Dan Colgan resigns seat on St. Joseph Board of Education
March 6, 2015
By Sam Zeff
The house cleaning in Missouri's St. Joseph School District is now, for the most part, complete with the surprise resignation of school board member Dan Colgan.
Colgan is a former board president who previously served as superintendent for 14 years before he retired in 2006. He grew up in northern St. Joseph, and he spent his entire academic career in his home district.
On March 5, 2015, Colgan sent a terse resignation letter to St. Joseph Board President Brad Haggard. In it, he said the decision to resign was difficult "as I dearly love the St. Joseph School District."
Controversy wouldn't die down
Controversy has overwhelmed the district for almost a year, and Colgan has been in the middle of most of it.
In his letter, Colgan acknowledged as much. "It has become clear, however, that it is best for me to step down for the sake of mending the district and for my own health and wellbeing."
Fellow school board member Chris Danford says she was surprised by the timing of Colgan’s resignation but thinks it's the right thing for him to do.
"I think it was time for Dr. Colgan to move on so the district can move forward."
As Ballotpedia has reported, Colgan unilaterally approved former Superintendent Fred Czerwonka's distribution of secret stipends worth $5,000 each to 54 administrators. In return, sources have said, Colgan’s son, Mark, was given a promotion and raise to manage the district's warehouse.
After those payments were made, Czerwonka was given a nickname: The Candy Man.
The Candy Man was the focal point
The revelation of the Candy Man stipends last April opened the door to all of the current controversies dogging the district.
The FBI and a federal grand jury are investigating the possible misuse by administrators of district maintenance workers, according to sources.
The Missouri State Auditor released a scathing report two weeks ago. St. Joseph’s performance was rated "poor" by the auditor, the lowest rating ever given to a school district by the auditor.
The biggest finding by the auditor was up to $40 million in unapproved stipends, paid mostly to administrators, going back to 2000.
Colgan was superintendent during much of that time.
Danford, who was a counselor and teacher in the district for 25 years, remembers Colgan's passion for kids when he was superintendent.
She says he would often tell teachers that they needed to be creative because the district didn't have the money to do everything they wanted.
"Now I look back and there was money. It was just circumvented from the kids," she says.
Following the audit, the school board fired Superintendent Fred Czerwonka, Chief Operating Officer Rick Hartigan and Human Resources Director Doug Flowers. Flowers will be offered a teaching contract for next year.
Colgan was absent from all of the closed sessions where those personnel decisions were made.
The board will now take applications for the open seat. Danford says they hope to fill the open slot by the April board meeting.
Sam Zeff covers education for KCUR in Kansas City, Mo. He's won a National News Emmy for investigative reporting, four National Headliner Awards and four Edward R. Murrow awards. Zeff has managed newsrooms in Minneapolis, St. Louis and Kansas City. He was educated at the University of Kansas.
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