Sweetwater County School District No. 1 lost its chief financial officer this week, and three other accounting employees took or requested leave, leaving an already embattled district scrambling to keep its financial operations running.
Chief Financial Officer Matthew Gonzales submitted his resignation. Assistant CFO Fiona Barry took leave and two other accounting employees also requested leave, Interim Superintendent Paul Grube confirmed Friday.
“I’ll be honest with you. I was a little nervous two days ago,” Grube told Cowboy State Daily.
The departures come amid a tumultuous stretch for the Rock Springs-based school district, which placed Superintendent Joe Libby on paid administrative leave last month and eliminated the assistant superintendent position.
Grube, a former district superintendent who agreed to return in an interim role, has been on the job less than three weeks.
Now he's dealing with the sudden departure or absence of four employees responsible for managing the district's finances.
But Grube said Friday the district is already filling the gaps, and he is confident its accounting operations will continue.
“We feel real good right now already,” he said. “It’s incredible how fast people come together.”
Four Employees Gone
Gonzales had been with Sweetwater County School District No. 1 for just over a year. He was previously employed as a business manager in Fremont County School District 25.
Grube said he doesn't know what prompted the CFO's decision to leave the Sweetwater school district.
“I’ve been here for 12 days and have really only visited with him twice,” Grube said. “Was he thinking about leaving? I don’t know.”
Grube confirmed that Barry took leave and plans to join her husband, Michael Barry, in New York.
Grube declined to identify the other two other accounting employees who also requested leave, citing district personnel policy.
"They decided they wanted to leave,” he said. “People ask for leave for various reasons.”
The changes come as the district continues to adjust to a shakeup in its administration.
“There were some changes here, as you can imagine,” Grube said.
The CFO position is now open, and Grube said the district intends to be deliberate in selecting a replacement.
“We will be very careful and try to find the right person to meet the needs of the district,” he said.
The school board is expected to address Gonzales' resignation letter at its regularly scheduled meeting Monday.
Accounting Office 'Paralyzed'
The departures have also stirred discussion among district employees, including allegations that the accounting department had become a difficult place to work.
In a Facebook exchange Thursday, district curriculum secretary Shawna Willmore described an accounting office plagued by staffing shortages, workplace turmoil and problems conducting routine business.
Willmore said nine employees had worked under Gonzales, but four departed for various reasons in recent months, “leaving the office paralyzed due to short staffing.”
She said payroll suffered, along with the district's basic financial operations.
According to Willmore, this week's departures left only two accounting and payroll employees in the department.
She claimed that, for a 36-hour period, there was “ZERO people working in the accounting office that could perform the duties of payroll or fiscal management.”
Willmore also alleged that three longtime employees had been subjected to a hostile work environment and treated poorly by their supervisor.
She described the accounting office as a “mine field” and said employees outside the department witnessed the turmoil.
Willmore suggested the school board's actions in September contributed to the departures of the CFO, assistant CFO, an accounting employee and a payroll employee this week.
Her comments came in response to a Facebook exchange with Laura Libby, wife of the district's former superintendent.
After Willmore posted, “This day just keeps getting better!” Laura Libby responded, “Well, if you like the good old boys club and revering back 20 years …”
Willmore called that “a bold statement” and went on to describe what she said employees had experienced in the accounting office.
Cowboy State Daily could not independently verify Willmore's allegations about workplace conditions or the 36-hour interruption in financial operations.
Willmore did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
Grube did not attribute the employees' departures to workplace conditions and said he could not speak to Gonzales' reasons for resigning.
Payroll Problems
The staffing upheaval comes about a month after district employees publicly questioned why their paychecks had not arrived on payday.
On Sept. 5, numerous employees took to social media after their paychecks had not been deposited into their accounts by early afternoon.
Payments began posting that evening.
Grube said Friday the district recently changed its payroll schedule from one pay period per month to two for all employees, creating challenges for the accounting department.
The transition did not go as smoothly as expected.
The department “definitely had some hiccups they didn’t anticipate,” he said.
The problems also affected health insurance for district retirees, Grube said, although he did not elaborate on how those benefits were impacted.
“We’re back on track with that,” he said.
It remains unclear whether the payroll difficulties had any connection to this week's departures.
Audit Looming
The district is also preparing for its annual audit, another responsibility that falls heavily on the accounting department.
Grube said he contacted the state auditor this week and learned that much of the necessary paperwork had not yet been provided.
That discovery added to the challenges facing the district.
On Thursday, Grube said, the district's administrative and accounting employees participated in a call with the auditor's office.
“We asked a bunch of questions of the auditor,” Grube said. “They were real good about what needed to be done.”
He described the conversation as a “wonderful meeting” and said he is confident the district will meet the audit deadlines.
Help has also come from outside the district.
A community member with what Grube described as “enormous experience in school finance” volunteered to assist during the transition.
“That was an enormous relief to me and also the staff,” he said.
The individual asked not to be publicly identified, Grube said.
Filling The Gaps
Despite the sudden loss of experienced accounting personnel, Grube said district employees have rallied to keep operations moving.
On Thursday, the district revamped the accounting office, with about a dozen maintenance employees helping with the work.
Grube said the office is now running smoothly, and employees are working to address staffing needs and outstanding responsibilities.
“We’re filling the gaps already,” he said.
He expressed confidence the district can meet its financial obligations while searching for a permanent CFO.
Superintendent Still On Leave
Meanwhile, leadership troubles remain unresolved.
Joe Libby continues to be on paid administrative leave after the school board's unanimous decision in September.
Grube said he is not involved in that matter.
“That’s the board’s job,” he said.
School Board Chairman Cole Wright said in a text message to Cowboy State Daily on Friday that the board has taken no additional action since placing Libby on leave.
“The board is continuing to work through a process to address a personnel matter and because that process is ongoing I cannot provide any additional information,” Wright said.
Laura Libby, meanwhile, remains under contract to provide wellness services to district employees, Grube confirmed.
Kate Meadows can be reached at kate@cowboystatedaily.com.
