Interview summary: Business Manager Steve Kopecky

Steve said that the overall budget for Arrowhead as a school is 21 million dollars. As far as school expenditures and travel expenses its $65,000.

I asked if it was normal for teachers to be reimbursed for tuition, and he said that they are not actually reimbursed the money. They’re actually given a loan while they are working towards their master’s degrees. They can be reimbursed or “loaned” for 12 credits at a time; once they finish and move up to a new bracket of payment, they are required to pay the money back.

We then asked about all of the accounts marked “work jeans” or “work clothes”. Steve said that through their union contract, custodial staff members receive an allotted amount of money for work clothing. According to Kopecky, at one point a cleaning service used to pick up their clothing to be cleaned and this option is cleaner and more efficient. “They eliminated that” he said. The allotted amount was around $300.00 he said.

There are roughly 25-30 state conferences a school year that staff members attend. They cover everything from academic state conferences, principal or superintendent conferences, and special education and guidance conferences. Kopecky said most are overnight, some may last a day or two.

He also said that many times when they send someone to a conference, they will pay the hotel fees and or admission fees directly to the hotel and/or conference organizer. Many of the teachers/staff members are never reimbursed.

The academic/activity fund that Arrowhead operates from contains 66 accounts total. It includes everything from the chess club to the track team, girls hockey, etc…

According to Steve, it’s an operational fund; it rolls over into the general balance. The total in the accounts as of our interview was $288,000; “in the black, which is good.” He said.

Scott asked about some of the accounts that come from it; he asked about D.E.C.A Steve said the club raises money to go on trips, and the school will match them with some funding (?)

Scott also asked about the Math Department because they seemed to have several expenses. Steve said that as we spoke, the entire math department was at a conference; 20 people. “Such conferences are for instructional purposes, learning new ways to teach topics, or improve lessons,” he said.

I noticed when looking through the files that there was a folder created for “Cousins.” When asked about this, Mr. Kopecky said that it was a way to welcome new teachers. Roughly 50 staff members may come together and have lunch. He also highlighted that during graduation; nearly all of the custodial staff is working the entire day, and its one thing they do for them to show appreciation for their hard work.

“It may be worth more to pay for lunch and keep staff members on site, what happens if 5 or more take an hour and a half?”

Other times Marriott will cater during a staff development day, or what many know as an in-service day. The bill may be up to as much as $1000, but “it’s worth it” according to Kopecky.

The school seems to send lots of students to state competitions. Since they are a Division 1 school, they do have many sports teams who make it to state. Kopecky said that student reimbursement is as follows: $4 for breakfast, $6 for lunch, and $10 for dinner. Outside events are the responsibility of the student, for example if a team of some sort went to Minnesota.

Scott asked about a robotics program that seems to involve a lot of money. It’s a club in the science department, and they built a vehicle. They traveled (XXX) and in that case, they raised the money to go.

I asked about Julie Brilli. She was paid $750.78 on 10-31-05 for some sort of consulting. She gave a presentation to the staff during an in-service day; she came from Green Bay so she stayed overnight in the area. The bill included her presentation fee and her hotel reimbursement.

Kopecky then said that there are 4 in-service days total: 3 are work days and one is a designated development day (like the one above).

I also inquired about the folders about flowers. Most were for no more than $30.00, but I told him I found one for $80.00 to Sue Gastrow (father-in-law passed away) He seemed a little lost and asked to go get the folder, interestingly enough, it took him not even 3 minutes to come back with it. I don’t know if all the files were not yet returned and still in the secretary’s office, but when he returned, it read $30.00. I must have made the mistake of thinking it said something else.

I also asked about Kevin Lipscomb, who is the “Director of Buildings and Grounds” at Arrowhead. He was sent to the Kalahari Hotel and Conference Center or a conference, along with other numerous conferences. I asked why he was being sent on conferences, and Kopecky said that he is basically in charge of all the maintenance on campus—the manager—of the custodial department if you will. According to Kopecky, Arrowhead has 60 million worth of buildings and it’s important that he stays on top of things to keep them in shape.

I noticed that he was the closest to the hotel room rate at $62.00 a night. I asked why the rates for set so low, because it’s very difficult to find a hotel at $55 per night. He did say that they probably need to be redone, and noted the small notice or exception paragraph before the rates, which allows tem to spend beyond the given rate.

We finally asked about why the school does not use credit cards. Steve said that they are trying to prevent from using them as long as possible, because he’s seen other districts that use them and they are too much of a risk. They don’t want to go down a risky path like that unless they have to.

Other things of interest:

Kopecky was very hesitant from the beginning of our reasons behind looking the information; he always wanted to know what we were doing. On the phone he wasn’t very open to helping us, but after the first time I stopped into look at the records, he seemed to open up more.

He seemed to be onto what we were doing once I stopped into view the records. He asked if it had anything to do with the story he read a while back about another school district spending money on useless things. Overall, despite his shortcomings on the phone, he was very helpful and professional about his job.