Ozark School Board, from left, Aaron Johns, Christina Tonsing, Patty Quessenberry, Sarah Adams-Orr, Amber Bryant, Mark Jenkins, Guy Callaway. (photo courtesy of OzarkTigers.org)
Guest column by Dave Cort, Ozark School Support Team
Well, the new school board, elected on a platform of change, is off to a great start. As a first order of business, they decided to give the old President, complicit in everything that was wrong with the board, another stint. The vice-president is different. It’s a member who ran last election on a platform of change but has been unusually quiet for his session so far in terms of actual change.
As a second order of business, they named an interim superintendent to serve at least a full year and then appointed the superintendent as the board treasurer. What could go wrong there?
Let’s be more positive and optimistic. What could go right?
Well, we elected a new board member who ran on a platform of investigating why OSD has such a high teacher turnover. A data collector and professional in personnel. Where are we on that? At least four teachers’ real-life stories of why they are no longer teachers were pivotal in this election. Start there? Nah. When at least one of those teachers wrote the new board asking for the first real hearing on the events – deaf ears. This seems like the perfect place to start in any exploration of “Why are teachers leaving.” It also seems like a natural step for a new school board to take in repairing the damage to its perception of secretive and unethical behavior.
Another new member used the words “We need to think outside the box.” Have we heard a word about where we might find the money, amidst groundbreaking for a new storm shelter, to repair the leaky roof and decrepit air conditioner that garner so much attention from those who elected him? It seems that finding this money somewhere ought to be a “think outside the box” scenario. So far nothing?
Then there is a member who ran on a platform of transparency and accountability. Where’s that severance package that’s supposed to be public? Where’s the accountability in rewarding the past president another chance to block email from a teacher imploring the board for a fair airing? Where are the open channels of communication?
Don’t get me wrong. Ships don’t turn 180 degrees on a dime. There have only been two meetings. But, those two meetings haven’t shown us an inch of turning. The idea of what’s past is past, let’s move on doesn’t answer the question for the community still torn between an administration who decided in top-secret meetings that these teachers were treated fairly and four teachers with identical, independent stories of abuse. The board must answer those questions before it can possibly move forward. And it must answer them to the voter’s satisfaction. When a single board member asked, in an open session, whether the board could discuss the reported blocking of email to the administration by patrons of the district, not even a second on the motion to simply add the discussion to the agenda. That’s hardly an agenda of change from past corrupt board proceedings and rules of order. When a full ninety percent of the business of a board meeting is conducted through consent agendas intentionally hidden from the public with broken, redundant and distracting links on a hard-to-find agenda, that’s not open and transparent.
These are continuations of years of practice that clearly answer the question “What could go wrong?” While we don’t expect overnight miracles, you have a very, very short time to show us what could go right.
Find out more about Ozark School Support Team at opswindow.com