At a special Manawa School Board meeting, Monday, Oct. 8, the board voted not to reduce or waive the $4,500 liquidated damages former math teacher, Joe Isham, owes.
The vote was unanimous. Rob Karski and Dave Strebe were absent from the meeting.
Isham was the math teacher the past five years at Little Wolf High School before submitting his resignation in late August to accept a teaching position in the Pulaski School District.
Isham submitted his resignation 30 days after a deadline in his contract that stipulated he would be charged $150 per day for each day after the deadline that his resignation was submitted. The total dollar amount of liquidated damages came to $4,500.
District Administrator Ed Dombrowski said Isham’s resignation put the district in a “precarious position” and the pool of math teacher candidates was thin. He said the district was lucky to be able to hire a quality replacement for Isham so close to the start of the school year.
Dombrowski recommended the board not reduce or waive the liquidated damages.
After the vote, Isham addressed the board.
He thanked the board for its time and said he enjoyed the five years he spent at Manawa. He said the Pulaski School District called him at the last minute and he made the decision to take the Pulaski job because he has family in the Green Bay area and his wife works in Green Bay.
He also gave each board member a list of contributions he made to the Manawa School District during his five years. A contribution he stressed was when the Manawa School District needed a physics teacher three years ago he did what was needed to become certified to teach physics. The district did not reimburse him for the cost of becoming certified.
Board President Kurt Kreklow thanked Isham for his dedication to the Manawa School District.
Board Treasurer Paul Sturm also thanked Isham for his service to the district. He also told Isham the board didn’t have a problem with him, but if the board made an exception for him, then it would have to make an exception the next time this issue came up.