Working Back Towards An Ideal Of Consensus...
We've heard a lot from all sides about the termination of Dr. Leslie Ford's contract as superintendent of the Onteora School District, from yowls about the costs of the buy-out and quieter comments about the ways in which the board and she hadn't gotten along to kudos for her role as an administrator and appreciation for her perceived combativeness with teachers and politely unresponsive, almost terse ways with the press and public. Just as we're also starting to hear good and bad about OCS trustee Donna Flayhan's recent announcement of her own resignation.
Where do we stand on all this?
School administrators serve at the behest of their elected, volunteer boards. The situation is closer to that by which not-for-profit organizations are governed than the directly-elected management template by which municipal governments operate. Boards have the right, and one could also argue the necessity, to hire and fire key staff that they feel they can work with to accomplish their goals, to steer the educational ship they are commanding as they see fit. In other words, it is the board's prerogative to maintain an administration it believes in.
In times when boards are split, as has happened periodically within our school district, attempts to shift administrators can prove especially divisive. Remember the internal battles that resulted when some tried forcing Dr. Hal Rowe's resignation, or before him, the turmoil surrounding William Wilson's brief period as superintendent? Let alone the internal battles that resulted, especially within our school's long-serving staff, during the hiring process that resulted after the beloved Justine Winters' passing?
Despite a regular amount of sniping within the local media's letters columns, and the continuation of town vs town battles that has resulted in regularly split voting, our current school board has been surprisingly consistent, and unanimous, in recent years... including no electoral challenges for two years running. Sure, there have been resignations, some with rancor, but what's resulted has been a growing sense of calm at Onteora. Sure, the budget cuts forced by our economic times have hurt, and raised hackles for those who either want more cuts or less.
A while back, we characterized the current board as being one that came into power to protect one elementary school amongst three in the district. We realize that such a summarization was wrong; the sentiment that our current board has been operating on is a "wait and see" sense of caution that values the complex loyalties of all our community schools and, in spite of shifting demographics, seems ready to let the current recession run its course before committing to any major new facilities plans... let alone a return to all the angst so many have tied here to any discussion that involves even the hint of "redistricting."
Which doesn't mean they're against re-envisioning our Onteora's future.
With a new superintendent expected in the coming term, and what we expect to be an even more harmonious board once a replacement for the bright and talented but feisty Ms. Flayhan is chosen, it seems we will be in a better place for such discussions. Which, despite the continuing nature of discourse everywhere in our nation these days, should prove good for all of us.
If only, now, we could move forward with talk of climate change, shifting energy realities, and the role immigration has, does, and will play in our country's future, as easily... PS