Letter to the Editor: no input on decision

By Sun Advocate

Editor:
I am writing with frustration over the past decision by Carbon County School Board regarding the renewal of the contract for the current Superintendent, David Armstrong.
I am unaware of any policy that has been broken by him, so I thought personnel issues could not then be discussed. However, this was regarding a contract, which I always thought a contract renewal would require input from staff, teachers, parents and community members. This decision was made in one meeting, without invited input from community and parents. These decisions have an impact on children�.our children.
We are fortunate to have so many wonderful administrators on both district and school level. We have fabulous teachers that really care about our children and truly want them to succeed. We have outstanding resources and talent that needs more exposure to parents and community and we have outstanding volunteers that want to create opportunities to do so. It brings about much passion with parents and community members to support our local schools.
I don’t understand how two brand new board members would have the time to make a confident decision on such matters given their first meeting. I also don’t understand how elected board members can make a decision without a desire to hear input from their constituents and at the same time feel they were representing those citizens. Don’t we all vote for school board members to represent our feelings?
It is understandable to change superintendents after a given time, to consider how a superintendent has fulfilled district objectives and goals, met criteria, worked with teachers, staff and administrators and dealt with parents and community members. For these reasons, board members should consult these parties and make the most confident decision as elected to do.
It is disappointing that a man dedicating his life to education like the present superintendent has is being sent out of this position by our community in this manner. He has one year left until retirement; I do believe a more positive solution could have occurred. I am grateful for his caring ways that have helped parents who have had to deal with difficulties at school.
Examples? There are many.
As an active parent that I have heard that his attention to the matters made a difference. This includes parents finding lost home work on a teacher’s desk (common problem), inability to get child’s homework after missing several weeks of school due to accident or injury, a parents inability to communicate with teachers, offering time and services as a volunteer and a feeling of lack of support by some parents. He cared about these situations and more.
How grateful our community is for his support of gifted programs, strong desires to promote early childhood literacy and strengthen academic programs, an open door policy for parents and community members, last minute attendance to parent meetings to aid in communication and understanding of district policies or curriculum. He also gave support for the Family Resource Center and support for activities of all kinds�not just the sports programs. His encouragement that our volunteer time makes a difference and most of all�a great listening ear that he has.
How sad it is that our community will say goodbye in such a tacky manner when positive solutions could have caused a better resolution.