September 11, 2015 at 4:00 PM - Superintendent's Weekly Update to the Board of Education

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Please see attached the agenda for a pre-construction coordination meeting earlier this week.  Jim and Dale attended the meeting with Joel, Tony and me.

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Please see attached two copies of the District Policies on the Terms and Conditions of Employment for Non-Union Employees in years 2015-17.  The document with the red highlighted letters illustrates our changes made to the terms and conditions over the past few board meetings.  The other document is a clean "final" copy that'll be included in the board packet on September 21. 

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I visited with Kelly last Friday about the Royals Wrestling Club investigation.  She was hopeful of having everything completed in the next few weeks.

I spent a little more time reviewing the Royals Wrestling Club's 990-EZ Forms for years 2009 through 2013.  Michelle Hauber has contacted the IRS and ordered me their completed 2014 form.  Unfortunately, it can take up to six (6) weeks to receive a copy in the mail.

It would be much easier to explain the first four attachments in person, but I'll give it a try to explain a few of the main points of concern in my Friday letter.

I used the available data in the IRS 990-EZ Forms (2009-13) to get a better picture on how many dollars the Royals Wrestling Club is taking out of our community, and then claiming to support the Royalton School District wrestling program.  Then, I compared these figures with what we actually know the Royalton School District has received from the club in donations.

Let's use 2013 as an example.  The Royals Wrestling Club received $64,390 in public support (says so on the 990-EZ form).  They had direct expenses related to their gaming and fundraising activities (again found in their 990-EZ form).  $34,773 was the remaining revenue after accounting for direct expenses (found in 990-EZ form).  The Royals Wrestling club claimed they supported the Royals Wrestling program in the amount of $26,090 (found in 990-EZ form).  Royalton School District records show the Royals Wrestling Club supported students and the school in the amount of $1,450 in 2013.

It doesn't take a genius........

A few more things to know are the following:  

1) look what happened to the numbers in 2012 and forward.  Tom Justin, Brent Lieser, me and others visited with the Royals Wrestling Club about concerns with too many wrestling coaches and Title IX compliance.  What happened?  They went underground and became even more dishonest with the community and School District.

2) One may assume the Royals Wrestling Club has lots of money in a fund balance.  How else can they be taking all of this money out of the community year after year AND the School District isn't receiving it?  Well, on their 990-EZ forms they're fairly consistent in showing a $15,000 to $30,000 "Net assets or fund balance at end of year."

Folks, we're not talking about a few thousand missing dollars.  We're talking about $100,000 - $150,000 (and possibly more) unexplained expenditures for over the past 10 years.

So much more to explain in these first two documents.

Note:  The second document uses assumptions at the bottom of the sheet.  We do not have the 2014 990-EZ form yet and four months remain in 2015.  I used an estimated average.  What you'll see is the even larger gap between what the Royals Wrestling Club claims to have donated to the Royalton School District wrestling program and what it actually did.    

Documents three and four illustrate a comparison of dollars spent on each student activity.  This is important for Title IX compliance.  In the third attachment you will see more money is spent on average per student in wrestling than the other activities.  This was especially seen in 2015 when our participation numbers dropped 44% last year and down to 20 wrestlers in grades 7-12.

Now, look at the fourth attached document.  IF the Royals Wrestling Club is claiming to have supported the wrestling program in the amounts they reported to the IRS each year, we're WAY out of Title IX compliance.  This is why they must work with the school and be totally transparent with us.

Again, too much to explain in a Friday letter.  I invite you to call or come in and see me.    

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Please see attached the weekly bills for your approval.