EDITOR: Last week
’s local papers provided a wealth of both contrast and common
ground regarding the Morgan Hill School District. A grassroots
organization calling themselves the Community Alliance for
Responsible Education (CARE) has boiled over and has served four
members of our school board with recall papers. E
ditorials and articles in the Morgan Hill Times presented a
laundry list of justifications for such action. The editorial
recognized the obvious grounds for such a recall, and yet expressed
reservations over the timing and resources that such a special
election would require.
EDITOR:
Last week’s local papers provided a wealth of both contrast and common ground regarding the Morgan Hill School District. A grassroots organization calling themselves the Community Alliance for Responsible Education (CARE) has boiled over and has served four members of our school board with recall papers. Editorials and articles in the Morgan Hill Times presented a laundry list of justifications for such action. The editorial recognized the obvious grounds for such a recall, and yet expressed reservations over the timing and resources that such a special election would require.
Donna Foster, president of the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers, viewed the recall movement as a natural expression of deep-rooted dissatisfaction with district leadership. Ms. Foster hypothesized that the recall movement could dry up and blow away should current board members take visible and long, past-due action on critical issues to appease both community and employee concerns.
Concerns at the heart of the matter include: The review of superintendent Carolyn McKennan’s contract, providing reasonable start-up funding and plans for Sobrato High School, revisiting graduation requirements, defining a clear action plan to address Trustee George Pano’s encouraging pledge to attract local private school students back to our district, achieving equitable compensation and benefits for all employees, and of course, tailoring current building projects to stay with the budget while completing the promised renovations of Live Oak High School.
In addition to these issues, there are also many unanswered critical questions. Although there are dozens of questions covering many topics, a sample of such that pertain only to building issues might include:
Did a district committee reviewing project overseers recommend against a contract with Jacobs/Svedrup? Did district legal counsel issue a brief warning the district against dangerous Jacobs/Svedrup contract language as well as a personal relationship between our superintendent and a Jacobs/Svedrup agent? Did our superintendent, with knowledge of these warnings, still recommend Jacod/Svedrup as the primary contractor for district building projects? Were the warnings passed on to our Board members as part of their background for such an important decision? Did the board, with knowledge of such warnings, still enter in the contract with Jacobs/Svedrup? Was the contract itself a violation of the law governing bidding process in effect at the time? How many millions has the district overspent as a result of its contract with Jacobs/Svedrup? What renovations and other projects now have to be forgone due to overspending on the Jacobs/Svedrup projects? How are our superintendent and veteran board members held responsible for the contracts that they recommended or approved?
To district watchers, whether it be the editor of The Times, the president of the Teacher’s Union, the columnists, the members of CARE, or any of the many local critics, it is clear what actions must be taken. It is time for addressing concerns and answering critical questions. The olive branches are out there for our four besieged board members. If they are wise enough to pick them up, then like Ms. Foster, I too suspect that the recall process might go away. But unlike the editorial in The Times, until such urgent issues are addressed, I will not so quickly dismiss the prudence of the recall.
Should our board members continue with a “blind allegiance to the superintendent’s misguided agenda,” as Victoria Battison, the spokeswoman for CARE, so accurately observed, then a recall is just what this district needs – and the sooner the better.
Glen Webb, teacher
Live Oak High School
