FSCC trustees take no action on president's evaluation this month

Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Members of the Fort Scott Community College Board of Trustees discuss financial items at Monday's meeting. They postponed a formal evaluation of President Clayton Tatro (center, left) until all trustees could be present. (Ruth Campbell/Tribune)

After an approximately 40-minute closed session, the Fort Scott Community College Board of Trustees on Monday took no action on FSCC President Clayton Tatro's yearly performance evaluation.

"Mark McCoy was not here tonight, so they did not present me with a formal evaluation," Tatro said. "We had some conversation, but they wanted to wait until Mark was present."

The board met in closed session at its Dec. 19 meeting to distribute evaluation forms for Tatro.

The forms were to be turned in to board Chairman Jim Sather by Jan. 16. Tatro makes $101,877 in salary, has a $12,000 annuity and a $11,958.78 housing allowance. The Fort Scott Community College campuses in Fort Scott, Miami and Crawford counties have an enrollment of about 2,057 students and its total operating budget is some $11.4 million.

FSCC speech and theater instructor Lawrence Alford and drama/theater instructor Nathan Magee spoke to trustees about the upcoming spring production of "Almost, Maine" and attending the 33rd annual state thespian festival.

Magee said this is the first year to his knowledge that FSCC has had a presence at the theater festival and he said it was well worth it because it gives the school legitimacy in the eyes of students. He said three students finalized that they were coming to FSCC and several more were "seriously considering" the school. He and Alford also spent a lot of time talking to other universities. This will hopefully give students "clear avenues" toward furthering their education after they leave FSCC and lets those schools know about FSCC "so they'll be looking at our students with a new eye," he said.

Alford said performances of "Almost, Maine" for high school students from around the area will be given March 29-31. The play offers different perspectives on love. "It's a wonderfully funny show," he said.

In other business:

* Trustees received a copy of a letter saying the Neighborhood Revitalization Program, which provided tax rebates for commercial and residential property owners who made significant improvements to their property, has been suspended for a year due to declining interest. The college had participated for five years.

* FSCC adopted 43 kids at Christmas through its adopt-a-child program, giving three gifts to each child.

* Approved the purchase of a 2011 Chevy Malibu from Shepherd Team Auto Plaza, Fort Scott, for $16,349. This replaces a vehicle that was totaled.

* Tatro said February's meeting will include policy proposals for social media and bad weather. Tuition and fee recommendations are also likely to be discussed at next month's meeting.

* Tatro read a letter from Julie Hesseltine, Thedford, Neb., whose son will be attending FSCC next fall. Her son is interested in rodeo and criminal justice. She wrote about how nice everyone was on their visit and how they treated her family like their own.