By a 4-1 vote the school board of School District 166 voted to terminate Facilities and Transportation Director Mike Groth from his job effective Friday, October 5.
Tom Nelson, a custodian at the school, was approved as acting director and will be paid at a rate of $19.05 per hour plus overtime.
The board met in special session on October 5 to discuss and vote on a number of matters, including alleged misconduct by Groth. What that misconduct entailed wasn’t made public by the board. They met in a closed session for about 35 minutes.
Once out of the closed session School Board Chair Mary Sanders addressed Groth, who was in attendance at the meeting and sat with the public, and asked him if he had anything to say to the board before a resolution or vote was taken about the matter at hand. Groth said no, but asked if the school board had read the MN state statute they were using to discuss his job status.
Sanders replied she had read part of the statute and added that before moving ahead with the termination process, “We contacted our attorney for advice.”
Groth said the statute was clear, and if the board was going to go into closed session about him (or any other employee) they were to inform the person involved and then ask that person if they would like to have the matter discussed publicly.
Sanders listened to Groth and then asked him, “Do you have any additional information you would like to disclose?”
When Groth said no, Sanders called for a motion, which was made by Deb White and seconded by Terry Collins to terminate Groth’s employment. School board members Jeanne Anderson, Sanders, White and Collins voted to dismiss Groth while School Board Member Leonard Sobanja voted against the resolution.
Groth asked Superintendent Beth Schwarz when he could pick up his tools and personal belongings from the bus garage and Schwarz told him she would set up a time for that next week.
The board also passed a motion directing Superintendent Schwarz to review the structure of the maintenance/transportation department with the acting facilities/transportation director.
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