The Jefferson City Board of Education met in a closed work session Friday to hear the results of an investigation into allegations of violent student behavior at Moreau Heights Elementary School.
Shellie L. Guin, an attorney with the Guin Mundorf LLC law firm in Kansas City, presented her findings to the board Friday at the district's central offices. According to her online profile, Guin has more than 19 years of experience practicing in the areas of education law.
The report, to date, has cost the district $34,578, which came from the district's legal expense budget.
Guin was hired in the wake of complaints last fall about the school's management. After an outpouring of parental concern about dangerous and disruptive students at Moreau Heights on Oct. 13, the school board agreed to investigate the allegations.
Some of the allegations raised included complaints of students biting, punching and kicking teachers. Other allegations included throwing desks, hair pulling and destroying physical property. Sometimes these outbursts resulted in entire classrooms being evacuated.
The October audience was one of the largest turnouts to a board meeting in years, and the board appeared prepared for the onslaught of remarks.
As the meeting started, Vice President Doug Whitehead told listeners - mostly parents and teachers - the board typically takes comments under advisement and the board was already "very familiar" with what had been happening at the school. He also noted a three-member committee - John Ruth, Ken Theroff and Alan Mudd - had agreed to serve on a subcommittee to look into matters at the school.
Whitehead told the crowd "updates would be forthcoming ... from this independent committee and investigation. I hope you know and respect some things the law will prevent us from getting into too much detail about."
At Friday's closed work session, board members appeared to be getting an initial glimpse at what Guin learned in the investigation, which is also being referred to by the district as a "behavior audit."
Prior to the meeting Friday, Ruth talked briefly about the board's process.
He said he and his colleagues' hope is to be able to discuss the situation with more specificity at a later date, and he said a public report - cleansed of identifiable student and staff information - would likely be released eventually.
"We're here as an opportunity to see what she (Guin) found," Ruth said.
He also said board members weren't quite clear about whether they were calling the process an "investigation" or an "audit."
"There is no playbook to go to for these kinds of things," Ruth added.
According to her website, Guin has experience practicing in the areas of education law, labor and employment law, insurance defense and litigation. She also provides general advice and counsel to public school district clients concerning a variety of areas, including personnel matters, contract negotiations, student/parent issues, board policy and liability, compliance issues, special education and general liability issues.
Guin also advises school districts on employment matters such as personnel management, termination, wage and hour issues, discrimination claims, employee leave and contracts.
It's not clear when or how the Board of Education hired the Guin Mundorf law firm.
On Friday, the News Tribune submitted questions asking when the board approved the contract with the firm and the scope of work described in the document. Board members and administrators have not addressed the questions.