CLAFLIN — Lines were drawn, but not agreed to, at the USD 112 Board of Education meeting Monday.

At the end-of-year meeting in June, the board resolved to encourage area landowners and community members to come to the July meeting to speak about the proposed land transfer boundaries.

Superintendent Bobby Murphy presented three options for boundary lines prior to community comments on land transfer.

“I’m only going to address Sylvan/Lucas because Sylvan/Lucas is the only district right now that we’re having conversations with at this point,” he said. “People out there who feel like you want to address other districts, you can feel free, but out of good faith to Sylvan/Lucas, that’s where I want to direct things to.

“The board wanted me to come up with some options, so I came up with three options. I can guarantee you right now, none of these options is going to make everybody happy.”

The three options were projected on the screen prior to being opened to comment.

“Potentially, once we get these lines drawn, the process will expedite. I want to reiterate, these are just my options; the board can do what they want to do,” Murphy said. “If they want to table it to a later board meeting, they can. If they want to make a decision now, they can. We can’t move forward with any land transfer talks until this part is done.”

“A land transfer, if two boards agree on it and send it to the state and the state does not agree to it, the same parcel of land cannot be brought up for transfer again for two years,” Board President Tamara Dody said.

“At the last board meeting, I made my preference known. I want to hear from everyone out there waiting to speak on this so we can make an informed decision,” board member Thomas Lloyd said.

Susan Sebesta, one of the visitors, addressed the board.

“I addressed you at the June 8 board meeting, and at that time, it appeared you were only considering one option regarding a land transfer, and that is with USD 299,” Sebesta said. “Mr. Murphy indicated he had spoken with the superintendent of USD 299 and USD 407. He didn’t share with you that as of that day, there were 16 new students from the Wilson area that have indicated an interest in attending USD 327, and that is a sizable portion of students from Wilson.

“During the land transfer discussion at the June board meeting, I heard USD 112 board members say, ‘It will slow down the process if we involve other schools. How many boards do we want to work with?’ Those comments, sadly, signal USD 112 wants to get rid of the Wilson area, not that you want to make the right decision for all the parties. Big decisions require proper consideration.”

Numerous other members of the public spoke.

Following the public comment session, the board broke into a heated discussion, which finally ended with a vote.

Lloyd renewed his desire not to split townships.

“What about all the people who showed up tonight?” he said during a back-and-forth with Dody, who said there was already precedent for splitting townships.

“I remember quite clearly you said is that you wanted to listen to the people,” board member Kayla Cullens interjected. “Now is your chance to listen to them. You told us you would listen to us. They are here tonight. They showed up. They told you what they wanted. It’s time to listen.

“The monetary difference is pretty minimal — maybe 3 percent. I don’t think that will be a huge factor. Looking at families that are affected and most of the people here tonight have children in the district.”

“I know there have been a lot of people who have shown up for that Avenue N, but landowners we have heard from were mostly from the Noble Township,” Dody said.

Dody did not say who the landowners they had heard from were.

“That’s not my information,” she said.

Dody then said she would entertain a motion to approve Option 3.

“Aren’t you going to listen to the public? I’m sorry, but you’re citing people’s preferences but they are not being disclosed,” Lloyd countered. “Here we have people who have traveled over a half an hour to get here and disclose their feelings about it. That’s just not fair. That’s not in the spirit of disclosure.”

Cullens countered that she could say people contacted her and said things and not disclosed them as well.

“We can both sit here and say that,” she said.

She urged all information to be presented to the board.

Murphy interjected that the lines being discussed were for the discussion with Sylvan/Lucas.

“If you want me to reach out to another school district and have that conversation, I’m going to need to know it. Otherwise, I need to be honest with Sylvan and let them know where we’re at with things, because I don’t want to do them wrong,” Murphy said. “Right now these conversations are just with Sylvan/Lucas, it’s not involving anyone else, so if we involve another school district, I don’t know how it will be. It might be OK. I don’t know. I just want to make sure that is clear.”

“I feel like maintaining with Sylvan/Lucas because with open borders now, even if we do this land transfer, you can still send your children to any district as long as they have an open spot in that class size,” Dody said. “I do understand people wanting to support different districts, but at this time, and for the sake of time, because everyone wants to have this done is what we’re hearing, I think it will expedite things to just continue with Sylvan.”

Following more discussion, board member Dalton Wirth made the motion for Option 3, with a second by Vice President Joshua Hurley.

Dody called for a roll call vote.

The board voted 5-2 to approve Option 3, with Kayla Cullens and Thomas Lloyd voting no.

In other business:

• The board recognized clerk Diane Ney for her years of service to the board and welcomed new clerk Nichole Clark.
• The board approved changing health insurance companies for the district from Blue Cross and Blue Shield as a stand-alone district by staying with the Greenbush Consortium, and moving to United Health Care.
• The board approved reappointments to boards.
• The board approved the use of the Wilson gym for a volleyball camp.

The next regular board meeting will be 6 p.m. Aug. 10 in Claflin.