Dear George,

I am chagrinned to not have know about your website until now.

I have copied my open letter to the school board, which was given at last night's 5-5-5 meeting, below -- if it is of interest to you.

I should also add that at 11:15, Chairwoman Smith proposed that: since all the remaining Superintendent candidates are going to disappear in the next two months, and that once hired in a school system, people will not want to jump out of it to Cville mid-year, that the Board should move quickly to look at the remaining candidates and hire in the next two months. The real beauty of her proposal, which Ms Smith indicates is the advice of the VSBA, is that these are the sorts of candidates who will not want their names revealed... so it will all have to be under the radar and all secret (what some of this board does BEST). Incredibly, Ms Smith suggested that they use Ray and Associates (NO that isn't a misprint) again for this work. Ms Smith asked for a vote last night.

It appears that the Board met prior to the open meeting (though I don't remember a public notice for such a private meeting) as one of the councilors that the board did not have enough time to consider the motion as they had only been given the materials for the motion half an hour before this public meeting and they had not been allowed to take the materials with them.

Peggy vocally fought against a vote on the issue and the general concept of secrecy . Ned brought up that the public is having a trust problem, and rightfully so; that new board members are coming on board July 1 and this board should wait for that time. Muriel next indicated that she is sick that City Council has twice overstepped its bounds and that she thinks that the board should do its duty that it was chosen to do.

...eventually there was a tie on council (Byron was not present last night)

It is a mad world.

Art Lichtenberger (electronic mail, May 6, 2005)

I speak to you concerning the direction of the school board and the process of the search for the next Superintendent.

Dr. Griffin's resignation has not solved all the woes that confront CCS and the School Board, nor has it automatically put CCS and the community onto a healing path or a fruitful track for the future.

Please do not forget that while there was a growing criticism of Dr Griffin's actions and leadership as Superintendent, there was also a concurrent displeasure and criticism of the Board and particularly the Board leadership. In particular, this Board has, on different occasions, displayed deficiencies with respect to leadership, financial acumen, legal protocol, an ability to ask the needed reasonable question, openness and inclusiveness. This board has lost a good chunk of the trust of the community, teachers and staff. You must be aware that a large segment of the community has been watching and worrying from home about these School Board issues for the past eight months.

In particular, we have witnessed a number of poor personnel decisions on the part of this Board. The Board hired the Superintendent without even being aware of the public record of her legal battles, without seriously reflecting on the yearly turnover, like clockwork, in her job record. We watched this School Board approve the Superintendent's hiring of Ms. Bowen, the same person who had conducted the search of the Superintendent, to a highly paid central office position of questionable value. We have watched as this School Board paid Ms. Dimberg a considerable sum to stay at home, totally unproductively, for a year? at the cost of other programs that might have been funded or work that might have been performed.
We have watched as this Board allowed the Superintendent daily supervisory authority over Ms. Purnell after her letter was leaked by others to the press- opening up the school division to our own set of possible court battles. We have watched as Central Office ground to a near standstill in the last months as the Superintendent's battles paralyzed the real work of our Schools at the effective cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars and irreplaceable time. We have watched as this Board paid for the deficiencies in its original search with the resignation of the Superintendent at a cost of what we are left to assume is over 400 thousand dollars. We have watched as this board decided to single out Ms. Purnell in a $30K cost saving measure while the Superintendent's bonus check writing spree to selected personnel still goes properly unaccounted and unreversed.

The board needs to understand that the LAST thing the community wants is for the board to now rush off and make another poor personnel decision that might cost the city taxpayers millions of more dollars and irreplaceable time.

I plead with this board; keep your hands off the hiring process until July 1.

Officially, Ms Griffin is still the Superintendent. The six month clock (if that is in fact a hard reality that can not be maneuvered) doesn't start until July 1.

Please do not assume, as the chair of this board was recently quoted as saying, that (and I quote) "it's pretty clear what sort of superintendent we need" (un quote). It is not clear. IT IS NOT CLEAR. Let the independent Commission, with you attending as needed, do their work and give you the guidance that was obviously needed in the last search.

This Board's lack of appreciation of the vital importance of openness and dialogue with the community has been a constant theme the past year. It is not surprising that many people are worried and suspicious that this Board has plans to rush to hire a new Superintendent.

Overwhelmingly, this community can only view such a strategy with utter dismay.

The situation calls for healing, thoughtfulness, consideration and taking stock of the situation. I call upon the board to make a public accounting and statement to the community as to their intentions.

-Arthur Lichtenberger