The resignation letter follows.
Good evening,
I am going to start out as is our culture in our district with some positives. Over the past 3 years we have had around 50% of our high school graduates, graduate with a 3.5 or better GPA. I would say that shows that our school system is doing a good job getting our kids educated. Is there room for improvement, of course, and in one of the masters classes that our Superintendent held last summer, it was pointed out by schools across our S-CAP sphere, that one of the features that stands out for our school is that improving is part of our school culture. Our superintendent was the runner up for the Superintendent of the year last year, and is known across the state as one of the most innovative in the state, with accolades such as being on the development team that actually created and set up the S-CAP accountability framework, and more recently developed the Strategy team with other leaders in our school to address teacher issues directly. And then there is our teaching staff, who for the most part are fully dedicated amazing professionals, who truly care deeply for our kids.
Unfortunately, those items are not the reason that I am speaking this evening. It is unfortunate that the recent political push in our country has been to focus on School Boards as an easy entry point for those looking to get into the political arena. School Board elections are typically less costly, and often a seat can be had with no opposition. This gives those with political aspirations the opportunity to learn the budgetary and governing functions of public office, and the opportunity to get their names out in the public. This sometimes is exploited, and we are seeing the extreme version of that exploitation here in our little district. This past fall we had 3 new members seated on the board, and they immediately began to show that they were not interested in learning how our district functions, or how to govern, but they were totally about making the political scene. They took over the leadership of the board, and have been moving forward to change nearly every policy of the board since day one. A real leader would have been in touch with previous board presidents to learn about how the board functions and how it deals with certain issues, but not this board. They have their marching orders, and are following them without a care for history, or what actually works or doesn’t work. I am also concerned that their process will lead to the failure of the Strategy team as they push forward on their agenda. Our school district has had a long list of very dedicated board members who have developed our system into one that truly believes in our kids’ success, and the relationships that are important for that success. Now the new board is taking all of that history and attempting to toss it out with the garbage, so they can make their own political mark.
This coming Thursday from 8 to 4, the board is having a “retreat” here in this room, and they are planning to “Re-Brand” our school district because they think that we don’t have the support of our community. I would ask how that could be when we just had a Bond and Mil approved, by the voters, this past year to raise taxes in our district to benefit our facilities and our teachers. I would say that shows amazing support from our community, but then I guess if you are only listening to the few political hacks, you might not hear that. The retreat is a public meeting, and I would suggest anyone who wants to know what is being proposed as a “re-branding” should attend. You know…keep the political rhetoric in the open air, and not behind closed doors.
Sometimes, it is easy for board members to hear about items that are coming forward from the state, and decide that it is likely that our school administration may not know about them (because we just heard about them) and board members decide to make a big presentation about how we need to adopt the new vision. In my experience, our administration is so far ahead of anything that we might learn individually that we look a bit naive to bring it to an open meeting before discussing it with the Superintendent. It is typically smart to have a conversation with the Superintendent before bringing new items to the board as a directive and only then having the staff let us know that they have been working on the issue for the past 2 years. But some board members believe that the maybe 10 hours a week that they have spent, lets them know more than the likely 80+ hours per week that Lisa spends on our district every week for the past 10 years.
Finally, I come to the resolution which was brought forward at the last meeting without any notification to the board and then rushed to a vote to avoid any real thought out conversation from board members. It was said during the meeting that this issue was not divisive and nobody should oppose it. Of course, as a political ideology it can be pushed to make anyone who does not support it look “Hateful”. It was also stated as a reason to pass the resolution, that we “celebrate our football team”, and yes we do sometimes celebrate groups of our students. But only after they have accomplished something extraordinary, like going to the State Championship game. It was also suggested that the resolution was only to support kids and let them know that we are there for them. My question for the board is this. If you are all about supporting kids that have had challenges, why did not a single one of you attend our own CCHS graduation, where we celebrate OUR own kids that have overcome extreme obstacles and succeeded. And our vice president also did not attend the High School graduation, where we celebrate all of our seniors who have overcome challenges to succeed.
It is interesting that the board leadership is bringing this resolution forward as a rebuke to bullying, however, I am guessing that “as we have seen online this past week” many of the people in this room tonight are here to bully the others into submission. As if someone who does not fully support this action must be a hate filled bigot.
Our school district has a long proud history of taking care of our kids and sending them out into the world to discover their own pathways. We have all of the policies in place to fight bullying and discrimination without highlighting any one group. I am disappointed that we have come to a place where the board has become a political stepping stone and a place to sharpen political ideology. I am hopeful that the current board will reflect and get back to focusing on educating the kids and hopefully teaching them how to think, and not what to think.
With that I would like to thank Lisa and our entire staff for the incredible work that they do, and this is my letter of resignation from the board effective immediately. Click for the full video. https://www.facebook.com/reel/4401146240127994
Support Independent Local Journalism — High Country Advocate was created as a real alternative to regional media that too often silences dissenting voices while taking sides in the political struggle. Producing in-depth, unflinching reporting like this series and others is expensive: servers, editing, research time, and legal review all add up quickly. If these articles have informed you or given you new perspective, please consider supporting HCA with a paid subscription — every subscriber helps keep this reporting strong and independent. 