MLSD has new superintendent after long path

MOSES LAKE — It’s official: Monty Sabin is now the new superintendent of the Moses Lake School District.

At the end of a regular meeting of the Moses Lake School Board on Thursday, March 24, Sabin — accompanied by his wife Sonia — signed a three-year contract to serve as the district’s next superintendent.

“Moses Lake was the place we wanted to move to,” Sabin said during the meeting, noting that Sonia had suggested the possibility of working here several years ago.

“When the opening came up, it’s like yeah, we need to apply for this position,” Sabin said. “This was our number one place, and we can’t believe that it worked out. It’s really difficult to get these jobs.”

Where we’re at

Under the terms of the contract, Sabin will start full-time on July 1 at an annual salary of $255,000 per year plus benefits, the cost of which was not stated in the contract. In addition, Sabin also signed a consulting contract to assist the district with the transition prior to his start date at roughly $1,000 per day for no more than 45 days of work.

Sabin currently works as an assistant superintendent in the North Thurston School District, and was paid a salary of $180,000 in the 2020-21 school year, according to K-12 school salary data available at the Washington State Fiscal Information web site fiscal.wa.gov.

Sabin’s contract specifies he will be paid for 260 days of work minus 13 paid holidays and 35 days of leave, 15 of which can be carried forward into the next contract year and 10 of which can be cashed out every year.

The contract also states that Sabin must maintain a membership and actively participate in the Chamber of Commerce and one local service organization, with membership dues covered by MLSD. At a previous open house, Sabin said he is a member of the Rotary Club.

Sabin’s contract does not include any additional performance-based pay or bonuses.

Finally, the contract states that the school board may terminate Sabin’s employment with the district “at any time” during the term of the contract. However, if Sabin is let go without cause, the MLSD agrees to pay Sabin 18 months of annual salary or “the remaining terms of the agreement” if it is less than 18 months, plus all unused sick leave.

During the meeting, Sabin was visibly upbeat about being offered the job to head the MLSD.

“This is really happening, you know, we can’t believe it,” Sabin said. “We’re really excited to move here and become part of the community.”

“I promise I’ll do my best as superintendent and work well with the board and all the people that I serve in the school district and the community. We’re really excited for the future,” Sabin said.

Sabin was one of several candidates presented to the MLSD by Spokane-based Northwest Leadership Associates, a consultancy staffed largely by retired and former school superintendents to help school districts recruit new superintendents.

“Our firm does extensive background checks to make sure there are no surprises for the school board,” said Sergio Hernandez, a consultant and retired superintendent with the Freeman School District.

When asked, Hernandez gave no details on the specifics of Northwest Leadership Associates’ background investigations. However, according to the contract with NLA, the contract was valued at about $17,800 plus expenses. Further, the contract stipulated that, if no acceptable candidate was identified or if the selected superintendent - Sabin in this instance - resigns or is dismissed from the position for cause within two years of being hired, NLA will conducat another search without charge.

How did we get here?

The MLSD needed to hire a new superintendent following the end of Josh Meek’s tenure as MLSD chief last August. Meek and the school board negotiated an end to Meek’s term following allegations of financial improprieties. The resulting agreement included payment of a year’s salary and benefits through the end of August 2022 for Meek.

Several sources told the Columbia Basin Herald on condition of anonymity that Meek’s resignation was negotiated “without sufficient cause” in order to save the district both time and money. They said it was cheaper for MLSD to pay Meek a year’s salary than it would be to fight any challenge to a firing for “sufficient cause” in court that the district could not be guaranteed to win.

“Litigation is very expensive,” said Moses Lake Police Chief and School Board President Kevin Fuhr, who was elected to the board last November, several months after Meek resigned.

According to a report commissioned by the Moses Lake School Board and prepared last August by Trisha Schock, the executive director of administrative services for Educational Service District 171 in Wenatchee, Meek appears to have made more than $13,000 in questionable charges on district credit cards between 2018 and 2021. He also took four stipends in 2020 and 2021 without board approval totaling $12,161 and may have sold back a number of personal leave days in a manner not consistent with his contract with MLSD.

In her report, Schock wrote that Meek took no sick leave and only eight days of personal leave in 2020-21, and received $15,307.20 in personal leave buyback in the same contract year — the equivalent of 20 days at a daily rate of $765.36. She noted in her report that MLSD staff said Meek “reported he works partial days (answering) emails or calls during personal days, therefore the requirement of taking personal leave is null.”

As for the stipends, in a letter to the school board dated July 26, 2021, and included as part of the ESD report, Meek told the district all of the stipends “were part of a special project or special work that was paid to multiple people,” and not solely to him. It was not specified who the other people paid the stipend were.

According to a July 30, 2021 email obtained through a public records request, Meek also said he reimbursed MLSD $2,095.98 for personal charges made on MLSD credit cards and on Aug. 4 requested a refund to a district credit card from Amazon of $234.13.

After a series of closed-door school board meetings conducted throughout August, Meek reached an agreement with MLSD to resign and submitted his resignation on Aug. 20, effective Aug. 31. As part of the agreement, the district would pay Meek a year’s salary of $198,993 plus benefits and an additional performance-based bonus of $24,946 under the terms of his contract.

According to the ESD auditor’s report, Meek was paid $274,405.71 during the 2020-21 contract year, prior to the board being made aware of the questionable credit card transactions. That pay included a $6,000 vehicle allowance, three additional stipends and a performance-based bonus of $26,699.

Speaking in his role as Moses Lake police chief, Fuhr said there has been no MLPD investigation of Meek.

However, Schock said the Washington State Auditor’s office was conducting a fraud investigation into Meek’s activities as superintendent.

“They called me and I spoke to them in December,” Schock said.

Personal finances

On Sept. 17, 2021, Meek and his wife Courtney filed for bankruptcy in federal bankruptcy court in Spokane and published as a public notice in The Spokmesman Review, listing total assets of $908,713 and debts of $888,787.

In a text message to Columbia Basin Herald management in late September 2021, Meek wrote he had the associated bankruptcy notice published in Spokane on the advice of his attorney so “it wouldn’t be an issue for local media.”

While the vast majority of the outstanding debt reported in the bankruptcy filing are a mortgage, student loans and auto loans, the Meeks also listed $10,500 in outstanding taxes due from 2016-17, as well as nearly $119,498 in unsecured debts — $10,946 from seven collection agency accounts, $13,024 in seven outstanding credit cards, $80,904 in 14 outstanding personal loans, $4,939 from seven outstanding charge accounts with retailers and outstanding legal fees of $9,685.

In the federal bankruptcy paperwork, the Meeks also listed eight judgments filed against them in Grant County courts by collection agencies beginning in 2005, with the latest judgment filed on Sept. 21, 2021 with MLSD to garnish $2,307.64 of Meek’s district wages. The judgments from 2018 and 2019 were all roughly $1,000 to $2,000, while the documents from the earlier judgments — one from 2005 and the other from 2007 — were reported destroyed by the Grant County District Court.

According to a Grant County court official, court judgments like this are only kept for three years following the conclusion of the case.

According to an MLSD salary history obtained through a public records request, Meek reportedly worked as a vice principal from 2004-2009, and earned $73,909 in the 2004-05 school year, $77,454 in the 2005-06 school year, $99,677 in 2006-07 and $115,281 in the 2007-08 school year.

Under Washington law, once a collection agency has received a judgment in its favor, it has 60 days to collect, typically by garnishing wages, according to a collection agency officer who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Under an agreement with the bankruptcy court, the Meeks initially agreed to pay $4,400 per month. However, according to court records, the agreement was amended several times and the most recent change required the Meeks to pay $5,706 per month beginning in February.

According to U.S. bankruptcy law, payments are made directly to the court for a three-to-five-year period, are then distributed to creditors, and eventually considered settled.

Meek did not respond to requests for comment for this report, though he did contact Columbia Basin Herald management indicating he was consulting an attorney. He has started an education consulting business since leaving MLSD.

Moving on

Sabin told the Columbia Basin Herald he knows the eyes of many in the community are going to be on him as he starts in his new role at MLSD, watching what he does and how he lives to see if he can be trusted.

“Trust is a fragile thing and it takes time to build,” Sabin said.

He hopes to build that trust by being out and active in the community, working with the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club, looking for other opportunities to be involved and encouraging school board members to be more visibly present in the community as well.

“It’s important to find those opportunities,” he said.

Sabin also said he realizes that drawing a $255,000 salary — nearly ten times the area’s per capita wage of $26,526 in 2020, and more than four times the median household income of $60,136 according to figures from the U.S. Census Bureau — gives him a special responsibility to the community that he takes very seriously.

“A superintendent is really an essential ingredient for good schools and a significant factor in student achievement,” he said. “I do not take that salary for granted, and it makes me feel humble.”

Sabin said he also understands that as MLSD superintendent, his is a 24/7 job that will require him to always be on.

“I will do my best to earn that and live up to it,” he said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com. Managing editor R. Hans Miller may be reached at rmiller@columbiabasinherald.com.