Sunday, February 17, 2008
By ERIC GROSSO
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BROOKFIELD — The Brookfield School District is looking to sell one of its elementary schools after closing it in 2004.
And the board also is looking to replace one of its members.
Later this year, Stevenson Elementary in Masury will be sold to the highest bidder in a public auction.
Brookfield Board of Education voted to sell the property at a Saturday night meeting.
The auction date, to be determined by Superintendent Stephen Stohla, has not been set.
The school housed about 155 pupils when in use.
The district closed the school in October 2004 and moved students to Addison Elementary and Brookfield Elementary. Addison Elementary closed in 2006.
Stohla also notified the board and the audience that member Steven Varga resigned from his position effectively immediately. Varga handed his letter of resignation to Stohla without comment.
Varga was elected to a four-year term in November 2005.
The superintendent requested that anyone living in the district that is interested in filling the position to inform him in writing.
In other action, the board voted to require meetings with Atty. David J. Millstone via teleconference to be in executive session before he can file any future appeals in cases in which he represents the district.
Millstone has appealed a ruling by the State Employment Relations Board in December to reimburse teachers for money lost since 2006.
School officials cut salaries after ruling a 2006 contract was illegal, negating a 3.5 percent pay raise given to teachers.
Board member Ronald Brennan was upset that Millstone didn’t need approval from the board to file the appeal.
Brennan eventually got out of his seat and pulled out a 37-page document that he taped together across the auditorium floor, hoping to show just how much the district has spent in legal fees.
Earlier this month, a billboard was placed at state Route 7 and Warren-Sharon Road, naming board President Joseph Pasquerilla and members Dean Fisher and Varga as the cause of the legal fees, which is about $350,000 to date.