachers of the district have gone back to school several times already this summer, Montag said. Without pay. Another work day is scheduled on Tuesday.
''They're just trying to get all their ducks in a row as far as the curriculum,'' she said. ''They come in and work together to get everything together for when we have an audit'' of standards and benchmarks.
That audit is the second step in getting out of trouble with the state.
Sometime in early fall, the SBRC will go into the school to check what's called the standards and benchmarks - the requirements and goals.
Part of getting the general fund in order included cutting personnel - 80 percent of the general fund is spent on salaries. Some retiring teachers weren't replaced, other teachers were given reduced hours.
Physical education and health teacher Julie Zaugg, of West Bend, is one of those whose hours were cut by half. She doesn't like it, of course, but she's willing to wait to see what may open up. In the meantime, she's making sure her class lesson plans for third- through eighth-grades are in order.
''They want to make sure the classes are taught by certified teachers,'' Zaugg said. ''Not only are they going to make sure I teach the right things, I've got to prove it.''
Zaugg said she is awed by the outpouring of money for the school.
''It is so humbling to think people gave money - times aren't that great,'' she said. ''That gives us an incredible responsibility as a staff to get everything verified.''
Contact Sandy Mickelson at (515) 573-2141 or smickelson@messengernews.net
