Viewpoints
Ask yourself some questions
By Susan Walsh
May 07, 2007
Monday PM
The school board entered into a contract with Mr. Martin, which
contained a specific "convenience" clause. Employers
have this clause in contracts for several reasons one of which
is to spare the employee public embarrassment and to increase
the likelihood of future employment for that individual. I can
assure you there is nothing convenient about terminating someone's
employment.
There are certain sectors of
our community that are now clamoring for the recall of those
individuals that made that decision. They have launched a whisper
campaign with ludicrous insinuations. They are concerned that
this was a hasty decision and not financially responsible. So
please ask yourself:
- How much did it cost to hire
an administrator as activities director replacing staff at double
the salary, and why was this necessary in the first place?
- How much did the Schoenbar
debacle cost the taxpayers? The building is one issue. I take
exception to the displacement of students shuffled yearly with
no sound plan presented - a shoot from the hip approach . With
misinformation given to the board as to the true cost of housing.
- How much did the immediate
and untimely closing of White Cliff School, with the subsequent
dispersal of children cost the district both monetarily and emotionally?
- How much did it cost the district
in legal fees to defend Mr. Martin's allegations against an administrator
who was cleared of all wrongdoing?
There are many more instances
but the above mentioned demonstrate a definite lack of accountability.
I can only surmise that the new board members encountered the
same frustration that I did in getting accurate and timely information
in order to make sound decisions.
I'd ask anyone in doubt to view the school board meeting of March
28th and ask yourself... Could I continue to work with someone
who obviously has so little respect for me that he launched into
a public tirade belittling me? It was very clear that Mr. Martin
was incapable of continuing to work with all seven members who
employee him.
One thought occurred to me
when viewing this tape - could it be that he wanted to be fired
and used this last meeting as a verbal message to the board similar
to one member's recent visual display?
Susan Walsh
Ketchikan, AK
Received May 06, 2007 - Published May 07, 2007
About: Susan Walsh served on
the Ketchikan school board for 7years.
Note: Comments published
on Viewpoints are the opinions of the writer
and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Sitnews.
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