With all the major controversies that have taken place over the last decade, it’s no wonder some parents have said they have little faith in the school district.
The district is on its sixth superintendent with Larry Nyland, with two previous leaders having left because of financial scandals. The school board has been criticized for making quick, unpopular decisions without public comment. Some classes still don’t even have a teacher yet, while some students who are just acclimating to their new classes are losing their teachers to other schools.
This lack of ongoing oversight and foresight is particularly bewildering when a principal is suddenly dismissed over something perceivably pedestrian as not submitting teacher evaluations on time. Who was watching for the district when millions of dollars in education funding were purportedly misspent? How does it compare to a principal being a few months late with teacher evaluations?
Considering the current outcry over teacher reassignments, the timing couldn’t have been worse: The district could have minimized the uproar if it intended to let the principal go for his indiscretion by doing so over the summer.
If the district can’t look out for itself to earn the parents’ trust, how can parents expect it to do the same for their children? The teachers can only do so much in the classrooms, exclusive of teaching, and they don’t make the major directional decisions affecting the students’ education like testing and graduation requirements.
And with state Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn opting to not run for reelection next year, there will be no one left at the state level with his stridency whom the legislators will officially need to listen to, either. Dorn can continue to advocate for the students, as he hopes to do when he leaves office, but without such an outspoken crusader as a high-level official, he’s just one of us, and we know how far we get when it comes to championing for our kids — about as far as we do with the school district.