This ad appeared today in the Salem Statesman-Journal. In it, the Salem-Keiser School District invites the public to come and share their thoughts on how to minimize the negative impact of inevitable budget cuts. It represents a marked contrast to decision making in our own school district. In Central SD 13J, the administration (read "superintendent") decided on a series of "tiered cuts" which have been kept secret from the public. Why? I believe it is to prevent any kind of public outcry about particular cuts until it is too late to do anything about them. The district even refused my public records request for this information. While our superintendent likes to use the word "transparency," he is doing everything he can to prevent the very dialog the superintendent in Salem-Keiser in trying to initiate. Do we have openness and transparency in our district? Does our superintendent welcome public input? You be the judge.
Since Preston has submitted his own resume to apply for the interim position, he has been doing alot of research himself. He recently attended a Dallas school district board meeting to see what the differences are. There was active communication between the board, staff and community. Everything was open to everyone and there was trust and honesty in everything they did. He was also invited to a 2nd board work session (held on a completely different day - also something our board doesnt do)so that he could see their work in action - meeting when it is convenient for the staff to have open and interactive communication with the board. I cant wait to hear his report on that upcoming meeting. Alot of good is being done outside of our district, and all of those other districts are experiencing the same kind of difficulties we are without all the drama. I would hope that we could learn much from others around us. There is still a chance for much good to be done, but only if the current board and admin will make it happen.
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