IC school district’s disregard for safety - The Daily Iowan 4/1/11 10:02 PM

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IC school district’s disregard for safety

BY GUEST OPINION | MARCH 29, 2011 7:20 AM

During the last two years of former Iowa City School District Superintendent Lane Plugge’s
tenure, a number of serious safety violations occurred on School District property. And it appears
the Iowa City School Board and current superintendent are doing little to reverse this trend.

Dave Gurwell, who served as assistant director of the district’s physical plant from 1987 to 2010,
told me of safety violations on School District property in which the district was in violation of the
Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act. During that time and before, Gurwell was the district’s
designated person for ensuring compliance with the act.

Gurwell was also the district’s safety-committee chairman and primary contact regarding safety in
the district. However, he was not allowed to control work conditions or procedures. Former safety
coordinator Bob Porter said he was not allowed to control work conditions or procedures, either. To
do his job, Porter had to drive around the district and ask for reports so he’d know what was going
on. He, too, was left out of the loop.

In the fall of 2009, Iowa City School District physical-plant director Paul Schultz directed a
renovation project in which asbestos was disturbed at City High, Gurwell said. Work was stopped
upon discovery of asbestos contamination. Under asbestos-act requirements, the room should have
been sealed. But instead, it was left open for more than a week, contaminating second-floor
hallways. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources required an immediate wipe down of the
second-floor hallways or possible shutdown of the entire school. The district failed to notify all City
High occupants, as required by the asbestos-act, of abatement activities on the second floor.

Asbestos exposure usually occurs at a work site and can cause mesothelioma, a deadly cancer.
At Southeast Junior High, Schultz approved dangerous friable asbestos removal by plumbing
contractors not certified for asbestos abatement. Contractors working under Schultz’s direction
improperly contained and stored asbestos at two locations on school property, which exposed
building occupants and the public to asbestos.

The Department of Natural Resources also identified violations and imposed fines after district staff
at Lucas Elementary dumped caustic, floor-stripping waste onto the parking lot. Staff hosed down Follow the DI through:
the area with water, and the runoff reached the storm sewers and Ralston Creek.
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All three incidents took place after the School District eliminated Bob Porter’s safety-coordinator
position. Porter was laid off in March 2009, ostensibly as a cost-cutting measure.

In the ensuing 18 months, without a knowledgeable safety coordinator ensuring district compliance
with local, state and federal regulations, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the
Iowa Department of Natural Resources identified numerous violations and imposed fines on the Sponsored Links
district.
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The district’s attitude toward school safety was perhaps best illustrated when in early 2010, Schultz Insurance Leads Home Equity Loans
brought a gun to the School District physical plant to show staff in a work environment that at
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least 12 former and current employees have described as extremely hostile.
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A weapons offense like this would get a student expelled immediately, but apparently Phoenix Construction Search Engine
Superintendent Plugge, Executive Director Paul Bobek, and the School Board felt that no Accident Lawyer Optimization
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When Ed Stone, a concerned parent, asked School Board president Patti Fields if a gun had indeed TODAY'S PRINT EDITION
been brought onto school property by a district employee, she acknowledged that an incident had
occurred but did not name the employee. It is a felony in Iowa to bring a firearm onto school

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IC school district’s disregard for safety - The Daily Iowan 4/1/11 10:02 PM

grounds.

However, County Attorney Janet Lyness responded that the School District’s physical plant is not
a school — despite the fact that Stone informed her that a home-building program for students was
based at the physical plant at the time, a fact corroborated by School District staff. Until June
2010, students had free access to the physical plant for materials and to use the bathrooms.

To date, the School District administration, the School Board, and the county attorney have treated
the firearm incident on School District property as a “private personnel matter.” Despite serious
safety violations, they have left Schultz at the helm of the physical plant. The disregard for safety
demonstrated by the School District is a hazard for students, parents, and staff alike.

Maria Houser Conzemius is a freelance writer, blogger, and 1992 graduate of the University of
Iowa School of Social Work.

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want2know_more 3 days ago

maybe someone needs to contact local radio stations and maybe have them pick up on this, KCJJ,
WMT, KKRQ, WSUI. I'm sure that concerned parents would like to know how their tax dollars are at
work!

4 people liked this. Like Reply

mariaconz 3 days ago in reply to want2know_more

want2know_more,

I like your idea, but we already pitched the story to a number of TV stations and newspapers
without success until now. And the story still hasn't made the print edition of the Daily Iowan.
Shay O'Reilly, the opinion page editor of the DI, told me yesterday that it would be in the print
edition today (3/29/11). He doesn't know what happened and I don't know what happened. I
hope the story will appear in tomorrow's DI. If not, follow-up stories on the ICCSD waste and
cover-ups will go to another newspaper.

2 people liked this. Like Reply

Beignet 3 days ago

Maria, I had no idea Schultz had brought a gun on school property. I have stretched my imagination
and still can find no reason for why this should have or could occurred without consequence. There
are a lot of fishy things that go on in the school district, and there are many buildings where a hostile
environment exists.

Let me clue you in to check the hiring process for both Schultz and Bobeck, and their qualifications
for the positions they hold.

Thank you for bringing this issue to the public's attention.

1 person liked this. Like Reply

mariaconz 2 days ago in reply to Beignet

Beignet,

Sorry I didn't see your comment till now. A group of us concerned citizens have already
investigated the hiring process for Paul Schultz, the director of the ICCSD Physical Plant. He had
neither the degree nor the equivalent experience to qualify for the job, but he was hired
anyway. He was supposed to complete his degree but did not.

The Johnson County Attorney, Janet Lyness, opined that the gun was brought onto school
district property not school property, so it's "a private personnel matter." The school board came
to the same dubious conclusion. It's not a Class D felony, in other words, although a student
doing the same thing would be immediately expelled, as you know.

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IC school district’s disregard for safety - The Daily Iowan 4/1/11 10:02 PM

It's quite clear to Ms. Lyness that a home-building program was on site at the time and students
had free access to materials in the physical plant and the bathrooms, but she still made what I
consider to be, IMHO, a spurious distinction legally between a "school" versus "school district"
property.

Mr. Schultz did not have a school district vehicle at the time. He drove his pickup, with a drawer
full of guns, all over the school district as he did his job.

Like Reply

Beignet 2 days ago in reply to mariaconz

Maria,

I cannot seem to access this article in the Daily Iowan or the comments, so
I'll try communicating back this way

I am bothered by one statement you made in your response to me--"He drove

his pickup, with a drawer full of guns, all over the school district as he
did his job." Has Mr. Schultz admitted to having those guns in his vehicle
when he WAS on school property, even in the parking lots? If so, then Mr.
Schultz has been given special treatment (again), for behavior similar to a
student's a few years prior.

I may be off by one year, and I will do my best to recollect the incident.
In the fall of 2005, following football practice at a high school, student A
was driving home on a PUBLIC STREET and went past student B, who was walking
with friends. The two didn't get along and words were exchanged. Student A
in the vehicle flashed an empty pellet gun (which he still had in his
vehicle from a previous outing) at student B. There was no arrest made
because nothing illegal had occurred.

Student A was suspended immediately from school and the football team, and
the proceedings that usually occur with these situations took place. Because
student A was a special education student, he could not attend high school
in that building for a year. He received his education somewhere else,
provided by the school district because, even though the incident did not
occur on school property, he admitted to having the gun in his vehicle when
it was parked in the school parking lot.

So the district acted inconsistently and unfairly (again). What is

interesting is that the step-father of student A worked for the physical
plant then and still does. This might all be a moot point, since I believe I
saw the director of the physical plant position opening posted on the school
district website awhile back. Is Mr. Schultz moving on, perhaps?

1 person liked this. Like Reply

mariaconz 2 days ago in reply to Beignet

Beignet,

Thank you for your interest and concern. I'll send you a copy of the
original, which was captured by two different people. Student A's parents
should sue the school district for letting Paul Schultz, the director of the
physical plant, bring gun(s) onto school district property without
discipline or anything in his file about it, or numerous other incidents
involving him. Here's the original:

http://webcache.googleusercont...

<http: search?
q="cache:jw8hcHyU2l0J:www.dailyiowan.com/2011/03/29/Opinions/22406.html+%22Iowa+City+School+District%22+%22physical+plant%22&amp;cd=2&amp;hl=en&amp;ct=c
webcache.googleusercontent.com="">Let
me know if the link doesn't work, but I think it does.

Best regards,
Maria Houser Conzemius
(mconzemius@gmail.com)
319-337-9905</http:>

Like Reply

mariaconz 1 day ago

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IC school district’s disregard for safety - The Daily Iowan 4/1/11 10:02 PM

I'll try again on that link:

http://webcache.googleusercont...

Hope it works. The story is being printed and distributed throughout the school district anyway, so
I'm hoping that eventually it eventually will be published in hard copy form. There's plenty more
where that ICCSD story came from.

Like Reply

mariaconz 1 day ago

Try this link:

http://webcache.googleusercont...

The Daily Iowan online version that was published is being printed and distributed throughout the
Iowa City School District teachers' break rooms and in the physical plant. More may be distributed or
posted in other areas of town. It's possible.

I hope that the story will eventually be published in hard copy form. There's plenty more stories
where that one came from on the school district and those covering up their wasteful spending,
poorly and unsafely done work, and cronyism.

Like Reply

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