Submitted by Yvonne Mayer
Yesterday, District 181 finally released the financial terms of Dr. Tenbusch’s “resignation” package, in response to my Administrative Appeal from the denial of a Freedom of Information Act request. The terms were released by producing a copy of the “Resignation Agreement” which Dr. Tenbusch and President Armonda executed on June 23, 2008, and a spreadsheet that showed two payments made to him on July 31 and August 29, 2008. To date, Dr. Tenbusch has been paid $198,569.84. Under the terms of the agreement, he received:
1. $170,000.00, as an amount equivalent to one year’s base salary;
2. $26,153.85, as an amount equivalent to 40 days of unused vacation days;
3. $700, as an amount equivalent to the cost of an annual medical examination;
4. Reimbursement of up to $10,000 for expenses attributed to his attainment of future employment, including but not limited to employment consultants and career counseling;
5. A continuation of medical and dental insurance through June 30, 2010, to be immediately terminated upon his obtaining full-time employment.
Because Dr. Tenbusch has now been hired to be the Chief Financial Officer for Round Lake Community Unit School District 116, under the terms of this agreement, he should not receive additional payments for #’s 4 and 5 above.
Now that the payout information has been released, the question to be asked is what can the District learn from this? First, being “cheap” is not the same thing as being fiscally responsible. Dr. Tenbusch was selected in part because he came cheap – at an annual salary far less than that paid to his predecessor. At the end of the day, however, he cost the district more than she did for one year of work. A year wrought with chaos, vast technology expenditures that have yet to produce a fully functional technology system, the almost complete dismantlement of the central office administrative team, a year ending with a $2.9 million deficit and now the need to hire another search firm to find a replacement.
By any measure, on a pure dollars and cents basis, continuity would have been cheaper. The broader lesson is that looking at the school budget from a cost basis, rather than an investment basis, is an abdication of the principals of true fiscal responsibility. Money spent in the budget must be measured not only by the cost, but also the return. By return, I obviously mean in the sense described above that buying cheap stuff is more expensive than buying quality stuff, when you have to almost immediately buy a replacement. In the most important sense however, the return of our investment in our homes and taxes is the quality of our children’s educations. By abdicating basic principals of budgeting and fiscal responsibility, even by providing lip service to those principals, the District has not only cost us money but also the most important benefit, a guarantee that our children’s educations will not suffer as a result of poor leadership and management in the central office that could ultimately have a trickle down effect, negatively impacting the education our children receive in the classrooms.
So when we go through the cycle of hiring a superintendent again for the second time in two years, principals of fiscal responsibility dictate that we invest in the future of our children by hiring someone with true quality, experience and skills, not only to avoid a continuing fiscal fiasco but also provide the educational return that matters to us all. The Board of Education must take every step now to begin a legitimate search for Dr. Tenbusch’s replacement. Every day that is wasted may result in a lower return on the investment the District must make in hiring the best leader available. Other districts are actively seeking new superintendents and will have the pick of all available candidates. By waiting to begin the D181 search until after October 27, one or more of these candidates will be off the table. The best and most experienced candidates may be unavailable, perhaps leaving only the cheaper, yet ultimately more expensive ones for the district to pick from. The Board of Education must not let this happen. Let’s hope it does what is truly fiscally responsible, begins the search immediately and makes the right investment this time around.
