School board letters

To the editor:

I have served on the Sullivan West School Board, to the best of my ability, for the last three years. My goals have been: to bring forward the vision of the merger, to strive towards excellence in education and ensure good fiscal management.

This year has been a controversial one. I was propelled into controversy over the appointment of our new high school principal. And I made a mistake. In trying to communicate why what happened at the board level was so important, I said some things I shouldn’t have said and for that I apologize. But I wanted to explain why I felt so strongly about the board’s actions.

A school system is based on a system’s approach to education. Students answer to teachers, teachers answer to principals, principals answer to assistant superintendents and superintendents, superintendents answer to the board. This system is the same procedure the public can use to address a problem. Likewise, the supervision of each level is left to the level above.

When the board chooses not to follow the recommendation of the superintendent and assistant superintendent in promoting or hiring a principal, it skews the system of checks and balances. The principal becomes untouchable to those who directly supervise them. If the board sets this precedent, then earning district positions becomes political. “Who can I influence to get what I want?” becomes the undercurrent of tenure, not “the quality of the job I do will insure that I have a job.” That is when children begin to be affected because excellence is lost to those who have more political savvy.

It is the board’s job to set the standard for which the professionals in the district are tenured. Once tenured, it assures the person a job and makes it very difficult to remove them if a mistake is made or complacency sets in. That is why I want the standard of promotions and tenure to be very high. That is how we get excellence in education. I want our educators to be good role models, dedicated to caring for and expecting the best from students, yet fair in their discipline, committed to the vision of where our district is headed, effective communicators and good team players. If there are any doubts about any of these qualities, they aren’t the best candidates for our district. Our children deserve the best.

So, I am running despite the controversy, despite some people saying that I am a bad board member because of taking the stand I did, despite my husband asking me why I would want to put myself through this, despite the fact that it seems to have gotten very political. I am running again because I so passionately want excellence for every child in our district. I am running because I know I am not alone in having high standards. I am running because I am willing to dedicate my time for another three years to make sure that we continue to work towards the goal of Sullivan West being better than what we had before. Please support me on May 21st.

Donna Sauer-Jones
Cochecton, NY

To the editor:

In the restaurant business they call it “squeezing the store.” Expenses are reduced by subtle decreases in the quality and quantity of food and service, while menu prices are quietly raised. Patrons pay more and get less. The profits are then used somewhere else. It is done by management to give shareholders the impression that all is well financially; if it is done for too long, customers are lost, sales decline, management is replaced and/or the restaurant closes.

When it is done by government officials, pundits call it “political embezzlement.”

At Sullivan West it is quietly being done to offset the grossly understated expense  of building projects. In order to give the appearance that the promised cost of education is “on target,” school officials have gradually reduced the amount of education previously offered, while taxes have been raised in barely acceptable increments. Money that the district claims is being spent on operations, has been illegally hoarded to make payments on capital expenses. Student development has been sacrificed to accommodate the hidden financial impact of unnecessary building projects.

Fortunately for school officials, most of their customers are not even old enough to vote, much less conduct a proper audit of the money being spent on their development versus the amount paid by residents for that purpose. Some residents who are aware of this problem have sent their children to private schools or have even relocated to other districts. But the vast majority of a school’s customers do not have that option, and sales—in this case, taxes—have legal restrictions on declines. It is an immoral and unethical way to operate a school, and for practical purposes can only be resolved by electing school board members who recognize it as such on May 21:

l. Elect officials who will present residents with the same line-by-line items of a school budget that are presented to the school board. At the end of the year, these officials should compel the administration to present each line item expenditure to residents so that they can compare promises to actual expenditures.

2. Elect officials who have the courage to be honest about their mistakes, rather than sacrifice student development to hide their mistakes.

3. Elect officials who will never ever allow a board quorum to discuss public issues in executive session.

Voters can solve the problems at Sullivan West on May 21.

Arthur Norden
Callicoon, NY