Viewpoints
School Board Controversy
By Diana Chaudhary
March 24, 2007
Saturday
I was very surprised to read in the newspaper Tuesday that two
School Board members want to remove Mr. Martin from office at
a cost to the taxpayer of over $90,000. The reason given is a
lack of confidence and adversarial relationship. To me this does
not seem like a good reason to remove a superintendent in the
middle of the school year without a replacement identified. I
have to ask the question, is this just a personality thing? Gross
negligence and incompetence is a reason to spend $90,000 to get
rid of an employee and risk the lawsuit that will surely follow,
not loss of confidence . Is this really going to help our schools
to be better run, or will it just serve to throw the entire community
into an uproar, especially given the diverse opinions regarding
education that exist within the population?
Ms. Eakes is quoted in the Ketchikan Daily News as saying "As
a board we need to deal with this - not in the media, not in
the public." Well, it is my opinion that this does need
to be dealt with publicly. The public needs to know why the School
Board wants to fire Mr. Martin. Reasons like, loss of confidence
and adversarial relationship do not cut it. In my opinion, the
public should be given real concrete reasons why the School Board
wants to remove Mr. Martin, because frankly, as far as I can
see, there is no reason to take such a drastic action. I really
do not care if the Board gets along with the Superintendent.
However, I do expect the Board and the Superintendent to work
together for the betterment of all children in the district,
regardless whether or not they like each other personally. Maybe
everyone involved should take a step back and reassess the situation,
focusing on better communication and doing what is best for the
kids.
Diana Chaudhary
Ketchikan, AK
Received March 21, 2007 - Published March 24, 2007
About: "A mother of four
children, with three still in the District at Fawn Mtn, Schoenbar
and Kayhi."
Note: Comments published
on Viewpoints are the opinions of the writer
and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Sitnews.
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