A board member suddenly resigns.
His replacement process is not advertised, and the person chosen unexpectedly passes.
An unexplained change in timeline for renewing the superintendent's contract.
Some in the Carroll community are wondering what is going on with the school board.
School district have a lot of questions about the future after what happened the week of the november 10th school board meeting.
And concerns about transparency are being raised again.
News 18's anna darling joins us to break down the situation.
"i have literally no idea what is happening with the school board" people tuning in to the november 10th carrol consolidated school board meeting were in for a quick surprise.
Board president patrick hickner announced john johnson handed in his resignation two days after the election.
Parent and alumna jamie seibert has unanswered questions.
"if john johnson didn't want to do why wouldn't he have stepped down before the election?
Like did they have this planned?"
"i actually didn't believe it was going to happen.
I really thought it was a rumor."
Stand up: challenging candidates amanda redmon and billy lytle both won their races.
Johnson voted not to renew redmon's contract as principal last year.
His resignation and replacement vote were not on the agenda.
"i think they probably should have announced the resignation, let some time pass, let the public know that that spot is going to be open.
Because no one knew it was open."
Dave bordner nominated former board member david lambert.
Lambert was already in the board room when the group voted him in unanimously.
That's when mr. bordner said this..
"lambert, welcome back to the good ol' boys club!"
/nervous laughing/ "don't say that" "joke or not joke, it was extremely poor taste and not appropriate.
I was really disgusted by that" mr. lambert was sworn in and he voted on several agenda items. however, this is where things take a sad and unexpected turn.
Mr. lambert passed away three days after he was sworn in.
His obituary says he died suddenly in the emergency room at a kokomo hospital.
Redmon says she hasn't reached out to the board about it yet.
"i'm trying to be respectful of the fact that mr. lambert passed away.
I think you have to be respectful and give that some time."
The transparency issues are unfortunately continuing in the eyes of some carroll parents.
"pat hickner sat in a debate and said we are completely transparent, anything you want to know i'll tell you and then they turn around and do that and i'm thinking, no that doesn't work for me" anna darling news 18 news 18 reached out to mr. bordner and mr. hickner for comment and did not hear back.
Superintendent keith thackery could not comment on the situation.
The board unanimously voted in kyle wagner to fill the vacancy at tonight's meeting.
Again, it was not on the agenda.
You can find a link to mr. lambert's obituary on our website, wlfi.com.
Another matter people in the carroll community are questioning is a move to renew superintendent thackery's contract tonight.
His contract was extended in january through 2022.
However the board took public debate on another contract renewal and pay raise at tonight's meeting.
With the goal of approving this new contract in december.
Grant davidson says the next school board members should have a say in the matter.
And he got five pages of signatures from people who agree with him.
"i think the new board needs an opportunity to evaluate these types of decisions because they are trying to extend the contract of the business manager as well and that's a huge expense to the tax payers" if the board votes to approve the contract, superintendent thackery would remain in his job through 2023.
And he would receive a raise of 37-hundred dollars for his entire compensation package.
His only comment to news 18 is that his contract is renewed annually.
Precision 18