On Wednesday, March 7th, Mike Matheson resigned from Durango's 9-R School Board after formally accusing five of his colleagues of illegal actions.
9-R board president Matheson resigns
Members deny allegations of illegal meetings
According to Durango Herald, "Superintendent Mary Barter's job hung in the balance Wednesday"
Barter: ‘It appears I may leave’
Today, the Durango Herald published board member responses.
School Board members deny illegal actions
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
When M.M. was running for school board his promoters talked about how great it was to work with him on various boards in the past. He probably is a great board member...as long as there is no real controversy and he gets to speak unopposed.
It's unfortunate Mr. Matheson now feels he must drag the rest of the board down with him in a misguided effort to preserve his valuable reputation. Those of us who have seen him in action (or inaction) these past months can only shake our heads and wonder about the new "reputation" he has picked. It is interesting that the man who suggested teachers might sneak out the back door during early release has chosen to take that exit himself...all the while firing pot shots over his shoulder at the brave public servants left behind to clean up his mess. It's a shame. Our children and our community deserve better.
I can only hope that it isn't true that the board of education is going to fire Dr. Barter. I understand that they aren't in agreement with her policies and that she has one year left on her contract. Instead of costing the district over $200,000, I support having her serve out her remaining contract year and having an orderly transition plan to a new superintendent. Firing her now will only cost our kids and staff in the district valuable programs and support.
The person who just left a comment above this: I don't think we can go back to business as usual unless something big happens. Last week's news was pretty upsetting for everyone. I for one have no idea know what those policies are that the board disagrees with.
From last week's newspaper stories, it looks like she will probably step down no matter what. But, first, maybe the board members will share their concerns with the public. I can't imagine a board letting her go if enough teachers go all out and organize to keep her. Maybe they shoudl carry signs! I see that's what the parents did.
I'm not sure how you can keep a superintendent whose letter to colleagues caused them to believe she was being fired. Teachers were seen high-fiving each other at DHS. Teachers at an Elementary School came out smiling and laughing. I think that shows the level of toxicity that is currently felt about our superintendent.
You can't run a corporation on fear and intimidation.
Dr. Barter only showed support for Mr. Matheson's allegations in her comments to the Herald. How could she work with the board now? She has totally alienated herself from them.
As for her wanting to reach 10 years, well, that just shows the motive for her wanting to stay. Pension.
Dr. Barter needs to go, and needs to go now. She predicted chaos to Mr. Matheson, and the only chaos will come if she stays.
Our administration, principals and teachers are perfectly capable of running our district until an interim is selected and a search for a new superintendent is completed.
As for the money, we would have to pay it if she stayed, so let's pay it, let her go, and have bake sales and car washes to fund-raise the money needed for an interim.
Mary Barter was the "bane of open government" in New York. Her previous school district wanted her out too. Read Dr. Barter and TVCSD Break NYS Law.
Mary Barter must Go! The Board of Education can fire her or she can go peacefully. The best thing for this district is for her to go. Teachers aren't standing up for her. Parents aren't standing up for her. The board of education is not standing up for her. In the best interest of 9-R children she should step down, retire and move on. If we must we can have bake sales to raise the money necessary to see her go. Wouldn't that look nice on her resume' This district and its fine teachers don't need her. What is it she really does anyway?
Lets clean house. Our kids deserve better.
As a teacher, I will see little change in my life if the superintendent leaves. We work for our kids in our classrooms. Most of us are pretty happy with our individual principals. If it's just about the cost to buy out her contract, let's look hard at the budget.. With $35 million a year, there have to be funds somewhere. In fact, I heard that money has already been put away just in case of this sort of situation. Rumors are going around that we will get pay cuts, but that's ridiculous! We should be in a totally separate part of 9R's mega-budget...I say just let her go now. (but of course until she is gone I can't say that in public) What is it that our principals and senior staff can't do without Dr. Barter? The District in some ways really runs itself. My own sampling says that a majority of my colleagues will be happy to carry on as we always do. We won't miss her; we hardly know her.
I would like to respond to the writings of the "independent business owner" from the community contributions section.
I don't own my own business, but as a member of the community I have tried to sort through the rhetoric both from the district and from the folks who are calling for Dr. Barter's dismissal. It seems there is plenty of "spin" from both sides, and it is very discouraging that I and many others in our community can't trust either side.
Just to respond to the points in the article:
1) Dr. Barter won't hire the new High School principal. I understand (and have checked out) the process that will go into screening, interviewing, and recommending for hire any of the new principals. It does not fall to Dr. Barter alone.
2) I don't believe Dr. Barter will hire the new football coach. That is handled at another level.
3) I also think that the writer is going way overboard to write that Dr. Barter could bring in potential school board members who would support her. I think most of us are hoping to find people who don't have an underlying agenda for the Board.
Maybe it is time for Dr. Barter to move on. I know I am tired of the drama that the District and the lynch mob are perpetuating.
Please...reinstate my trust and belief in the silent majority's common sense and basic goodness. I don't want to hear arguments that are so slanted that only the most zealot supporter or uninformed citizen can stomach. I do want to hear balanced reasonable feelings about such a very important topic.
Oh, Please!!! Bake sales to raise money to pay for an interim superintendent!! That's not going to happen, and it's silly to even mention it. There is a volunteer committee that oversees the budget, and if we think there is a problem with how 9-R's money is being spent, talk to them. I am a teacher, and I didn't see anyone high-fiving the idea that Dr. Barter would be fired. We were laughing and happy, but it was about our enjoyment of kids and each other. I know many of us are disturbed that we are being pulled into a political situation without our permission.
I think the bake sale idea was a joke. It would take a lot of cakes to fill the balance sheet!
The editorial in the Herald today alarmed me with the first sentence.
"What has been holding the School District 9-R board of education together came apart last week."
Was the Herald editorial board suggesting that Mike Matheson was holding the board together?!
They can't be serious? Three members of the board have been there forever, and two others have served 16 months. If that was the suggestion, I find it an a front to the other members who have dedicated decades to our children and school district.
Mike (when he became president) was the one who said the board needed to agree on everything (so why have a board, if the only answer is yes to everything?) and Mike was happy to sign on the dotted line when advised a particular board policy would mean the board would be "voluntarily giving up the Constitutional Rights under the First Amendment" and would never be able to speak negatively about the superintendent and school district again.
Nothing is perfect, and it is OK to disagree.
To the anonymous writer who can't "cut through the rhetoric" and "the spin," who can't "stomach" the "slanted" arguments she is reading here, and who references "a lynch mob" (!) I suggest: why not start reading the whole website? Not just the blog.
Particularly look at long term concerns and issues that reference best practices from national school board journals.
Try to understand what might have gone wrong with the Policy Governance model.
Look for patterns in those Durango Herald stories about issues that 9-R's Public Information Office insists were long ago resolved and are only used by the "biased cyberbullies."
Why would good people keep insisting that there really are problems with DHS's Career Tech program? If you're "tired of the drama" and can't trust "any side" -- maybe you should keep reading formulating deeper questions.
Why would busy prominent citizens whose children are long grown, who are professionally qualified in career and vocational areas, keep asking the superintendent to account for deficits in that very important program?
Just because 9-R insists this is a biased site written by cyberbullies, does that make it so? How credible is 9-R?
You certainly won't get all the answers online and you can't really hold a conversation on a blog. And conversations, face to face, are what it's all about. We've been missing that very important part of our public education process for too long. People need to talk, to reason together and to be reasonable together in public.
That's why we started the website.. we and others, including board members, have asked for years for the District to pilot some genuinely democratic public forums on a variety of topics - not an invitation-only format highly orchestrated by superintendent in which board members are never included.
If you want "balanced and reasonable," read Herald story of August 2005 when a consultant (Robert Tschirki) was brought in to investigate personnel practices -- after the Herald published a story suggesting the superintendent might possibly have intentionally leaked highly damaging and extremely confidential information about an employee whose contract was not being renewed to a prominent community member active in school advisory work.
Ask yourself if an "atmosphere of fear and intimidation" could really exist within the District. If so, what you would expect might be done to address that? If you don't believe the consultant, ask for an accounting of the fees he was paid, and then balance the investigation with the District's response to his findings.
Are you curious about what might motivate people to walk away from 9-R committee posts...vowing never to serve again? What kinds of situations make ordinary people pick up picket signs? There's a lot to think about and plenty of good questions for a public conversation.
Finally, think about the opportunities we will have in Durango as we search for a superintendent and team with an entirely different attitude toward the public.
Try to envision a future 9-R system adopting a non-defensive attitude. When mistakes and challenges aren't swept under the rug, it's amazing how powerfully a creative community like ours might respond.
To the one who can't stand the drama and can't believe either side. I'm sure there are biases on the sides of the parents, community members, and those who want to find a new superintendent, but I think you have to ask yourself why each side is involved. Dr. Barter stands on her side because she wants her pension and she wants her money. We stand over here because we care about what's best for our kids. What motivates each side? Why do people feel so strongly? Because it's our kids, it's their education. Why would parents go to this extreme? Because we're tired of being ignored. We want what's best for our kids and we want 9-R to listen.
And, Dr. Barter does have the last say on who is hired as the Principal at DHS.
FYI--We have at least one principal in this district that came from a district that was "never so happy to get rid of someone." And we're stuck with that principal because Dr. Barter refused to work with parents and community members in trying to solve the problems with that principal. The result? A school that barely functions and is nothing like it used to be. Our kids lost out and continue to lose out because the whole school community has been damaged. Strong feelings about Dr. Barter? You bet.
In my opinion, based upon reading between last night's lines (although it was very hard, because one had to have been behind closed doors in the executive session to understand fully what was being suggested, and when they come out, they always speak in mysterious tongues, cloak and dagger stuff, so that if you were not a fly on the wall behind closed doors, you do not have a clue about what they are talking) -- that Mike Matheson is as guilty as the board are, of whatever they are supposedly guilty of.
On October 3rd, we were told that Bruce Anderson had been selected as the 7th board member. On October 10th the Herald interviewed another candidate in the afternoon (BEFORE) the 5p.m. board meeting to ask his opinion about not being selected, and Bruce getting the post.
http://www.durangoherald.com/
asp-bin/article_generation.asp?
article_type=news&article_path=/
news/06/news061011_3.htm
"Giddings, interviewed BEFORE the meeting, said he understood the board's decision."
"Board President Mike Matheson said he guaranteed that no decision took place before the meeting."
Huh? No decision took place?! Only one man sat there to take his Oath. We all knew 7 days before the vote. Another candidate was interviewed by the Herald BEFORE the meeting for the vote to get his opinion about not making the board. Only ONE candidate out of six (I think) was sitting in the room. Matheson is on tape (providing they taped it and did not break another Sunshine Law by not), as saying it was a split vote, but he wanted a unanimous decision. So the 3/3 vote had been deliberated in early October to go with the President's choice to make this a unanimous decision.
Heck, what would they have done, if the 3 who wanted Mr. Giddings had changed their mind and voted with their heart and guts? And one of the 3 who wanted Bruce sided with them? Made us all sit there and wait while they sent a car to pick Mr. Giddings up?
For crying out loud, if a decision had not taken place before the meeting – why weren’t all six candidates sitting in the front row waiting with baited breath? Purlease.
Forget the World is Flat hype, and try the World is Crooked and “guarantees” obviously don’t mean anything, unless of course, you are using the old “I’ll stand on my record” ruse.
Post a Comment