JEFFERSON TWP — Two parents of students in the South Butler School District voiced concerns with the district’s transparency and disciplinary decisions Wednesday night at a school board meeting.

Shannon Adomaitis, who previously criticized the board about its decision not to expel a student who violated the drug and alcohol policy in the same incident as her expelled son, talked to the board about a lack of transparency.

According to the board, the public can only ask questions at meetings about issues the board voted on that evening, a matter than Adomaitis took issue with last week.

In addition, she said she requested copies of the business agreements being voted on at Wednesday’s meeting from Paul Slomer, the board secretary and district director of business affairs, and never received them.

“During our phone conversation, he informed me that the agreements were not available to the public until after the board’s final vote at tonight’s meeting,” she told the board.

“He informed me that I could ask questions during the comments section of the meeting tonight, after the board had already voted on them. But I reminded him I could not ask questions because I wouldn’t have seen the agreements yet to know if I had questions.”

Adomaitis said the district was blocking any criticism or feedback from its taxpayers, what she calls “smoke and mirrors.”

“If the school board is voted in to office by members of this community to represent the taxpayers of this community, then why are we not allowed access to agreements involving millions of dollars of our taxpayer money until after they have already entered into these agreements?” she asked.

“Openness and transparency is the basis of any successful organization. There should be no reason why this information is withheld.”

In response, district solicitor Tom Breth told Adomaitis that the district’s predecisional documents are not public records under the Right to Know Act.

“Once they’re voted on, then they become public records,” Breth said.

However, taxpayers are free to submit Right to Know requests to the district to view agreements before the vote, Breth said.

“The board may make those records public at their own choosing,” he said.

Parent Melissa Sutton also questioned the transparency of the district and how the administration handles disciplinary issues.

“The (meeting) agenda isn’t even posted in advance for the public to address anything,” she told the board. “We aren’t allowed into the meetings early enough to review the agenda provided or prepare anything ahead of time, and as evident last week, we certainly aren’t permitted to publicly ask anything to the board as a whole if it’s not already on the agenda and voted upon.”

Sutton added, “All of these items makes one question the information that is being shared by the board.”

For her part, Sutton feels as though she is not free to ask questions of the board.

As for her issues with the administration and board’s disciplinary decisions, Sutton said, “My story goes along with the inconsistencies in the district. It starts with the administration. We’re not handling things fairly.”

Sutton told the board that her daughter was verbally and physically harassed just before the end of the school year. In light of how the district handled the situation, her daughter has chosen to withdraw from the district.

Sutton said she notified guidance and the administration of the issue, which was even caught on a surveillance camera in the school. She said she knew the administrators had seen that footage, but when she later contacted security at the school, the department was unaware of any incident.

“I guess (the incident) also wasn’t important enough to keep the portion of the video surveillance either,” she said.

Sutton also claimed an administrator told her that if the incident had occurred earlier in the year, the other girl involved would have been suspended.

Superintendent David Zupsic, who admitted that he was not too familiar with the situation, could not say why a different disciplinary action would have been suggested if the event happened earlier in the year.

For the Suttons, it seems that the district wants to decide if “they feel like dealing with (the situation),” and it puts arbitrary time frames on when students can be disciplined.

Sutton said, “Every child is important. Every child is to be kept safe, and every child is to be treated fairly.

“That is not being done ... As elected members of the school board and administrators responsible for the welfare of our kids, each of you should be acting in the best interest of the students as a whole, not just those with influence and connections.”

At the meeting, Zupsic made a statement to the public, saying: “The board and the district are dedicated to providing a safe learning environment for all students. The students and parents cooperation is always appreciated.”