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Letter to the editor: Hiring of a new superintendent must be delayed

Mike Tabb
Breckenridge

The Summit Daily News published an outstanding column on the front page of the June 9 edition summarizing the glaring lack of transparency in decisions by our Summit School District Board of Education. I thank the paper for taking a public stand that this board has decided they are not accountable to parents, taxpayers and, most of all, students. The 2019 Colorado Measures of Academic Success show that for Summit schools, only 33.7% of third graders met performance expectations for English language proficiency. For eighth graders, only 31.6% of our students met performance expectations for math proficiency. A more blunt conclusion is we are failing two-thirds of our students. These numbers are likely to be even worse after shutting down schools in 2020.

Many of us are dismayed that our district leaders are more interested in focusing their time and our financial resources on equity policy dogma rather than investing in the education of our students. This school board should not be rushing to hire a new superintendent, especially given the second resignation of a board member. There are four board positions up for election this November, and given the turmoil within the leadership of our schools, the community has every right to weigh in on the direction of our schools with their votes. Even worse, I have read through the questions the school board members intend to ask the three finalists Monday night, and there is not a single question on the poor academic performance and how they would improve it. Their proposed hiring decision must be delayed.

 

 


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