The District 205 School Board voted to disband the district’s budget reduction committee today in favor of forming a new committee that answers directly to Superintendent Ralph Grimm.
Today’s decision, which was approved unanimously, was in response to concerns of transparency initially raised by The Galesburg Register-Mail last week.
Originally formed to address the district’s $2 million deficit, the budget reduction committee was made of community members from a variety of backgrounds.
During today’s special meeting, board members largely agreed the deficit should be handled with transparency, however, Board President Bob Lindstrom continued to express disappointment in the media’s coverage of the committee.
Board members also took issue with holding public meetings when matters of employment were being discussed.
Grimm tells WGIL, he intends to invite the original committee members to stay on board.
“I’m going to invite the original members to serve, because it took us five weeks to get 25 people who said they would serve on this committee,” says Grimm. “I don’t have five weeks to go ahead and get another set of 25 or 20 people, so, we are going to give them the opportunity. I hope they all say yes, but recognizing that some may not.”
The new committee intends to meet twice before any budgetary actions are taken. Grimm said both meetings will be held openly.
