Committees or no committees?

CLINTONVILLE – Six months after questioning the work of the Clintonville School District’s Finance Committee and advocating for non-board members in the district be allowed to serve on the district’s committees, Clintonville Board of Education President Glen Drew Lundt has questioned the usefulness of the district’s committees.
Lundt questioned the usefulness of the district’s committees during the Committee Reports portion of the Jan. 12 Clintonville Board of Education meeting. At the meeting, Clintonville Superintendent Troy Kuhn asked the board to set a goal regarding portions of the district’s finances. Lundt asked Kuhn if he was asking a committee or the board to set the goal.
“What do you envision the definition of what you said?” Lundt asked.
Kuhn said when he was hired as superintendent; he was told that the Rec Center Committee was formed because it was part of the Community Services Fund 80 and part of the referendum.
“Then when the childcare (Dellwood) was created, they followed suit because of the Rec Center,” Kuhn said. “Now how deep does that hole go? Do we need to have a middle school athletics committee too? Do we need to have Trucker U committee? Because all of this is community service money currently.”

He said if the district is going to set a goal for Fund 80, there needs to be a Fund 80 committee and stop discussing things separately.
“Well, to be blatantly honest, the problem in this is we keep talking, but nothing ever changes,” Lundt said.
Kuhn said he needs direction.
Lundt said the district’s committee system is not working.
“If we’re not having meetings, we’re not talking about goals, and we’re not getting stuff done, it’s a new year and it’s time to start making some changes and start getting to the point,” Lundt said. “With the referendum on the horizon, if we can’t be fiscally responsible and start making some decisions that actually have positive impacts, we are all wasting our time here.”
Lundt recommended possibly eliminating all of the district’s committees.
Kuhn said that would lead to a committee of the whole structure where the entire board would be involved with an issue from the beginning.
“Maybe that will help align us all,” Lundt said. “Now I’ve been on plenty of other boards where this (committee system) works very well, but its not working well here. And that’s fine, different people, whatever, I think we have to shake this up a little bit and try something different because it’s not working.”
The board decided to discuss the future of the district’s committee system at a future board meeting.