Dominguez
ST. CHARLES COUNTY 鈥 Francis Howell School District officials were investigating former Superintendent Mike Dominguez's use of pandemic relief funds and asking colleagues about his performance at his previous employer in the weeks leading up to his sudden departure last month, according to interviews and records obtained by the Post-Dispatch.
Dominguez's abrupt resignation a month after he was supposed to start work at Francis Howell, and the school board's decision to pay him nearly a year's salary to leave, have drawn the attention of the state auditor聽and sparked questions from parents and staff.
None of the Francis Howell board members will say what caused the district to dig anew into Dominguez's work history or decide to oust him from the $250,000-a-year position before he had even started in the job.
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As a part of its separation agreement with Dominguez, the board said district officials were barred from commenting on his departure except to say he resigned on July 31. Under the agreement, the district paid Dominguez $229,166.67, which represents 11 months of his salary. The agreement describes the payment as a settlement to resolve an employment dispute.
Documents obtained by the Post-Dispatch through open records requests, however, offer a glimpse of what went on behind the scenes as the board held a series of closed-door meetings to discuss Dominguez's job status.
The records show that during the month between his originally scheduled start date and his resignation, a lawyer for the district was seeking information from Garden City Public Schools in Kansas, Dominguez's previous employer, about how that district used pandemic relief money known as Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER.
In addition, two former Garden City Public Schools officials said members of Francis Howell's school board contacted them after the district named Dominguez its next leader, asking questions about his reputation and performance.
There were several high-level departures from Garden City under Dominguez's leadership. Two assistant superintendents, a deputy superintendent, the human resources officer and the chief financial officer left during Dominguez鈥檚 three years there, according to school board meeting minutes, , and .
A former assistant superintendent, Glenda LaBarbera, was paid nearly $234,000 by the Kansas district in 2023, to avoid 鈥渢he expense and burden of administrative complaints and litigation鈥 over 鈥減otential claims against the district,鈥 according to the agreement obtained by the Post-Dispatch through a records request.
LaBarbera declined comment.
Marcia McCormick, a professor of law , reviewed Dominguez's contract and separation agreement. She said Francis Howell's school board may have paid Dominguez to resign because it did not believe it could terminate his contract for cause.
Even if the board thought it had cause to fire him, Dominguez would have been entitled to a hearing to contest his dismissal, McCormick said. Such a process would take time and money and might not result in his termination. Additionally, Dominguez could have argued the hearing was insufficient, opening up the possibility of litigation, she said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just so much cheaper to come to an agreement and settle," McCormick said.
Melanie Renken, an employment litigator with national law firm聽, interpreted the separation agreement as a "cutting of losses." She said the board could have been on the hook for three years of Dominguez's salary instead of one had it not terminated his contract through mutual agreement.
鈥淚n my experience, employers don鈥檛 pay out contracts like this unless they have found reason to, if they learned something they didn鈥檛 know when they signed the contract and feel strongly about not wanting the employee to start," Renken said.
The records
While the Francis Howell school board was holding those closed-door meetings in July, lawyer Margaret Hesse, who works for the district as聽, was seeking records from Garden City Public Schools, including memoranda from Dominguez related to ESSER funds and meeting minutes showing the school board approved the use of those funds as "premium pay" for district employees.
Asked why Francis Howell sought the records, board President Steven Blair declined to answer, citing the restriction on comments in the district's separation agreement with the former superintendent. The agreement also barred both parties from "disparaging" each other.
Dominguez has not responded to emailed requests and messages for comment.
Garden City said it only had records for one of the five items Hesse requested: the memos from Dominguez to the school board.
One of those memos, dated July 26, 2024, detailed how the district had to quickly obligate $2.2 million in ESSER funds before a Sept. 30, 2024 deadline.
The memo, addressed to the board and cabinet members, said there were more ESSER funds available than originally thought due to "incorrect coding" in years past.
Dominguez framed the rushed spending as "premium pay" for certified staff and administrators when they returned to school that year.
"We plan to make this part of the back-to-school event on August 9th and would like it to be a SURPRISE as we welcome staff back," the memo reads.
So-called premium pay聽was a common use of ESSER funds and allowable under .
Garden City said it had no meeting minutes that reflected school board approval of the use of ESSER dollars within the timeframe Hesse requested. However, the state board of education OK'd Garden City's plan for pandemic funds, which included premium pay, in November of 2022, a Kansas Department of Education spokesperson said.
The Post-Dispatch directed questions about Garden City's ESSER funds to a spokesperson Monday. The school board attorney's replied the following day, saying the district would not respond to the questions unless they were "rephrased" as a records request.
Dominguez announced his resignation from Garden City four days before the memo to the school board, on July 22, 2024,聽saying he needed to be closer to his "aging in-laws." He said he would work until the end of his contract on May 31.聽
The search
Property records from Comanche County in Oklahoma show Dominguez and his wife bought a home in Lawton, Oklahoma 鈥 about a two-hour drive from his new district in Shawnee聽鈥 on Feb. 28.
A 2021 suggests Dominguez has in-laws about 35 miles from Lawton in Snyder, Oklahoma.
Francis Howell's school board voted 6-1 to hire Dominguez two weeks after Dominguez bought his house on March 13.
Four weeks after that, the April election cost conservatives their majority on the board. Ron Harmon and Mark Ponder, who were supported by the PAC and voted in favor of hiring Dominguez, remain on the board. Blair and board Treasurer Carolie Owens also voted to hire Dominguez.
Francis Howell Families, a far-right PAC that helped elect four of the six board members who voted to hire Dominguez, has laid the blame for Dominguez's resignation and payout on the political shakeup caused by the election.
"It's Only Been 4 Months and the Far Left School Board Majority Incinerated $250K of Your Tax Dollars," the group wrote in a recent newsletter.
Others have pointed to the speed with which Dominguez was hired by the previous board. Superintendent searches often can take a year or more. Dominguez was hired three months after his predecessor, Kenneth Roumpos, announced he was leaving for the Kirkwood School District.
Francis Howell school board leadership at the time said they wanted Dominguez to work alongside Roumpos before he departed.
A Chicago-area search firm called School Exec Connect handled the search for Roumpos鈥 replacement.
Randy Cook, the board鈥檚 vice president up until he lost reelection in April, said it was a duty of the search firm to assess a candidate鈥檚 history. Each board member called his references, Cook said.
鈥淏oard members aren鈥檛 personal investigators,鈥 Cook said. 鈥淲e rely on the search firm to do all that due diligence. That鈥檚 what we pay them for.鈥
Kevin O'Mara, president of School Exec Connect, declined to answer questions about the Francis Howell superintendent search and Dominguez's eventual hiring.
Cook said the former superintendent came off as a 鈥渄ifferent kind of leader." He was the candidate with the most experience, "very matter-of-fact" and "very apolitical."
鈥淚t was totally refreshing to hear somebody with a fresh take, who had experience in other districts,鈥 Cook said.
Francis Howell鈥檚 $29,500 agreement with School Exec Connect stipulates the district could demand the firm perform another search for free if the new superintendent left within 24 months of his start date.
Blair and Francis Howell spokeswoman Jennifer Jolls declined to say whether the school district would invoke that provision.
Former Deputy Superintendent Mark Delaney was named interim superintendent on Aug. 11.
Blair said in a聽聽that Francis Howell would not fill Delaney鈥檚 former post and would leave a director of secondary education position open. The moves would offset the cost of Dominguez鈥檚 separation.
Meanwhile, the state auditor's office announced Aug. 14 it would review the district's payout to Dominguez.
Four days after Dominguez's resignation from Francis Howell was signed,聽Shawnee Public Schools in Oklahoma announced it had hired him聽as an assistant superintendent in the 3,300-student聽district.
