Lebanon -- The Lebanon School Board yesterday said it was “taking action” to curtail “irresponsible and offensive” behavior by any school district employee.

The statement from the School Board appeared as a paid advertisement in the Sunday Valley News. It comes days after Business Administrator Jim Fenn publicly apologized for his profanity-laced response to a reporter, who had questioned whether he had misinformed the School Board and the public about the status of upgrades to the Lebanon Junior High School fire sprinkler system.

School Board members reached by phone yesterday acknowledged the advertisement, which doesn't mention Fenn by name, was purchased in response to his outburst, but they would not disclose what action was planned, citing the confidentiality of personnel matters.

Board member Mary Jane Thibodeau said she didn't have anything to add to the published statement.

“That speaks for itself,” she said.

Thibodeau and board members Andy White and Al Patterson said Chairwoman Laura Dykstra and Mike Harris, the city's superintendent of schools, wrote the statement. The board did not vote on the final draft, the board members said.

The advertisement referred residents to the school district's Web site, but it wasn't immediately clear what information on the Web site pertained to the statement. Thibodeau, White and Patterson said they did not know what role the Web site was supposed to play.

Dykstra could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Some Lebanon residents have called for Fenn to resign.

At a School Board meeting Wednesday, Raymond Hood, who served on the School Board in the early 1990s, said he thought the board should “look at moving forward with replacing the business manager.”

Fenn apologized during the same meeting. “My choice of words was not acceptable,” he said. “For that I apologize.”

In his comments at the School Board meeting, Fenn asked the school district, the community and the Valley News to dismiss the incident and proceed constructively.

“Let's go forward now, together, for the good of all,” he said.

Fenn could not be reached last night for comment regarding the School Board's advertisement.

In January, Fenn told the School Board that the sprinkler system was “put in,” when, in fact, it was behind schedule. Harris also made written statements suggesting the work had been completed.

The expanded sprinkler system was finished and tested by the fire department just last week.

Board member Al Patterson said he didn't want to dwell on the sprinkler question, now that the system is in operation and has passed inspection.

“We're supposed to be there for the children. We don't need to be bickering back and forth,” Patterson said.

He said he thought the School Board should focus on the tasks at hand.

After three proposals to replace the junior high with a new building failed to win voter approval -- the most recent one going to a narrow defeat in March -- the School Board must decide whether to try for a fourth time.

Meanwhile, the school district plans to consolidate elementary grades by closing School Street School and Sacred Heart School at the end of the current school year, dividing elementary students between Mount Lebanon and Hanover Street schools.