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Logos terminates consulting contract with former director Joe VonDoloski Tuesday Oct 24, 2017 at 10:06 AM Oct 25, 2017 at 9:28 AM by Tran Nguyen Mail Tribune Logos Public Charter School terminated its contract with Western Collegiate Consulting, a business set up by the school's former director. The Medford School District had filed an ethics complaint against former director Joe VonDoloski (corrected from previous version) after the school awarded a five-year, $1.5 million contract to his business, Western Collegiate. VonDoloski submitted a bid for the administrative consulting job June 27, one day after resigning as director of the school. The school's former business manager is also a manager with Western Collegiate. The Logos School Board awarded the contract to Western Collegiate, which submitted the only bid, on July 24. "The Logos School Board elected to exercise its right under the contract to terminate the relationship with Western Collegiate Consulting," said a release sent out Monday evening by current Logos Executive Director Sheryl Zimmerer. "We take great pains to try to always do things the right way," the release said, "and never want there to be any doubt that Logos operates in full compliance with the law and Medford School District policies." Logos School Board Chairman Dave Dotterrer said in an email Tuesday that after the school awarded Western Collegiate the contract, Medford started raising many "legitimate questions," including the lack of a cost analysis required by law for public schools to outsource services. Logos voted to end its contract with Western Collegiate at its Oct. 12 meeting "out of an abundance of caution and to get back to focusing on the education of children in the Rogue Valley," he said. "Logos has explained to the District its process and why Logos believes it satisfied the requirements of the law," Dotterrer wrote. "The ongoing questions of the feasibility study the Logos Board has decided it is time to step back, regroup, and take a fresh look at the options for the school." Medford School District attorney Thad Pauck said the school informed Medford of its intention to terminate the contract last week. The Medford School District is the sponsor of Logos Charter School, which operates with its own board but must get district approval in some areas, such as the number of students it accepts. Logos serves primarily homeschooled students who receive mentoring and take specialized classes and electives at the school. This year, Logos reached its capacity at 1,000 students. It currently employs 75 people. Dotterrer wrote that concerns about rising costs drove Logos to seek an administrative consulting company and "get creative in order to survive in the next few years." Now that the school terminated the contract with Western Collegiate, Logos will re-evaluate its options to save money, including seeking another company, putting its planned new building on hold or using "other options," Dotterrer wrote. "We have been very fiscally conservative and responsible financially resulting in strong reserves that can help us weather these times," Dotterrer wrote. "We will continue to be careful with our resources and therefore will take the time needed to deliberately reassess all our options." Dotterrer wrote that Logos will go back to doing all business services in-house, noting that the school hasn't decided whether Cassie Zimmerer, former business manager at Logos and manager at Western Collegiate, or another business manager will fill the daily operational administrative role. Cassie Zimmerer is the executive director's daughter. The school doesn't currently have plans for VonDoloski to work with or for Logos, Dotterrer wrote. The Medford School Board, through its attorney, filed a complaint Sept. 28 against VonDoloski with the state Government Ethics Commission, saying he might have influenced the process or had internal information to gain the contract. A preliminary investigation into that complaint was expected to not be affected by the termination and be concluded late this month, Pauck said. "They're two separate issues," he said. "As far as I know, they are still conducting the review." An Ethics Commission investigator said Monday she can't comment on the current status of the review process but could only acknowledge there is a complaint against VonDoloski on file. VonDoloski didn't respond to phone calls from the Mail Tribune Monday seeking comment regarding the termination. — Reach reporter Tran Nguyen at 541-776-4485 or [email protected]. Follow her on twitter @nguyenntrann.