LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: INTENTIONS ARE GOOD, BUT CURRENT SCHOOL BOARD LEADERSHIP IS FAILING DISTRICT

Dear Editors,

Your editorial of Sunday, 19 June, regarding the School Board is right on target. You superbly summarized the problems, issues, and difficulties facing the current Board as well as Dr. Clark.

The current Board members are each fine people with the best of intentions. I have had the pleasure of getting to know several of them, as well as Dr. Clark, and have no doubt as to their hard work, effort, intelligence, and concern for our schools. Collectively, however, the Board lacks leadership and seems to flounder from crisis to crisis. While they don't intend to, they come across as secretive and defensive.

Many of the problems stem from intrusive state and federal laws. Other perceptual problems exist simply because there is no real effort to clarify all the issues. Also, some Board members are married to teachers, which makes some of their decisions rather suspect regarding their objectivity. Statements of innocence and proclamations of neutrality fail in this age of suspicion to allay public concerns. Appearance is often reality.

Sadly, in spite of their best intentions, the current School Board, as you pointed out, is ineffective. The only correction left is a rather dramatic and pointed one -- resignations and a special election. I believe this would serve to get the community aroused, interested in discussing all the issues, and enable the newly constituted Board to deal with our problems. And if the current members were re-elected, then they could put all the past baggage behind them knowing that they were, in fact, empowered to act.

The new Board should, among its first order of business, provide the written guidance our Superintendent needs to do his job. The current Board has neglected to hold him accountable for making his staff do their job. Everything from daily administration to routine maintenance to monthly financial statements has been allowed to slip. None of these are Board functions, but the administration should be held accountable to the Board for the performance of these functions. The current Board simply allows all these things to slide by with no recriminations. But that's what leadership is all about. The new Board needs to establish early, and firmly, its leadership function. Then it needs to make sure the Superintendent and his administrative staff provide the leadership for the rest of the school system.

You can help in this process by making sure you publish prominently the schedule for all School Board meetings, the proposed agenda for each meeting, and the location. Since the Board is not required to publish this information nor make it available individually, we are dependent upon the newspaper to help us keep informed. They are required to provide it to you.

Thank you for your Editorial. It provided leadership for the Board it sorely needs. It will be interesting to see if they take any action.

GERALD L. NICHOLSON

Cape Girardeau