News Analysis:Political Finger Pointing
Taking Over School Mold Fuss
by LARRY SOBCZAK,
Observer Staff Writer
Washington Elementary School parents
and teachers have put fire under the School Board and administrators
to expedite the reopening of the school. Meanwhile,
political overtones were heard among comments and criticism made at
Thursday's special board meeting Thursday.
This is in contrast to previous
meetings about the school, which became raucous as worried parents
peppered the school board and especially the district's administrators
with questions and accusations. Thursday's meeting was different in
that audience members divided into two distinct camps.
One group was critical of the school
board while the other was critical of the administration. School
Board President Kathy Wreford twice used her gavel to quiet the crowd
and there were at least a half dozen times when audience members would
engage in light heckling.
Washington Township resident Jan
Parton who watched Thursday's board meeting in the Romeo High School
auditorium said she did not want the school board to make decisions
based on politics. "I've
noticed that this is looking like a political game and I hope our kids
are not pawns,'' she said.
The school board also seemed to
divide into two groups as observed by Washington teacher Pauline
Anderson. She was concerned that
individuals were plotting to save political face or their careers
instead of fixing problems at the school.
"It appears there is a power
struggle going on here. Is this going to be a clean-up or a
cover-up,'' she asked. Perhaps,
a good indicator of the divide on the board as well as its source is a
motion Trustee Linda Southby made to reaffirm Superintendent John
Kingsnorth's role as the district's chief administrator and to
instruct board members to contact vendors and contractors through him.
Treasurer Ed Bennett and Trustee
Terry Raubacher voted in favor of the motion while Wreford, board Vice
President Ken Monicatti, Secretary Dick Hill and Trustee Sue Hier
voted against the motion.
However, Bennett and Raubacher do
not appear to be firm political allies to Southby. She is often alone
on issues dealing with the school and her motions often fail because
she is the only person voting for it or they die from lack of support.
Southby's accusations of other board
members trying to micromanage Kingsnorth and the audiences accusations
of political games drew a response from Hier: "I hope the
administration has learned from this board that this is a process to
follow.''
She said that the board had to take
action because it appeared the administration was not dealing with the
perceived problems at Washington. "The
delay of this action (the cleaning of the school) is the result of the
administration. They sat on it for weeks . . . It's not a power
struggle. It's not about right or wrong,'' she said.
Her statement, which was longer than
quoted here, drew a standing ovation from some members of the crowd
while others sat in their seats. Hill
said that if the board was pursuing political games, he was
embarrassed to be sitting in front of the crowd as a member of the
school board.
"I didn't get elected to the
board to nail somebody to the wall,'' he said. Romeo
resident Dick Fay said that he does not want to see politics in
dealing with the problems at Washington Elementary School. "It
serves us no purpose at all. It (politics) was better left at the
door,'' he said.
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