by Don Wheeler
After a lengthy, yet somewhat perfunctory session, South Bend School Corporation Board President Sheila Bergeron dropped the bomb. From their closed session she introduced a motion to instruct the Board's legal consul to initiate buyout negotiations for the balance of Dr. Robert Zimmerman's contract as Superintendent of Schools.
The same Board who recently couldn't find about $130,000 to fund all day Kindergarten has now committed to spend more than that to pay Dr. Zimmerman not to work. This by a roll call vote of 5 - 2.
I picked quite a first school board meeting to attend. An enterprising fellow with a fruit stand would have sold out in minutes.
The gallery was stunned and incensed. Teachers had strongly backed Dr. Zimmerman, the South Bend Tribune warned against this action - all to no avail. Community member after community member reminded the Board of their fiscal duties, that they had just rejected full day Kindergarten and teachers in the district are without a contract. Many vowed to defeat the five members voting affirmative.
Interestingly, Bill Snaidecki, the first to speak in opposition, suggested Mr. Zimmerman make the Board's evaluation public - so we all could see what led to his ouster. I couldn't read Dr. Zimmerman's attitude about his suggestion. Dawn Jones also spoke out strongly in opposition.
None of the other five had anything to say on the matter.
Monday, June 2, 2008
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3 comments:
SB school teachers are repeatedly told there is "no money" for supplies, student field trips, support staff, equipment, etc. YET there is apparently money to buy out the superintendent's contract?!
Ask a SB school teacher when the last time they saw a SB school board member set foot in their classroom to ask how things were going.
I was there, too, and was astonished by the lack of transparency. Those of us in the peanut gallery had no way of understanding the vote -- there were no rationales offered, no reminder of benchmarks that Zimmerman failed to meet, or ANY way to make sense of the vote. One of the two "no" voters said the process by which the decision had been made "made her physically ill" -- so what are we to think? Unless the school board articulates their reasoning, we are left to think the very worst -- that this is a petty decision based on bruised egos.
Folks: it's time for us to step forward and run for school board! The fact that the workshop offered tomorrow night has had to change venues to IUSB's student activity center is a good sign -- they must have needed more room to accommodate all of us who have registered! Let's make some noise, and learn what we need to learn to make concrete changes within the community.
Meanwhile, I'm very curious to see how in the world the TV news will get a story out of tonight's turn of events, since there's no story to speak of -- just a roll call vote and lots of booing.
Where's the actual story? Gosh, I'd sure like to know!
Here's a rumor making the rounds: there's a cabal on the SB school board that wants to bring Joan Raymond back.
I find it very interesting that the SB ousted Zimmerman right after schools closed for the summer and BEFORE the November elections...
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