Why Recall Is Justified

WHY RECALL IS JUSTIFIED
Monday, October 19, 2009

Editor: Recent letter writers have stated that, since the District Attorney determined that former superintendent Allan Gordon didn’t break the law by planning his own early retirement package, our school board must be doing a good job.

Is this how far the bar has been lowered for school board members? As long as no one has committed a crime under their watch then they’ve upheld their responsibilities?

Putting aside the fact that Mr. Gordon signed the document that awarded him almost $200,000 in early retirement benefits three months later, what seems to have been forgotten in these letters are the many other issues that started and reinforced the recall movement, which began long before the conflict of interest issue regarding Mr. Gordon came to light.

In April, community members spoke out against the board’s insistence on summarily offering Dr. Rob Haley the superintendent position. Ignoring pleas from the community to perform a search and offer Haley an interim contract, the board immediately appointed Haley and awarded him a contract with an automatic renewal provision that gives him virtually perpetual employment.

Subsequently, many in the community were alarmed to hear of the high salaries paid to Mr. Gordon (approximately $264,000/year) and our current superintendent (approximately $205,000/year), while teachers were told to be extremely conservative in ordering instructional materials for the 2009-2010 school year.

Then came the realization that our district, with approximately 1,300 students, greatly increased the number of administrative positions (coupled with lucrative salaries) to unnecessary levels.

Meanwhile, the district cut or severely limited valuable school programs, such as vocational and special education programs, and had to cancel the after-school tutoring program due to lack of funding. All the while, the district asked our community to donate money to our schools to pay for school field trips, teacher supplies, library books, computers, etc.

Instead of addressing these issues, the board took a “we know better than you” approach, dismissing community concerns.

These are the reasons that the recall is justified, regardless of whether anyone believes that Mr. Gordon committed a crime.

Tim Stel

Leslie Ellis

Kelly Rios

Kathy Zelazny

Gene & Denise Armstead

Tiny Boak

Molly Morales

Dan & Diane Beltrami

Joanne Yates

Alexandra Haslip

Gayle Davies

Lisa Pelosi

Cherie Melka

Pavi Lawson