Replace the Current School Board....Now!!!!

By James W. "Jim" Traub

The current school board should be replaced if not recalled. They have violated the ultimate trust of their constituents by replacing our community's agenda with their own.

The board has been unable to deal effectively in wage negotiations, leaving the teachers without a contract for over a year. Though teachers have been denied even a Cost of Living Adjustment, students per classroom has been increased even while the para-educators (teacher's aids) have been eliminated. To add insult to injury, the board is currently considering extending the teacher's workday! As a result, we have lost many good teachers. For the remaining teachers, the professional consensus is that a strike is inevitable. When community members came out in support of the teachers, they were schussed and ignored. So much for our Blue Ribbon school district.

If disregard for our Blue Ribbon teachers isn't enough, the current board maintains a fundamentalist policy, "Zero Tolerance," which is undermining the integrity of our school and its mission to maximize our children's' chance for future success. This year, our Valedictorian was expelled from school just two months before graduation! His offense was that he had consumed a malt liquor at a school event. While he certainly should have been severely censured, expulsion is over the line. When community members came out in support of the expelled valedictorian, they were once again, schussed, and ignored. If we can't save our best students, we are doing EVERYTHING WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!

Though he had no mercy for the valedictorian and his rather typical teenage transgression, a member of the current board campaigned for the right of a convicted child molester to regain access to the campus, and our children. It's no wonder we have had so many child molesting/child pornography type personnel migrate to our schools!

The school board is ineffective, unproductive, and has their priorities turned upside down. Let's replace them with a voice of reason. Those who know me know that I am that voice!