BUCHANAN — Buchanan school district officials are taking issue with claims made by recall organizer Britney Martin.

Martin failed Oct. 25 in her first attempt to get recall wording approved by the Berrien County Election Commission and has vowed to continue her effort.

Buchanan Superintendent Timothy Donahue and Buchanan Board of Education members Kelly Laesch and Ruth Writer said Thursday that they are concerned that people are getting the wrong picture of the school district. Parents, teachers and other community members have been speaking out at school board meetings since May.

They said that while they knew a recall was likely coming as Martin and others have talked about it in recent months, they were surprised about the issue she chose. She said the board had failed to do complete evaluations of Donahue, which they in fact have done.

“That reason was out of left field,” Writer said.

The concerns raised over the last several months have included the re-assignment of longtime elementary principal Karin Falkenstein to a central office administrative position, the number of staff members leaving the district in the last few years, Donahue’s hiring, the district’s finances and overall district morale.

Laesch noted that the school board went through a rigorous search process before they selected Donahue to be the superintendent.

“The union supported us, and we had community forums and then they come back and say we hired the wrong person,” she said.

Laesch and Writer said they have not liked the turmoil of the last several months but are still committed to serving the district’s students.

“We would like to move on and put the focus back on education and students,” Laesch said.

Writer echoed Laesch’s sentiments.

“I love this district and to have people questioning me is disheartening. … There are many statements disseminated that are erroneous,” Writer said. “When inaccuracies come out, no one reads the corrections later. Facts matter. … The bottom line is that we’re here for the kids, and we’ve resolved the budget and all union contracts. We’re getting good test results. We’ve done the evaluation of the superintendent and our enrollment is stable.”

One of the claims the board and Donahue take issue with is Martin’s statement that she had heard that 72 staff members have left since Donahue began his duties in 2017. Donahue said that the number of people who have left the district during his tenure is not much different than the number who left the previous two years.

For example, he noted that 71 people resigned, retired or were terminated from July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2017, while 81 have left since July 1, 2017. Of that number, he said 17 people retired, four were terminated, 11 were seasonal employees or coaches, and two were afterschool aides at Ottawa Elementary.

That leaves 47 people who resigned for reasons ranging from moving out of the area to taking positions in other districts.

“The idea that people are running out of here is not fair,” he said. “Many went to other jobs or moved out of the area. There’s a fuller story behind the numbers.”

Donahue and the two board members said they are frustrated with what they see as vague claims and have made efforts to reach out to staff and to parents. Donahue now meets every week with staff in each building, and he and the board have established parents and staff advisory committees.

“In October, I, along with two board members, met with BEA [Buchanan Education Association] members, and they said they were feeling things are not right, but they can’t give details,” he said. “We can’t respond when we don’t know what we’re accused of. … One worries that there is a negative cloud around Buchanan.”

BEA President Wendy Murphy and Secretary Jessica Elliott responded to Donahue’s and board members’ claims in a written statement to the Niles Daily Star. First of all, they noted that they are not involved in the recall effort but do support parent and community efforts to hold board members accountable.

They said that they have continually been trying to resolve their concerns with Donahue and board members.

“It is offensive for Mr. Donahue to claim that the BEA has not given specific examples of frustration or areas of concern,” they stated. “The BEA has had discussions and provided concerns in writing for over a year. … While our concerns with the superintendent have been mounting since his employment began in Buchanan, there has also been specific board members whose behavior, both in meetings and on social media, has been unprofessional and dismissive. Moving forward, we would like to see BCS board members who value our students’ education while also valuing our teaching staff.

“Our priority will always be our students, but when our voices are silenced and our school board does not support us, it becomes increasingly difficult to remain positive in such a climate. If anything positive has come out of the recent events in Buchanan Community Schools, our teaching staff has become more united and willing to stand up for the future of our district.”

For her part, Laesch noted that the board has listened to people’s concerns and made changes and compromises when they’ve felt it was right to do so. For example, the board agreed to add a board member to the contract negotiation team, provided more detailed minutes of board meetings and worked out a compromise on security and staff building access questions.

“We have sought out people. I’ve reached out to current and past staff and none of the claims people have made have been substantiated,” she said. “It distracts from the everyday education of the students.”

Donahue also addressed Martin’s claim that the district has growing budget deficits. He said that the district has been running a general fund budget deficit and a dwindling fund balance since 2012, but he said the district has started turning things around.

The recent audit of the 2018-19 fiscal year showed that the district ended up with a $181,731 budget surplus on $15.6 million in expenditures and added to its fund balance, which is now $3.49 million. The fund balance as a percentage of expenditures had been declining in recent years but is on the upswing at 22.31 percent, he said.

Writer noted that the two new central administration positions have not added to the budget as the district previously paid building principals and other administrators extra to take on additional duties.