There is currently a letter of no confidence regarding Joseph Hunter's performance as superintendent circulating in the community.
Letters can be obtained from Ron and Charlotte Williamson.
email: cwilliamson66@msn.com
Phone: 503-838-5205 (home)
503-580-6451 (Charlotte's cell)
503-559-2545 (Ron's cell)
They are asking that signed letters be returned to them so that they can be presented to the Board as a package. No letters will be turned in to the Board until a sufficient number have been collected.
I would urge staff members who wish to sign to proceed cautiously. My own reading of the legal issues (and keep in mind that I am not an attorney) is that you are probably protected if you publicly criticize elected officials, like Board members, but that you may not be if you criticize your boss. If you have representation, it would be advisable to check with your union's attorney. I don't see any reason why your family members and friends couldn't sign.
What will this letter accomplish? Are we supposed to believe that we have the right to interfere with an employment contract? Are you expecting that the school board must fire him if there are enough letters? I'm just curious. Because you are a public employee too. Don't you work at a public university? So does this mean I get to comment on your employment contract? I know his position is higher profile than yours but that's about where the difference ends.
ReplyDeleteI am truly trying to figure out what your expectation is with this letter. If it's simply to let the board know how you feel, ok. I get that. But if you have an expectation that they must act upon it, I think you will be sorely disappointed.
If an employee has a concern, then they are in the best position to complain. If they can prove he has acted in a unethical or illegal manner, than they need to act. If he has created a hostile work environment or sexually harassed employees, then they need to complain. But the public doesn't get to interfere with a private contract between an employee and his/her employer. Because if that happens, every public employee in this country better start watching his/her back.
So please explain what you expect to accomplish?
Wow commenter before me. In case you have forgotten... public employees work for the PUBLIC! For that matter, the school board should represent the voice of the people. If the people are not being represented it is time to fire them too. Based on your rather nasty view here, I wonder if you just might be one of those people we, the PUBLIC, would like to replace! Oh, and as to hostile environment... have you noticed that few, if anyone, is willing to put their name on here? Well that is because there is a hostile environment. No one is safe. Teachers and staff are threated with the loss of their jobs... private citezens are threatened by rumors of being sued by the disctrict for voicing concern. I'd say that is hostile. As far as illegal? Maybe it could be proven if the district coughed up an independent audit. As I recall, an audit has been requested and denied. Are you saying that the PUBLIC will have to "lawyer up" in order to be heard? What is this community coming to? We should be educating kids!
ReplyDeleteThe employees did complain as a group with overwhelming numbers and was flat out ignored by the board and the superintendent’s actions have not changed. I think the intent of the letter is clear. The board needs to address the concerns associated with the superintendent. If they deal with it appropriately, they will let him go. If they ignore it, a recall will be the next step.
ReplyDelete1) I am not the person coordinating this effort.
ReplyDelete2) It's not a private contract, he works for all of us. I am also a public employee and you have the right to comment on my contract as well; it's a matter of public record.
3) The letter of no confidence is about his job performance, not his contract. If you had first hand knowledge of my job performance then yes, you could comment on that as well. My university gets evaluations from several hundred of my students each year and my colleagues visit my classes and write their own evaluations. They go to some trouble to make sure that, year after year, I'm sill doing a good job. The Central School Board only asks the superintendent, and no one else, how he's doing - not the same process at all. If the Board had done an actual evaluation, it might not have come to this since they would have had to confront these issues several years ago.
4) What will be accomplished? The Board will know what their constituents think - isn't that a good thing?
5) You are quite right that the Board may choose to ignore the letters. They certainly ignored the concerns raised by their own staff in last year's vote of no confidence. My question to you then is this - If the Board ignores district staff AND the community, who do they represent?
I'm not a public employee. I used to be. Now I'm a business owner. I'm not bitter or nasty. In fact I think we have some amazing people working for our school district and my children are blessed to have them as teachers.
ReplyDeleteI'm simply stating a fact. If you have a complaint, there are procedures to follow to file those complaints. They are done privately and we, the public, should actually never hear about it. But it seems to me that so far the only thing that has happened is Dr. Hunter is being tried by the court of public opinion which is quite different. No one appears to have followed any of the district policies that allow the school board to do an investigation legally and let Dr. Hunter go if they find due cause. Remember, if there is reason to let him go, and they don't do it properly, he could come back and sue the district for a lot of money, money that could be paying teachers.
PUBLIC employees, as you so aptly put it, deserve the same protections as private employees, certified and administrators alike. As for rumors of being sued....until I see a letter from a lawyer, I tend not to believe such rumors. I do research and rely on facts.
But I see fact and rumor being interchanged freely here. I am simply trying to give a more realistic perspective of how the process works. I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything. And notice, I'm not the one making the threats either.
The board meeting last night was incredibly interesting. You can feel the tension in the room and the clear divide between employees of the district and Hunter and "his" board (especially Stoopes). I think this letter is a great idea. It was already baffling to me that the vote of no confidence by the employees (95% of whom voted no confidence in Hunter) was ignored but yet another letter of no confidence with community member involvement will be difficult to ignore. The teachers would like to do another vote of no confidence but are waiting until the district finishes negotiations as that would fracture the already severly damaged relationship we have with him and we want to protect ourselves as much as possible. The point of this letter is to FINALLY be heard and yes, he should be fired or forced to resign. We will not sit by and remain silent any longer!!
ReplyDeleteTo the business owner above- many, many attempts had already been made over the last several years to voice complaints and concerns about Hunter's performance. Those were done privately and you didn't hear about those. The teachers until recently were not even allowed to speak with board members about Hunter and there is no policy in place for evaluating him. The only way to evaluate him is how the board sees fit but after complaints and emails and years of concerns nothing was being done. Therefore the staff chose to take a vote of no confidence- thus making complaints public and will continue to make concerns public until something is done. They tried other avenues and weren't (and still are not) being listened to. What else would you have them do? This is a democracy not a dictartorship. They do not and should not have to simply "deal" with this superintendent. They followed policy, the board is not following policy.
ReplyDeleteHow will removing one person in a district that is hurting in more ways than one repair any of the damage that is perceived or realized? It seems there is a huge amount of guilt and recrimination being heaped on one individual. I am not saying there haven't been mistakes, but what is the goal? We remove one individual and replace them with someone else? What if that person is worse? How do we fix the system? One way might be to build each other up rather than stand or sit and yell at each other to be heard. Often it is the whisper in the crowd that has the bigger impact. My question would be what positive thing has been done to encourage the person/people in question? Or are we all so busy tearing down that we will be surprised when all we find that is left is rubble? I hope we are better as a community and work to find a positive way to communicate for the good of the kids, because that is really what it is all about, Right.
ReplyDeleteKS--
ReplyDelete1. I didn't say you were leading this. I asked what your expectations were since you were encouraging people to sign these letters.
2. Commenting about his job performance with the expectation that dismissal could be an end result makes it a contractual issue since said contract defines job performance expectations.
3. You state: "If you had first hand knowledge of my job performance then yes, you could comment on that as well." How many in the community have such knowledge to the point that they would be qualified to comment in a manner that would determine a need for investigation? It seems to me that only people who actually work with him regularly would have that knowledge. I don't work with you and I'm not a student in your class so I'm not qualified to comment on your job performance.
4. How many employees have complained officially with their name on the document? You can't vote anonymously, present those numbers to the board with no supporting documentation, and expect the board to act upon that. Well, I suppose you can because that is what happened. But it is not fair to ANY employee to be fired based upon an anonymous complaint. Fear of reprisal is not a sufficient excuse. Because they too could in turn sue the district for unfair termination. And I don't know if you've paid attention, but it requires a lot of paperwork to fire a teacher. The union is pretty strong.
5. I don't feel the Board has ignored the community. They haven't been presented this information in a manner in which they can legally act upon it. That's all. If people are so serious about this, why not take the time to do it correctly? That's all I'm saying.
To the person above that commented that they do not feel the Board has ignored the community. How can you in good faith believe that? Have you attended many board meetings? Except for Kathy Zanner and Mary Shellenbarger, the rest of the board have at times been rude, hostile and disrespectful to the community that I assumed they represented.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry I spelled Kathy Zehner's last name wrong in the above blog.
ReplyDeleteWOW - would like to know who the anonymous commentor is - apparently they have NEVER attended a recent board meeting and they were not there last night.
ReplyDeleteI am a parent and a community member, and I currently do NOT have my children attending any of the schools in our district. I have attended more board meetings than I can count, with my kids enrolled and not.
Last night was appalling at best. The board members ignored comments made from the staff, and back pedaled all of their previous month's votes on re-arranging of their meeting format, so much that they shut down vocal voices to call them on making private changes to their own rules that were voted on in public AND shutting down any opportunity for the community members in attendance to make any comments at all.
The board literally turned their backs on those in attendance when they grouped themselves together for a "work session" with their backs facing the staff and community members in the room. That litte saying that actions speak louder than words was screaming to the staff and public that the board and super wanted nothing to do with any of us. The comment from the board chair that absolutely NO comments would be allowed from the public also slammed everyone even after I specifically approached her and called her on the statement she made PRIOR to the work session that the board would ALLOW comments to happen.
ReplyDeleteThey also were very disrespectful and outright beyond rude when they didnt even recognize the board member who left voluntarily. She has served on the board and in our community and in our schools for YEARS, and the board did not make one mention of her devoted service or even mention her name - another VERY loud action on the super's and the board's part that they are separating themselves from her for walking away from all the garbage.
Just a comment about the staff seeking the "proper" channels to speak out against the board and Hunter. Right now the teachers in our district are working WITHOUT a contract - mostly in part from Hunter walking away from negotiations and using intimidation and refusal to participate in discussions to get what he wants. So far it is working, from what I heard last night, teachers have given up the things that they DESERVE (raise in pay, prep time, etc) in the hope that they can just secure their jobs and their lives. Hunter has kept them in fear and pain by threatening them with general pink slips - 2 years in a row. They live in daily fear of their jobs with nothing to protect them should they even try to speak out. When they do speak out it is in hushed tones and the comment of "I better not say this too loud, if anyone heard I would be fired."
ReplyDeleteI witnessed again last night the board dictating and making choices that directly affected the staff in that room, and watched as staff member's faces contorted in unbelief, shock, anger, sadness, hopelessness - even one staff member who had to physcially leave the room to go outside to vent his anger and frustration, before he could sit through the rest of the meeting. My eyes met those of teachers with silent messages going between us of just being blown away at what was happening right there in front of us.
Even taking a stand as a large group last night to publicly voice their concerns and requests did nothing but fall on deaf ears. The community members who were there stood with them, but there were few of us there to make a difference. Our teachers need OUR support now, more than ever, to make the positive changes that are desperately needed so they can get back to doing what they do best - give the love and education that our children need and deserve.
Thank you to the people who have created the letter that I have been able to read and sign with complete agreement.
ReplyDeleteThank you for finding the facts, the specifics and the truth behind the speculation and rumors that have been present in the past year (or more).
Thank you for taking the time and money it cost to pull that all together.
It is time for our community to unite and fight for what is rigth for our teachers (and school admins), for our community and for our students!
I want to publicly say how much I missed seeing Betty last night. And say how atrocious the board was to not even mention her at last night's meeting.
ReplyDeleteShe is a wonderful, caring person, and she very much deserves all of our praise and support for choosing to take a stand for right. She will be missed very much.
Even if she is not there on the board, I know that she will continue to do what she does best - love children, love education, and be involved in our community. We have been, and we will all be blessed because of her devotion and service.
Thank you Betty for all that you have done for good. We wish there were more wonderful people like you willing to serve, and stand for what is good and right and true. You are a shining example to all of us, and your service through the years has been very much appreciated.
To anonymous that said, "If you have a complaint, there are procedures to follow to file those complaints." Could you tell me where to find that procedure ... and then what the recourse is when that procedure when followed correctly is ignored?
ReplyDeleteAnd in the statement, "No one appears to have followed any of the district policies that allow the school board to do an investigation legally and let Dr. Hunter go if they find due cause." Since it is a private procedure, as you stated above - then you wouldn't know .... and when the procedure is ignored, it would look as if "no one appears to have followed any of the district policies...", right?
I'm a teacher. If I have a complaint I am to go to the superintedent. The writer of one letter says that I shouldn't fear reprisal? Would that writer go to his/her boss to complain about the boss's work, or the work of someone he has hired? Teachers were told by the school board chair at a public meeting last year that she would forward concerns to the superintendent. That sounds as if nothing will be acted upon except by the supt. Teachers and community members speak at the board meetings so that the public who pay the supterintendent's salarly and vote for board members can hear about what is going on, since since other modes are dead ends. When you receive a pink slip and know that the superintendent can choose to make changes in the school staffing which could put you out of a job, you might choose not to make any waves, no matter how upset you are. The fear of reprisal is real.
ReplyDeleteI've read two comments which indicate the writer seems to settle on mediocrity, living in fear that the next Superintendent "isn't going to be any better" or "What if the new person is worse?". A great man and president once said "The only thing to fear, is fear itself". Do you raise your tolerance out of fear? I removed my children from the school district this year and pay for private schooling. The teachers were all amazing individuals. I have no complaints about them as educators. However, I am still a tax paying member of the community and friend of several teachers and one former educator who lost her job due to cuts. I have heard of several attempts teachers have made, following the "rules" to work with Dr. Hunter. It seems they always fall on deaf ears. I find it troubling that while teachers take on higher class sizes and teaching aid positions are cut Dr. Hunter and the board give the Super position a raise immediately followed by a freeze on salaries to teachers. I have heard of a lot of questionable spending including high dollar spending for Dr. Hunter taking his "staff" out to lunch. I do question where exactly in this area they ate for nearly 2 grand? The list goes on from there on money issues I'm aware of. What I find MOST TROUBLING, are the behaviors involved. Are we as adults not called to lead by example for our children? Are we not called to give dignity and respect to each other as human beings? The super and board will not always have the same opinion on all subjects as the teaching staff, but that's life. I get that. What I'm at a loss for is the complete disrespect of the teaching staff and members of our community to their concerns. To turn you back's on them, refuse to listen or speak with them... ? What a poor example of quality leadership skills for our community.
ReplyDeleteFirst, a thank you to KS for clarifying the options the Board has in termination of a supt. It used to be that you could "buy out" a supt. but then they were getting paid for work not done.
ReplyDeleteSecondly I applaud KS's words as to the comments made towards the Williamsons. To inform any and all community members:
1) concerns towards the supt, his conduct, and his spending of money have increased over the years in response to his conduct, choices and words and were not the result of "stirring up".
2) the Williamsons, in addition to other community members, have responded to the teachers' vote of no confidence whereas the Board has not.
3)the first commmunity response to the vote of no confidence was when any and all were invited to the Fire Station on Nov. 30, 2009 and was mediated by local dedicated community members who wanted an open forum where concerns could be voiced to the Board and supt.
4) Focus needs to stay with resolving the issues of our currently unhealthy and discontented district.
The first two steps I see that would go a long way in bringing a level of respect back between teachers and the board are the following.
1) the comment voiced by KS which states a different approach towards the Supt.'s evaluation. This evaluation should reflect a varied perspective which includes, building administrators, teachers, all district office staff, AND community members. This could really go a long way in building trust between the Board, the community and the Supt.
2) the existence of alternate routes of communication when the concern(s) of a district employee include the Supt. Requiring all concerns to go through the Supt. assumes that the concerns are not in regards to him/her and that he/she is implicitly trusted. No one is infallible or above the rules of professionalism but our current procedure of voicing complaints and concerns reflects just that. This alternative needs to be done in a professional atmoshphere where the individual(s) involved feel safe and can have their concerns documented and addressed. Perhaps a separate committee made up of parents and business/community leaders.
3) Making accountablity a top priority of the Board. All of us should be help accountable in our professional endeavors, especially when it comes to spending money made available via a bond. Not accepting the effort made by Eric Olsen and Jon Carey to provide financial accountability of bond expenditures via a committee was a huge error made by our Supt.
#3 above sentence should read, "All of us should be held accountable..." sorry for the typo.
ReplyDeleteHow can a good morale and pride be restored to our damaged school district? We must blame the feds and state officials who only focus on "learning the test" and grading us on how well we teach only what is needed to get a good result. What ever happened to really teaching the kids? School is such a different environment than the one of the past. Our teachers no longer need to be crative, and that is sad. Has anyone seen the documentary "Waiting for Superman?" It says so much, and sorry, teacher's unions are to blame. But my experience is that most teachers want to be creative, and step outside the box, and still teach our students what they need to know. They want to teach without being disturbed my specialists that need to make sure Johnny passes the state testing. "No child left behind" has left the whole classroom behind. A Supt. should just be a business leader, and make sure his employees are happy, happy teacher, happy kids. Sure, they need to learn certain things, things beyond the "Test". Dr. Hunter, you are not Superman, nor should you expect to be treated as such. You are a human, hired to do a job, in a timely matter, a fiscally responsible matter, in a way that your employees are proud. Just because you have climbed up the ranks (from elementary principal to Supt in one huge swoop), you are not entitled to work less hours, take more money. Reading these blogs makes me sad. The students are the ones that are getting hurt.
ReplyDeleteFunny how retired Administrators recognize the problem with our district. I have personally talked to retired staff, teachers, administrators, district office staff, classified staff, and all of them say that the morale of the school district is a reason some have retired, and others glad they got out before the fall of Central School District. When I ask them outright about Dr. Hunter, they all get very quiet. I find this weird.
ReplyDeleteI have to take issue with the poster who blamed teacher's unions for the state of education in America. This is simply not true, and my guess is that it's based on a number of common misconceptions which are actively promoted by those who want to see schools privatized in one way or another.
ReplyDeleteFor those interested, here's my rebuttals to the most common myths:
The Myth of the Evil Teacher Union, Part I
http://bit.ly/d47Cyw
Myth of the Evil Teacher Union, Part II
http://bit.ly/9HmQ9M
The Myth of the Evil Teacher Union, Part III
http://bit.ly/bm3SvC
The Myth of the Evil Teacher Union, Part IV
http://bit.ly/dez0Op
The Myth of the Evil Teacher Union, Part V
http://bit.ly/bsxE0G
The Myth of the Evil Teacher Union, Part VI
http://bit.ly/a1Op5s
Correction to Myth of the Evil Teacher Union
http://bit.ly/cMD2TE
As a Central parent this is sickening to me. Would someone please tell me what is going on? Why is Dr. Hunter so disliked? What has he done (or not done) that has caused this problem? What is it the teachers want? If it is so bad, why can't Dr. Hunter be let go? I'm sorry, but I really don't understand and I'd like to.
ReplyDeleteIf you read through all the posts on this blog you'll see plenty of reasons why people are upset with Dr. Hunter.
ReplyDeleteTenure is the only problem with the unions, we have burnt out teachers on staff, and some I swear don't even likes kids! But they have tenure, and when cuts happen, we lose teachers with energy, love of the students, fresh ideas. Everyone, teachers included, know the staff members that should be released when cuts are made. Central has lost many of those "loser" teachers over the years, retirements or such, but there are still some real flakes out there, and everyone has them, not just CEntral. But we have lost some great teachers that have gone to other districts and excelled, won honors, and have on their resume that they worked here. We need to keep the good ones. My only problem with the union is the protection of teachers that are not doing a satisfactory job, but the administrators are at fault for not getting these teachers assistance when they were new, or getting rid of them when they could. Nobody wants confrontation, so it's all swept under the rug and passed on, and bad teachers are out there. I don't think Central has many "bad" teachers, but I do know of some, and when cuts happen, they are protected. And some really good teachers get burnt out (it's a tough job), and are hanging on for retirement time, and working for insurance, and our students suffer. But right now Dr. Hunter needs to make a public statement that he has made mistakes, and will work on repairing wounds and move on. That's what is needed, fogiving, and starting over. And if he can't prove that he can do the job, then be released. But it appears that there are lots of "turkeys" out there in the Supt. world. Should we just trade one for another. Dr. Hunter, Please Be Honorable, commit to making things better.
ReplyDelete