Should board members be allowed travel expenses and professional development? The seven directors on the Robbinsdale Area School Board had a spirited debate of the question at the end of a late-night work session May 6.
After approximately six and a half hours of conducting other business, the board discussed the 2024-25 budget. Ultimately, the board asked for a more detailed, itemized list of reductions to be discussed at a future meeting.
Out-of-state travel
Among reductions, district administration recommended saving $50,000 in the next two years by limiting out-of-state travel except for when required or funded by a grant. The board’s professional development and travel was not included in the cut, and some directors wondered if it should be.
“If everybody else is not allowed to do out-of-state travel, can we align ourself with the rest of the district? And put that $6,429 back in the general fund?” Director Greta Evans-Becker asked.
Evans-Becker’s suggestion was met with mixed reactions.
Directors Sharon E. Brooks and Helen Bassett were opposed to cutting board travel expenses, and spoke of how they value going to conferences.
Evans-Becker had earlier suggested using the travel budget to pay for the board’s ongoing mediation.
“Let’s just get real here, it’s a $200 million corporate organization,” Bassett said of the district. “That we have to sit up here and try to say, ‘Can we go get training?’ is ridiculous.”
When Evans-Becker suggested cutting travel for the board completely, Brooks pointed out that staff and teachers are still traveling “when and if required.”
Director Caroline Long agreed with Evans-Becker’s suggestion, saying she was worried about taking $50,000 from the budget.
“How can we replace that money?” Long asked.
Chair ReNae Bowman supported a cut for school board travel.
“Development on the part of the teachers, to me, is extremely important,” Bowman added. “I don’t know how valuable development is for this school board and I would be really hard pressed to say that there’s been value in the dollars that have been spent.”
Brooks asked if Bowman had attended any conferences. Bowman declined to answer.
Despite the board’s direction to discuss the issue in a future meeting with more information on proposed cuts, discussion about board travel persisted for several minutes.
“I think if you all were to do some traveling, then you would probably have a different opinion,” Brooks told her fellow directors.
Director Helen Bassett said professional development “enriched our service,” speaking of both current and former board directors. Speaking directly to the chair, Bassett lamented the subject of conversation.
“I really feel like this travel policy has become weaponized,” Bassett said. “Maybe not so much right now, but I believe it was weaponized just before you got on this board.”
Bowman said she was not interested in discussing the “rearview” of what had happened previously on the board.
Bassett spoke for several minutes, saying it was “pennywise and tomfoolish” to cut the board’s professional development.
Bowman became visibly agitated, making exasperated gestures. Bowman asked if anyone had the “appetite” for using the board’s travel budget in the current environment, alluding to data that certain members of the board traveled more frequently traveled than others.
Director Kim Holmes asked to speak, but Bassett called foul on Bowman’s claim and appeared to question if the board member was being transparent. The conversation prompted Holmes to get up from the work session table and begin packing her things to leave. Holmes was present in the room when the work session ended minutes later, but actively preparing to leave and was the first to walk out the door.
In that time, Bassett continued her point. Amid some back and forth among members, Director John Vento countered that the board was “sending a loud message to staff right now, about what our priorities are.” Bassett responded that the board was hardworking and she firmly supported opportunities for them to learn.
“I am committed to professional development,” Bassett said. “There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m not ashamed of it.”
The meeting closed just before 1 a.m.
The recorded board May 6 business meeting and work session may be viewed online at rdale.org/discover/school-board .
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