FIVE URGED TO QUIT AT MEADOW HEIGHTS

PATTON -- Meadow Heights School District superintendent Tom Waller has resigned, but some residents of the district still aren't satisfied.

At a Board of Education meeting Monday, a group of residents called for resignations of five of the seven board members and asked that the former superintendent's wife, Kay Waller, be fired from her secretarial job at the school.

The superintendent resigned July 11 after problems with student attendance figures were uncovered. Attendance figures are used to calculate a school district's state funding.

Waller says he might have inadvertently inflated the figures but his resignation was prompted more by years of battle with board member Millie Yates and her supporters than any discrepancy with attendance figures.

A statement distributed at the meeting said Kay Waller should be dismissed because she has direct contact with all school records.

Board President Roy Allen said Monday that the investigation into the attendance figures continues with the school's attorney at the lead. He said they are waiting for information from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education about how to proceed.

The school requested data from the education department about attendance from 1989 to 1992. In turn, the education department requested computer records and student rosters from the school district.

"We are awaiting word from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to see what they want us to do," Allen said.

He also said that the district's legal firm will advise them about what action to take concerning Kay Waller. She has turned in her keys and is to be accompanied while she works at school. She was at work Monday.

Locks on the school's vault have been changed, and Allen said records pertinent to the investigation are in the vault. The statement calling for Kay Waller's dismissal said "precautionary measures taken by the board are not sufficient to ensure the school's best interest."

On Monday, the board agreed to advertise for the position of superintendent with Southeast Missouri State University and in the newspaper. The deadline for applicants is Aug. 14.

At least one person has contacted Allen expressing interest in the job.

Yates was adamant that the board conduct an "active search" as prescribed by board policy. Board member Dennis Mouser agreed, and the board voted 7-0 to approve the Aug. 14 deadline. Mouser said board members must be instrumental in screening and interviewing candidates for the job.

About 50 people attended Monday's meeting, where only one video camera and one audio cassette player recorded happenings. At past meetings more video cameras and tape players have been used by audience members. No sheriff's deputy was on hand Monday to keep the peace as occurred at the past two regular board meetings.

The meeting was held in the larger, cooler, school cafeteria, and a microphone was used to help those in the audience hear board discussion.

A change in location and a microphone frequently had been requested by some who attended past meetings.

Tom Parker, who organized a petition drive calling for the superintendent's ouster and submitted the request for his wife's dismissal, isn't happy.

On June 27, Parker presented the board with 302 signatures asking for Waller's removal as superintendent. The board then went into closed session and awarded Waller a new three-year contract. Yates and Mouser voted no.

Allen said he learned about the problems with attendance figures on July 4, a week after the new contract was awarded.

Parker says the people who signed the petition want the five board members who voted for Waller's new contract to step down: Allen, Sandy Raines, Phyllis Bollinger, Harold Miinch and Junior Cook.

"It is the belief that the actions by the aforementioned board members do not represent what is in the best interest of the district and said members have acted in a manner detrimental to the school district," Parker said in another statement calling for their resignations.

Allen said he isn't resigning. Other members weren't available for comment. They went into a closed meeting to discuss personnel.