SCHOOL BOARD, FOUNDATION PLEDGE UNITY

The Cape Girardeau schools foundation board approved bylaws Saturday morning. Now, say members of the foundation board and the Board of Education, it's time for both entities to put aside recent controversies and get down to business.

Saturday's action came in the wake of school board member Terry Taylor's call to disband the foundation, a private fund-raising arm for the school district, because of letters by foundation president Kathy Swan criticizing school board members.

Taylor said after the meeting that he's hopeful the foundation and school board can work together.

"I feel better about it now," he said. "I think that as individuals and as a group we're ready to work with the foundation and try to move forward."

School board member Steve Wright, who last week resigned from the foundation board in protest of an earlier plan to close the meeting and hold it at Swan's home, said he's reconsidered his resignation.

"I think I'll probably withdraw that and stay on it," Wright said. "The whole function of the foundation is to be another source of income for the district that can be used to better the district. I think as long as the foundation and the school board are working toward the same goals, I think it's very beneficial for the district."

Foundation board member Lyle Davis chaired Saturday's meeting, which was held at the school board office.

Davis, who is moving out of the school district, said he will be resigning from the foundation board "in two or three weeks."

Davis said the foundation is a viable entity.

"This thing can grow and do very well," he said. "We've got $19,000 without even breathing hard."

He said foundation board members were "desperately trying to guard against any possibility of cronyism" by recruiting new members.

The board is currently made up of Davis, Dr. Pat Ruopp, Swan and Ed Thompson, all former school board members.

"I hope that this foundation can get the support of the school district and the district can get the support of the school foundation, which I think it has, to go in the same direction," Davis said.

Davis asked Dr. Bob Fox, school board president, if Fox wanted the foundation to "disband or dissolve or just go away?"

"I think everyone's pretty much in agreement that the basic principles are excellent," Fox replied. "I don't think there's any feeling on anybody's part to disband or dissolve it, and I don't think that was ever anybody's intent."

Al Spradling III, the foundation's attorney, said disbanding the organization wouldn't be easy.

The foundation board would have to go through "very strident procedural steps" to disband, Spradling said, including filing a plan of disbursement for the $19,663.36 it has collected, and notifying the Missouri Attorney General's office of the dissolution.

"You have a good foundation, and all you have to do is get it moving," he said.

The bylaws approved Saturday stipulate establishing a board of directors made up of seven to 15 voting members, including a representative of the school board and a faculty representative.

Terms will be staggered, Spradling said, and no member will be allowed to serve more than two consecutive terms.

He advised the foundation board that they will have to meet again "shortly to solicit members, since you have expanded your board."

With the bylaws, Swan said, it will be easier for the foundation to continue business.

"It was difficult for the foundation to do anything without bylaws," she said.

In addition to looking for new members, the foundation's next step will be filing for 501C3 status, she said, to give donors federal tax exemptions for their gifts, and to work with incoming school superintendent Dan Tallent to determine the district's needs and priorities.

"The foundation board needs assistance from the school district and particularly Dr. Tallent about what the district's financial and education needs will be," Swan said.

During the meeting, Taylor said he hopes foundation board members will stop criticizing school board members.

"I just can't see how we're going to work with you if you're going to say these things," he told Swan, referring to the letters she wrote.

The letters contained criticisms of school board members for comments they made to the Southeast Missourian regarding the board's decision to buy out Dr. Neyland Clark's contract as superintendent.

"May I put some closure to this?" Swan asked. "What some see as criticism, others see as facts."

Swan said she made the comments as a private individual, not as a member of the foundation.

"I had chosen and will continue to choose to make my comments in a private manner," she said. "I am not a public official. I did not even intend to make those comments public."

She added that she plans to continue working on the district's behalf.

Ruopp told Taylor that board members have to expect some criticism of their actions.

"I think it's unrealistic to think that criticism is not going to occur, particularly in people that do have experience in the ropes of education business," he said, adding that such criticism "should be handled in a very constructive way and in a very professional way."

Thompson said he has "no intention of staying on the board. I'd leave like (Davis). It wouldn't bother me to quit and walk out the door."