Posts
Fire Down Below.
Read Yesterday's Post.
Also:
Response to Herald-Dispatch reporter's questions by Karen Rucker, parent of a SVHS student:
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 3:09 PM
Subject: Re: the Todd Thompson situation
Bill,
To answer your specific question -
Everyone's top concern is the safety of the students at Spring Valley. Period. There's also the very real issue of the safety of the administrators, faculty & staff there. Unfortunately, that's not the only concern. There are so many.
As regards the numerous, more or less continuous, infractions over a long period of time, any one of which Mr. Thompson could have and should have been terminated for - the infractions that involve students and photos of students, actively seeking both positive and negative interaction with students which is certainly not appropriate to his job, and frequent unstable, angry, threatening behavior and the appearance of being under the influence while on campus are certainly intense issues, too.
I think everyone fears the obvious - an attack on or at the school by a mentally unstable person. My deepest fear though is what might happen if a parent or even a student feels provoked or threatened enough to take matters into their own hands. No matter how justified, think of the tragedy that would fall upon that person or that family. The community. They would never be the same, their lives would be ruined, changed forever.
And essentially, because a bunch of big-feeling suits sitting on a hill chose over and over not to act. And I do mean over and over. The situation with Spring Valley is small potatoes to them, the tip of an iceberg when you look at the bigger picture of the current situation at the Central Office and with the Wayne County Board of Education.
This community, and every community in our entire County, are so used to things being wrong. You become numb to it. People fear for their jobs. Grievance procedures become irrelevant if everyone is afraid to use them. The entire system is flawed, fatally in my opinion. Some things are just wrong, freestanding, and should be remedied, independent of an individual having to push an issue. This extends far past the issues at Spring Valley.
Perhaps the Central Office has always been a "way of life", an odd highly-entitled mentality/mind-set, a little prone to perks & graft & favors & retaliations rather than the best, brightest, hardest working people getting moved into the most crucial positions, not to say there aren't good people working at Wayne.
Everyone knows someone or has family or friends who work for the Board of Education. It is a family thing. And that can be a great thing. Our schools are kept running by people who have known three or four generations, front and back. So many good people. Good at their jobs. Working hard every day. But I have had person after person, some retiring sooner than they would have, from all over the county, people I've known a long time, say this is the worst they have ever seen in their 30, 35, 40 years in the system, incredibly flagrant, arrogant, heavyhanded abuse of power, hiring, trips, spending, spending, spending, cover-ups, countywide.
I think it is very simple. No one in the county wants that much. They simply want the people they have elected and especially the people whose salaries they pay with their tax dollars, to do the right thing. And if there's any question, I think the people of Wayne County would be glad to let them know exactly what the right thing is, any given day.
To answer your specific question -
Everyone's top concern is the safety of the students at Spring Valley. Period. There's also the very real issue of the safety of the administrators, faculty & staff there. Unfortunately, that's not the only concern. There are so many.
As regards the numerous, more or less continuous, infractions over a long period of time, any one of which Mr. Thompson could have and should have been terminated for - the infractions that involve students and photos of students, actively seeking both positive and negative interaction with students which is certainly not appropriate to his job, and frequent unstable, angry, threatening behavior and the appearance of being under the influence while on campus are certainly intense issues, too.
I think everyone fears the obvious - an attack on or at the school by a mentally unstable person. My deepest fear though is what might happen if a parent or even a student feels provoked or threatened enough to take matters into their own hands. No matter how justified, think of the tragedy that would fall upon that person or that family. The community. They would never be the same, their lives would be ruined, changed forever.
And essentially, because a bunch of big-feeling suits sitting on a hill chose over and over not to act. And I do mean over and over. The situation with Spring Valley is small potatoes to them, the tip of an iceberg when you look at the bigger picture of the current situation at the Central Office and with the Wayne County Board of Education.
This community, and every community in our entire County, are so used to things being wrong. You become numb to it. People fear for their jobs. Grievance procedures become irrelevant if everyone is afraid to use them. The entire system is flawed, fatally in my opinion. Some things are just wrong, freestanding, and should be remedied, independent of an individual having to push an issue. This extends far past the issues at Spring Valley.
Perhaps the Central Office has always been a "way of life", an odd highly-entitled mentality/mind-set, a little prone to perks & graft & favors & retaliations rather than the best, brightest, hardest working people getting moved into the most crucial positions, not to say there aren't good people working at Wayne.
Everyone knows someone or has family or friends who work for the Board of Education. It is a family thing. And that can be a great thing. Our schools are kept running by people who have known three or four generations, front and back. So many good people. Good at their jobs. Working hard every day. But I have had person after person, some retiring sooner than they would have, from all over the county, people I've known a long time, say this is the worst they have ever seen in their 30, 35, 40 years in the system, incredibly flagrant, arrogant, heavyhanded abuse of power, hiring, trips, spending, spending, spending, cover-ups, countywide.
I think it is very simple. No one in the county wants that much. They simply want the people they have elected and especially the people whose salaries they pay with their tax dollars, to do the right thing. And if there's any question, I think the people of Wayne County would be glad to let them know exactly what the right thing is, any given day.
Thanks,
Karen Rucker
