LOYAL. LOCAL. COMPLETE.
During Monday’s Paris- Union 95 board of education meeting a board member utilized the public comment section to address claims he believes were “without merit.”
“Some would call them mudslinging,” board member Tom Tuttle said. “My reason for addressing this board is to refute Andy Robert’s charges against this board printed in the Feb. 28 edition of The Prairie Press.”
Tuttle described Roberts’ claims as “counterproductive.” He selected several of Roberts’ statements and directly rebutted them with his own prepared statements.
In his rebuttal to Roberts’ plea for “being open with teaching staff about what the fiscal challenges will mean to future programs and teaching positions,” Tuttle said the current fiscal year budget has no teacher reduction or current program reductions.
While Roberts’ claimed in his questionnaire response that there have “been reductions in paraprofessionals in all schools as well as larger class sizes,” Tuttle’s response was the opposite.
“This is not true,” he said. “No paraprofessional has lost a job and class size has not increased.”
In response to Robert’s statement that “Many in the community question the employment of two former superintendents and a former principal as a waste of money,” Tuttle broke down the roles of Carol Jones, Connie Sutton and Lorraine Baily, as well as their salaries.
Tuttle detailed the duties of each individual, including their employment history, adding several accomplishments the women had made collectively and separately that have benefited the district.
“These changes have taken the district from a previous state of financial warning rate of 2.4 to a current 3.7 rating on a 4.0 scale,” Tuttle said.
Tuttle also called Roberts’ statement that “music and arts have always been an important part of this school district and to the children it serves. These must be preserved” a “veiled threat.”
“The district received a grant in 2023 that injected $250,000 into the fine arts program,” Tuttle said.
While Robert’s previous statements claimed, “We are facing unfortunate staff reductions due to financial repayments and lost grant funding,” Tuttle said the board and superintendents have not discussed any staffing reductions.
“Grants have time windows. There is a start time and end time,” Tuttle said. “Any person hired through a grant has always been told that when the grant ends, the job ends. There have been seven grant positions that ended when the grants did. The district offered those persons other positions within the district. Six of those persons declined other positions.”
Roberts, who attended the meeting, chose to respond to Tuttle’s communiqué by issuing a statement to The Prairie Press.
“As a candidate for the Paris 95 school board, I have been attending the monthly meetings in an effort to familiarize myself with the ins and outs of the district’s operations,” he said. “Imagine my surprise when during audience to visitors, one of my opponents in the upcoming election read a prepared statement by him disagreeing with statements I made in the paper’s know your candidate articles.”
“Quite frankly, I was ambushed in a public meeting,” Roberts said. “It was neither the time or the place for such a statement. If my opponent wanted to object to my comments, he should’ve done so not at a board meeting but perhaps in a letter to the editor or an ad. I stand by my comments in my article.
“My purpose in seeking the Paris 95 seat was to not only bring a fresh voice to the board but also to start a conversation. I pledge to you if elected I will continue to be a strong voice. I will act in a professional manner at all times as a school board member and your representative,” he concluded.
Both candidates asked all voters to consider the election carefully and urged them to vote on or before April 1.
The Paris-Union 95 Board of Education meets on the second Monday of each month at 5 p.m. at 300 South Eads Avenue. Meetings are open to the public and agendas for each meeting can be found prior to each meeting on the district’s website.