Cape school board: Control of operations limited in scope

At a forum to explain the role of school board members, Cape Girardeau school board members Monday night said their control over school operations is largely limited to hiring the superintendent.

The goal of the forum was to inform school board candidates or prospective candidates. Only school board candidate Paul Nenninger attended the 45-minute session. To date, he's the only person who has filed as a candidate. School board members Laura Sparkman and Tim Arbeiter so far haven't filed for re-election.

School board members said they learned upon getting elected that they had little authority in actually running the school district. "Hiring the superintendent is the most important thing the school board does," said board member Steven Trautwein. "The superintendent is our one employee, and then he takes care of everything else."

Board president Sharon Mueller said board members look to superintendent Dr. David Scala for answers to problems and issues in the school district. "We ultimately look at Dr. Scala and say, 'What are you going to do about this?'"

Said Mueller, "It's not our job to be the problem solver."

School board members said Scala has done a good job of informing them about district operations via e-mails.

Board members plan to fill out evaluation forms concerning Scala's performance as superintendent and to discuss the evaluations at a closed-door meeting next month.