Beulah Public School
AGO 2019-O-10
No. 2019-O-10
North Dakota Attorney General Opinion
July 1, 2019
ISSUED
TO: Beulah Public School
CITIZEN’S
REQUEST FOR OPINION
This
office received a request for an opinion under N.D.C.C.
§ 44-04-21.1 from Bruce W. Neuberger asking whether the
Beulah Public School violated N.D.C.C. § 44-04-20 by
failing to provide notice of meetings.
FACTS
PRESENTED
The
Beulah Board of Education consists of seven members and holds
regular meetings on the second Thursday of every
month.
1 Beulah Public School received its
2017-2018 audit from the North Dakota State Auditor’s
office on February 14, 2019. A regular Board meeting was
already scheduled for February 14, so the audit was added to
the meeting agenda.
2 During the meeting, the Board voted to
table discussion on the audit until its next regular meeting,
giving the Board members time to review.
3 The school’s
superintendent, Travis Jordan, told the Board that they could
call him or the school’s business manager, Krista
Richau, with any questions while reviewing the
audit.
4
On
March 10, 2019, Mr. Bruce Neuberger, requestor of this
opinion, sent an email to all Board members with his
interpretation and concerns of the audit.
5 That same day,
Superintendent Jordan spoke by telephone with the Board
Chair, Stacee McLaughlin, regarding the audit and email from
Mr. Neuberger.
[6] After the call, Superintendent
Jordan sent the following text message to all Board members:
You all received an email from Bruce N today. Coincidently I
had a long discussion with Mandan Supt today and they got the
same recommendations in their audit – as does most
school districts. If you have any individual questions you
can give me a call or else I have some thoughts that I will
share with you all at the meeting this week. Please
don’t respond all to this text.
Superintendent
Jordan and business manager Richau contacted the State
Auditor on March 11, 2019, regarding the audit and concerns
raised by Mr. Neuberger’s email.
7 Superintendent
Jordan called Chair McLaughlin later that day to relay what
was discussed with the auditor, who did not have any
significant concerns.
8
Superintendent
Jordan had a telephone conversation with Board member Dan
Ziman on March 12, 2019, regarding the matrix salary proposed
by the Beulah Education Association.
9 Board member Ziman
also spoke with the business manager earlier that day about
the audit.
10
The
Board’s vice chair, Jennifer Steffan, also spoke with
the business manager on March 12, 2019, about the Cost Basis
of Accounting Method.
11
The
Board discussed the audit at its next regular meeting on
March 21, 2019.
12 During the discussion,
Superintendent Jordan reiterated that he answered questions
from a few board members, and that he also had discussions
with the State Auditor about the findings. The Board approved
the audit by motion.
13
Other
than what is noted above, there were no other conversations
regarding the audit by any...
