Picking Up The Tab

To the Editor:

Your comments in last week’s Bee regarding the new Board of Education are spot on [Editorial Ink Drops, “Telling Good Advice From Bad,” 1/6/12]. It is apparent that this newly elected group intends to take on the mission of providing purpose and direction to the administration and hold them accountable. That is as it should be.

Having said that, I think one item the new board needs to focus on with laser like precision is the performance of the superintendent. It is clear that the last board was clueless when it came to this basic management tool. As a result the superintendent essentially ran her own fiefdom.

Had the previous board clearly spelled out specific goals and performance criteria, then I suspect the administration would have acted differently on many fronts.

Shifting to the issue of the cost to Newtown for the owner-operator debacle, I think it is appropriate that the administrators and members of the previous board (who supported changing the transportation contract) pick up the tab for the costs the town will get hit with as this matter moves through the legal system. Public opinion was clearly in favor of the owner-operators yet the Board of Idiots forged ahead and blew up an 80-year business model that served the students so well.

This mess will cost the town dearly. Months ago Herb Rosenthal pointed this out and they simply chose to ignore his and many other warnings. They wanted change, they voted for change, so it seems fitting they should pay for change!

RP Gottmeier

13 Antler Pine Road, Sandy Hook                               January 9, 2012