Stillwater school board cuts ties with finance director

© Provided by Twin Cities Pioneer Press
Stillwater Area High School (Courtesy of Chase Lau)

The Stillwater Area School Board voted last week to terminate the district’s finance director, Kristen Hoheisel.

After discussing the termination during a closed session on Sept. 3, the board voted 4-1 to proceed. Her last day was Friday.

A district spokeswoman said she could not comment on the matter other than to say that Hoheisel, who had been on administrative leave since March 30, “is no longer employed by the district.”

Hoheisel’s attorney, Rolf Fiebiger, said Wednesday that his client “has been informed of her termination and is exploring her legal options at this point.”

In June, the Stillwater Area School Board voted 5-2 to cut ties with Superintendent Denise Pontrelli; her last day was July 1.

Board Chairwoman Sarah Stivland said Thursday that the decision to fire Hoheisel was “a necessary action that was taken with the greatest of care and consideration. We don’t take these things lightly. This is not a game.”

But school board member Jennifer Pelletier, who voted against both terminations, said Wednesday that Hoheisel’s dismissal is part of a “continual effort to dismantle the administration based on past decisions at the expense of our taxpayers and families. I’ve completely had it; I’ve just had it.”

Hoheisel in May sued the school district and the chairwoman of the school board for allegedly violating the state’s open-meeting laws, the whistleblower statute and the data practices act.

Hoheisel filed the lawsuit in Washington County District Court in Stillwater.

Hoheisel alleges Stillwater school officials and Board Chairwoman Sarah Stivland violated the state’s open-meeting laws by failing to close a meeting that included preliminary consideration of allegations against her.

“No closed meeting was held in advance of Hoheisel being put on administrative leave,” the lawsuit states. “Before closing such a meeting, the school board must make a statement on the record that provides the specific grounds permitting the meeting to be closed and describes the subject to be discussed. No such statement was made as required by law.”

State law also requires that a meeting must be open at the request of the individual being discussed. According to the lawsuit, “Hoheisel was deprived of that right and opportunity to request the meeting be open.”

Stivland, a member of the board since 2017, was told of the violation both by email prior to and in person during the meeting, according to the lawsuit.

District officials and Stivland said that they could not comment on the lawsuit; the district and Stivland filed motions to dismiss. A hearing was held in late August, and Washington County District Judge Tad Jude took the matter under advisement, Fiebiger said.

In May, Stivland told the Pioneer Press that the claims in the case were “completely and utterly without merit. We have submitted this to the school district’s insurance company, who will cover the legal defense, and we will proceed accordingly.”

Hoheisel, who lives in Lake Elmo, had been executive director of finance and operations for the school district since 2015.

In 2017, Hoheisel filed a hostile work environment complaint alleging gender discrimination and harassment on the part of Stivland and another board member, according to the lawsuit. Her complaint was investigated by an independent, third-party investigator appointed by the school board who found her complaint had merit, but “there was no action taken by the school board to punish the wrongdoing found in the investigative report,” the lawsuit states. “Since then, the harassment continued.”

Hoheisel filed another complaint in February in which she documented conversations she had with Pontrelli about her hostile work environment and asked that measures be taken to stop it, according to the lawsuit.

Less than a month later, the school board voted to place Hoheisel on administrative leave.