A local school district is paying not one, but two superintendents. The Huron School district continues to pay a former superintendent nearly $11,000 each month.
Ross Opsal resigned as superintendent last March citing poor health. Since then the district has continued to pay Opsal, while paying the current superintendent at the same time.
KSFY spoke with the current superintendent in Huron earlier this evening.
Former Huron High School Principal Terry Nebelsick took over some of the superintendent duties after Ross Opsal resigned last March. Nebelsick says the board and Opsal came to an agreement on the terms of his resignation in closed session. Nebelsick doesn't even have access to that agreement. He says, "personnel matters, by law, are sealed. that's law."
While the specifics might be sealed Nebelsick says the payments the district continues to make to Opsal are open to the public. He says, "the expenditures that have been cited, we have told them where to find that expenditure for full public disclosure."
And according to the Huron School District, Opsal continues to receive nearly $11,000 monthly, adding up to about $120,000 in the past year. On top of that, Nebelsick says he formally assumed the role of superintendent last July and has been paid about $60,000 since then. Now Nebelsick cannot tell us how long Opsal will continue to be paid, that information is part of the sealed school board decision, but we do know Opsal was on a three year contract to end in 2013. Nebelsick says, "I trust the school boards to make the best possible decisions for the district, that's what they're elected to do."
But Nebelsick also acknowledges the Huron district is facing a budget shortfall, the school board recently approved a one-year temporary opt-out of $750,000. Nebelsick says he hopes taxpayers understand the district is doing it's best to save money, through avenues like consolidating schools. He says, "everything that I have done for the past 25 years has been transparent and I hope I can continue to earn their trust."
Now, Opsal has apparently been in this position before. According to a 2007 article in the Mason City, Iowa gGobe Gazette, Opsal was superintendent in Algona when he resigned at the school board's request. The article says Opsal was nearly a year into a two-year contract then and received a full payout of that contract after his resignation.
We were unable to reach Opsal, or any Huron School Board members for comment.
