Keep in mind- This person is around young minds EVERYDAY!

Slander, Disrespect & Personal Attack- This is unacceptable.
Are these qualities a Superintendent should display proudly?

Please read below:

Waterloo Local Schools
Superintendent's Update
April 17, 2008

My Comment on Board Meeting
I preface these comments by saying this is my view and opinion regarding the most recent board meetings. *It is meant for board members review only. I put my comments in writing so we have a common understanding of my concerns for the district. My goal is to refocus the board's attention to the most important task at handfinancial stability.

(* Mr. Superintendent, this is part of public record- Ohio Sunshine Laws 2008) page 44-46.

At the April 10th meeting, one board member demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of the operation of our school district with his public comments. ____'s request that the nurse's contract not be approved and that the position be re-posted showed a complete lack of knowledge regarding the contract relationship between the board and the certified staff. His comments in a public meeting were an embarrassment to the board. It also indicated to me that he has not read the contract with WEA nor understands the legal requirements that are involved in issuing individual contracts to personnel. His insistence that the issue is not performance based and is not a personal attack on the nurse is insincere in my opinion. In my view, questioning hiring practices is a direct attack on the individual in the position and me as superintendent of schools.

My duties and authority in this area are outlined in the Board Policy Manual. ___ picked up his copy on Tuesday this week. Obviously, he has not taken the time to read it to become familiar with the operating policies of the district set by the board before making comments on personnel. There seems to be little effort to learn about the district and more interest in pushing a personal agenda directed at individuals in the school district. Personal attacks on other board members and staff are not conducive to the educational climate of the district. It gives the board a black eye in the community. To personally say, and encourage others to say in a public meeting of the board of education, that you do not trust the other members of the board to do the school's business honestly and above board is very unprofessional and poor boardsmanship.

For ____ to continually to insist in public meetings that the hiring process was illegal and not done properly is a direct attack on me as superintendent and undermines my authority with the staff, the board and the community. His insistence that my decision to hire one individual over another was a mistake, infers to me, he has a personal interest in this matter above and beyond the hiring process. To make erroneous comments to justify his point does a disservice to the board and, in my opinion, borders on a personal attack on one of our staff members. I think that is not appropriate behavior for a board member and I will counter any further effort in this area. In addition, to tell the public that he would not believe anything I would tell him regarding the hiring process at this point makes it difficult for me to provide any information, regarding any issue he requests, that would be seen as credible to him.

His comment about the nurse being hired at step 5 and the new principal hired at step 1 (or 0) again demonstrates no understanding of our district's policies and procedures and is an example of the incorrect information he has put out at various meetings. Principals are paid on an administrative salary schedule that is linked to the teachers' salary schedule, but it is separate and differentiated based the number of work days and the level of responsibilities in the district. In addition, ___ made comments about insurance waiver payments that were just plain wrong. To make comments like those and other misinformation to justify a personal attack position is irresponsible for a board member to do in a public meeting. It intentionally puts out information to the public that is incorrect. In the future, I will not sit back and let that happen. I will express my opinion freely, especially when I am confronted personally and professionally regarding my actions or when board members make incorrect statements in public meetings.

In a similar manner, continued comments regarding AP classes and weighted grades reflects an unwillingness to accept the consensus opinion of the board. I have explained what we do and why we do it that way regarding our current educational program at the high school. The ability of our students to take the AP test as an option without restricting enrollment of the course offers important flexibility. For a small district like Waterloo, it offers the best of both worlds for our students and staff. The issue of weighted grades raises too many substantive issues for our district at this time. Considerable discussion and review would be needed regarding our district grading scale and related issues of grade card comments, homework, and other educational issues before I would consider any recommendation on weighted grades.

As you heard from ______, PCESC Educational Consultant, our staff has been very busy working on curriculum issues related to raising student achievement on the state mandated testing. Now is not the time to undertake another major project. In my opinion, the Board's efforts should be concentrated on getting a levy passed this year. Once passed, we can turn attention to some of the issues that need district-wide discussion. Getting side-tracked now would not be in the long-term best interest of the district.

In the twenty-one years I have been at Waterloo, I have worked with many different board members. They all have had good ideas to improve the programs at Waterloo and worked with other board members and the administration to do so. When the time came, they worked cooperatively to solve school district problems. I have not worked with a new board member who had a personal agenda and caused so much dissention on the board as now. I encourage everyone to consider doing what's best for the district during this time of financial concern. It will reach crisis proportion if we can't get it settled this year. In my opinion, that needs to be the focus of the board over the next few months.

Next Board Meeting

The next regular meeting is
Thursday, May 8, 2008, at 7:30 PM in the HS Media Center.

Please do yourself a favor- Come to the next meeting and form your OWN opinion.