Members of the Huron School Board will be updated on the status of litigation regarding the sealed agreement between the Huron School District and former Superintendent Ross Opsal at it’s upcoming board meeting Monday night. In late March of this year, the state Office of Hearing Examiners said the Huron School District must release a copy of a settlement reached with Opsal. The Huron School District paid Opsal nearly 11-thousand dollars per month for 16 months, after his job as superintendent ended in March of 2011. Almost 174,000 dollars was doled out to Opsal during the 16 month span. Current superintendent Terry Nebelsick said in an interview in February of 2012 on the subject, the payments to Opsal were easily accessible for the public to see…
The payments ceased in June of 2012. Some taxpayers in the district are frustrated with the district’s decision to pay Opsal after he left, while the district struggles financially. The School Board voted during it’s June 24th meeting to approve a one-year, 600-thousand dollar opt-out of the state’s property tax freeze to fill a projected budget deficit for the upcoming school year. As for the sealed agreement with Opsal the Huron School District is currently appealing the Hearing Examiner’s decision in circuit court.