(WEAU) - Prosecutors are looking over a claim that school administrators broke the law to approve handing out Christmas bonuses.

In a complaint, Leanne Rice of Hammond claims the Baldwin-Woodville schools superintendent and school board went into closed session on December 19th to discuss and vote on the measure without the proper notice. District administrator Russell Helland says the claim is “totally false.”

Rice's lawyers say they may sue privately if prosecutors don't investigate and file charges. They say they're not trying to get the bonus money returned.

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(1/16/12)

(WEAU) - Some people living in the Baldwin-Woodville School District are outraged over bonuses the district's teachers got over Christmas.

The school district awarded about 200 fulltime staff members $500 bonuses. People who opposed the bonuses attended a school board meeting so they could get some answers, but the school board refused to answer any questions.

Community members say the board needs to answer to tax payers. Lee Christianson, who opposes the bonuses, told us Monday night "I would like to see some accountability by the school board. I would like to see them be more open, more transparent, if they have something like this that they want to do, bring it up to the community, let us in on it, let us vote on it."

In a statement, the districts superintendent says he believes the school board has done a good job overseeing the school budget. He also said the bonuses amounted to half a percent of the school districts budget.

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(1/4/12)

(WEAU) – Some employees in the Baldwin-Woodville School District got quite a surprise this holiday season.

According to School Board President Jeff Campbell, about 200 full-time staff got $500 Christmas bonuses. He says after other odds and ends were taken care of in the district, there was a surplus in the budget. He says that surplus then funded the bonuses for the staff, in part because some of surplus was created by staff taking pay freezes and insurance premiums being raised for employees.

Campbell says while there is no guarantee it will happen again in the future, it is possible if the same situation plays out with the budget.