Sep 4, 2002 By The 4 min read

CONNELLSVILLE – Local school district officials say there’s a variety of reasons why they don’t send school board members to the National School Board Association. Only two local school districts, Frazier and Laurel Highlands, sent school board members to the NSBA’s annual conference, held April 5-9 in New Orleans.

Officials in the Connellsville Area School District noted that problems with traveling to the association’s conference in past years still haunts the district and the issue hasn’t even been discussed in recent years.

“The school board has pretty much shied away from going to any conferences,” said William Harper, Connellsville Area School District business manager. “It’s something that is rarely addressed in the (annual) budget discussions or at (regular) meetings.”

In 1992, five former school board members were charged with submitting $4,092.66 in falsified expense vouchers to the district after their attendance at national conventions over a three-year period.

In 2000, a request by then-board member Dale Chess was nixed when he asked to attend a national conference in Orlando, Fla.

At that time, Chess speculated the overall board decision was tied to the 1992 incident.

“I think a lot of people look at it as a vacation at the taxpayers’ expense,” said board member Francis Mongell. “And what happened in 1992 is still in the back of everyone’s mind.”

Mongell added that he favors the panel having discussions concerning travel for limited numbers of members and that the stigma associated with the decade-old “travel scandal” be put to rest.

“What happened (in 1992) was more of a record-keeping problem and since we have implemented a much stricter policy that would not allow that kind of thing to happen again,” he said.

Mongell, a board member since 1995, advocates directors taking part in state conferences, noting that participants would be given an opportunity to interact with other district’s board members and discuss more relevant matters.

“I think that a state conference would be more beneficial in that we are all dealing with the same department of education and facing similar problems,” he said.

Mongell further stated that budgetary constraints would also remain a factor, if the board were to reconsider sending members to any out-of-area events.

Harper, meanwhile, said the district sets aside approximately $5,000 for board travel.

“The only place they have gone is to Greensburg for training sessions,” he said.

Brownsville Area School District Superintendent Dr. Gerry Grant said she did not ask the school board for permission to go and the board did not consider sending any of its members because the district had a $925,000 budget deficit at that time and continues to experience financial problems.

“There was no way I was going to ask in good conscience to go,” Grant said. “With a deficit fund balance, it’s just not feasible to send anybody to that conference this year.”

Grant, who was an assistant superintendent in the Forest Hills School District before she was hired by Brownsville in 2000, said she has attended NSBA conferences in the past and considers them valuable experiences for administrators and board members.

“I consider it a worthwhile conference to attend. I think it’s good for the board and the superintendent to go,” she said.

“The caliber of people they bring in is great,” Grant said.

There are no travel restrictions on school board members, administrators or students in the California Area School District, as long as the expense has been budgeted, according to district officials.

Six school board members attended the Intermediate Unit convention, at a cost of $20 a person. No board members attended the National School Boards Association Conference in New Orleans.

The district superintendent, Dr. Marian Stephens, attended the American Association of School Administrators convention in San Diego this year as her contract allows. The trip cost an estimated $1,500.

Belle Vernon Area School Board President Aaron Bialon said that officials in his district haven’t attended a national convention since 1995.

Bialon, who has been on the board since 1998, said that he thought the board quit attending after some questions were raised by the public about the cost associated with attending the event.

However, Bialon said that the board still has a written policy that states that directors can attend the event upon giving a 12-week notice and ratification by the board.

Bethlehem-Center School District Superintendent Dr. Herman Jackson attended the conference but no board members were there.

He said the trip cost approximately $1,800, which included airfare, hotel accommodations and conference registration.