She's an elected KCK school board member. Why is Wanda Paige on the district payroll?
Kansas City, Kansas School Board member Wanda Kay Paige received the email calling for her resignation last week.
“It has come to the attention of the community that you are currently receiving a salary and benefits from USD500," the email read. "This constitutes a conflict of interest, and by KS law and court precedent, makes you incompatible to hold the office of Board Member, both now, and when you filed for election.”
Kansas has barred active teachers from serving as school board members ever since the Kansas Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that Linda Marie Baker could not serve as a Shawnee County school board member while she was a tenured teacher.
A teacher, the court said, cannot be both employee and an employer.
Paige, a retired teacher who was seated on the school board in January, is paid semi-monthly by the district as part of an early retirement program and must be considered a district employee because of Internal Revenue Service requirements. But a Kansas Association of School Boards attorney said that critics are misinterpreting state statutes.
“As long as they’re not teaching full time for the district, they are allowed to serve on the Board of Education,” said Donna Whiteman, the association's assistant executive director of legal services. “We have people who run after they retire and they can sit on the board once they retire, even though they might be getting retirement benefits or getting KPERS” — the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System.
The email informed Paige that her employment status with the district had been reported to the Wyandotte County Election Office and other government agencies. The message was sent by an account with the name "Troll Kimball" and signed by the Concerned Citizens for an Effective School Board.
It gave her until noon the following day to resign or “legal action will be initiated to remove you from office.”
Paige told The Star that she found the email threatening and had reported it to the Wyandotte County Sheriff's Office. She said she welcomed any "respectful" questions about her employment status with the district.
Wyandotte County Election Commissioner Bruce Newby said his office had received no formal complaint regarding Paige. He said he had received a call asking whether the situation constituted a conflict of interest, but said the election office does not address such issues.
"This office does not vet candidates," Newby said. "Our responsibility is to verify that she is a registered voter in the district."
The Star emailed "Troll Kimball," who responded by reiterating concerns that Paige's status represents a conflict of interest. But the email sender did not respond to a request for members of the Concerned Citizens group to speak further.
The Star's email sent to the group's website could not go through.
According to district records, Paige entered into an early separation agreement on July 1, 2012, when she retired early after a 30-year teaching career with the district.
She receives payments based on her final salary — $61,422 — and purchases insurance on the district’s plan. This year she received $19,652. Prior to this fiscal year, she had received $142,433 since she retired.
Paige will no longer be eligible for the program when she turns 62 on Sept. 30.
Whiteman, the attorney, said that while Paige is on the district payroll, her compensation is not considered the salary of an active employee but a right owed to Paige under a negotiated agreement.
“It would not preclude (someone) from serving,” Whiteman said, “as long as they had retired and these were vested rights they had as part of their previous employment.”
Paige reiterated that message at a recent school board meeting, where she implored community members to focus on facts.
"What was printed out, what was sent out, was untrue," she said, later adding: "I think we begin to go on a slippery slope when we start attacking each other."
This story was originally published June 29, 2018 at 5:30 AM.