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Parents Concerned About Dongola Schools

Noah Bond, NewsChannel 6

Some Southern Illinois parents claim their school district doesn't know how to balance a budget. A group of parents in the Dongola School District have formed a group called "The Friends of Dongola School".

They claim the district has received too much money from the state this year. According to parents, Dongola's May 12st school board meeting, carried on 4 hours before they were allowed to ask questions. "One of our people here tonight asked 14 times how are you going to pay this back? Never got an answer," says Concerned Citizen, Ralph Laymen.

The superintendent says she's not commenting, which is the very reason parents are upset. They want answers. Unfortunately, the $400,000 question is just one concern parents share about the Dongola School Board and Administration.

"They can't keep track of their money. They can't keep track of their test scores," says Layman. He says even though his son is on the school board, he still had to push to get solid budget information. Parents feel like they're left in the dark.

"Very concerned. I'm very concerned. It's, it's not a rich community, but we do pay taxes," says Concerned Parent, Greg Samples.

Parents are pushing to get more involved to help solve, what they say are problems in their school district. The Dongola School Board will continue this meeting tonight at 8:30pm, May 22nd.

Update to story from the May 27th Southern Illinoisan...

Dongola district under fire

BY CALEB HALE, THE SOUTHERN

DONGOLA - Two school board members and the superintendent are at odds over how Dongola Unit School District 66 received $400,000 more than it was supposed to in state transportation funds.

The question is one of several inquiries board members Bob Layman and Tod Bound have posed to the school's administration about the handling of finances in recent months. The two claim the district is run poorly and ruining the educational opportunities for students.

Superintendent Nancy Dillow claims most of the district's money problems, including the $400,000 transportation overpayment, came from a prolonged period of transition in administration between 2002 and July 2004, when she was hired.

Dillow said a previous superintendent filed inflated student numbers with the Illinois State Board of Education in 2002. She said the incorrect numbers appeared to be reported unintentionally but said the error remained undiscovered until this past school year.

The state has already taken some of the overpayment, but Layman, a board member for the past two years, said the district still owes $160,000 which will negatively impact the school for two more years.

Layman claims the administration didn't act quickly enough to address the problem.

"I have no idea whether it was intentional or a mistake or how it transpired, but I know it was an ongoing thing and there was refusal to address it," he said.

Layman is particularly vexed by school audits that show the problem existed after the first year.

"Nothing was changed in the reporting then, and the next year in an audit it said they owed more," he said.

Dillow said she understands the concerns, but she said blaming anyone and everyone for mistakes won't help matters.

"The community should understand they need to pull together to help the school, not tear it apart, and that's what we're doing right now," she said.

Dillow has resigned as superintendent and will be accepting what she calls "a better offer" elsewhere next school year.

Bound, however, said his experience tells him the school's problems go beyond simple finances.

Bound, who has served on the board for six years, said once he started questioning the district's handling of money, his seventh-grade daughter began being harassed in school and the school did little to stop it.

Bound pulled his daughter out of school April 30 and is considering sending her to another district in the fall. He declined to go into detail about his allegations, saying it could be the subject of a future lawsuit.

"We are troubled that the district has seemed to make no active effort to make sure she has a place to go to school, and in our opinion, they are not making any attempt to provide her a safe, public education," Bound said.