What’s the Story?
To accept the storyline that two Board of Education members have caused the Superintendent to resign, you have to believe that Dr. Freund, with many years of management experience, can’t live with the six board members who have voted in his every wish. Most CEO’s would be thrilled to have 75%, winning every battle. Something is fishy here.
To accept that school board members should resign because a superintendent quits his job, you have to believe that the board works for the superintendent. But, the Superintendent works for the board, and the board is responsible to the Greenwich voters who elect them. Those who call for mid-term resignations fall prey to the “petty, personalized attacks” and “corrosive environment” they claim to dislike.
To accept that the board “should get along” and vote together, but those who don’t are a problem, you have to believe that a rubber stamp board is a good thing. You have to believe that there shouldn’t be variance in the opinions of the eight board members, even though they are elected to reflect our voting population, from liberal Democrats to conservative Republicans.
To accept the storyline that the board has been allegedly “micromanaging,” you have to believe that board members’ inquiries about major reforms, such as IB, are inappropriate. Board time has been consumed by IB over the past few months. Virtually all of the questions posed to Dr. Freund regarding IB have long term impact: Where is proof that IB is academically successful? Why are many other school districts rejecting IB? These questions have not been answered. Instead, “the six” pushed through a vote. Do you want board members who don’t express concern?
Finally, to believe “two people felt that through their arrogance and their own personal agendas that they could harass him [Dr. Freund] to no end,” you can’t have witnessed many board meetings first hand. “The two” are consistently calm and dignified. The same cannot be said about some of “the six.” There’s a lot more than meets the eye in all this.
Kay Wall
Old Greenwich
