Answers to Legitimate Questions - A Response to "ORCSD Searching for Truth..."

The below was a recent community commentary in response to Mr. Jarvis's commentary from a few days prior. 

I am writing in response to the letter of the editor from Mr. Calvin Jarvis, published on fosters.com on July 27. That letter is a direct attack on the motives of my wife, Dr. Ruth Sample, in uncovering and bringing to the community's attention Mr. Jim Kach's unfortunate tweets. Mr. Kach has been an ORCSD school board member for almost a year. 

Mr. Jarvis claims that Ruth's plan was to "dig into the backgrounds of the current board. The truth appears to be that she went dredging for dirt, and found some." In fact, this is nowhere near the truth. Ruth's only goal was try to answer some perfectly legitimate questions about the school board's public business. Allow me to give the story from my perspective. 

As of mid-June, Ruth and I were woefully unaware of the workings of the school board. We were unfamiliar with its members, with the exception of Ann Wright, who we happen to know because our daughters have been in the same class. Presumably like many other parents, we assumed the school board had the best interest of our children's education at heart, and we were content to leave them alone so we could attend to our children, our jobs, and our lives. I personally pay very little attention to local news in general (sorry, Foster's) and I was unaware of the superintendent buyout, and the high school student walkout. 

These items were brought to our attention, I believe, through friends that also had children in the district. Ruth, being curious, asked the obvious questions: Why were we buying out the superintendent's contract in full for $185,000 — in essence paying him not to work? Why was the high school principal candidate rejected? Aren't these decisions supposed to be made in public meetings so questions like this can be answered? How can the process and decisions be reconciled with professed values of transparency and fiscal responsibility?  Read more...