Dunlap Community Unit School District 323 in Illinois hopes to put past troubles behind them and move forward with a school board that can work together for the sake of students, the Peoria Journal-Star reports.
Troubles may have begun earlier but flown under our radar. The latest drama seems to have started during the term of the last superintendent, Jay Marino, and the search for a new one, who will, board members hope, start on July 1.
Right around the time Mr Marino left the district to take another job, an uncommon 4-3 vote surfaced over an unpopular plan last winter to close a $2 million budget deficit. The plan included laying off teachers, closing a facility, and dropping programs in the district’s eight schools (see our report).
Although this vote caused the four-member majority and three-member minority to dig in, the divisions between the two factions were made abundantly clear to the public on Oct 15, when board President Amy Fairfield Doering resigned out of the blue during a public airing of the disagreements among board members. The paper quoted her as saying she wanted to “end the agitation.”
The members of the board, in nominating and electing a new vice president, also caused us to cringe a little, as several members apparently tried to discredit a fellow board member who was born in Illinois but grew up in South Korea and didn’t learn to speak English until he was a young adult.
In a clear spirit of moving on, Paul Park, the new vice president who has a PhD in engineering, took it quite well. “Talk about my speech didn’t make me uncomfortable,” the Journal-Star quoted him as saying. “Maybe I should make the effort to speak more clearly, be more cautious, maybe speak a little slower.”
The board suggests that any new superintendent should be able to “educate and lead the Board of Education to bring unity and professionalism to the oversight of the District, while keeping children at the heart of decision‐making.”
So they know what they’re looking for as they search for a new superintendent. We wish them well and look forward to more harmonious board meetings.
What advice would you give Mr Park in his new role as vice president to express his ideas clearly and persuasively? See Common Core English language arts speaking and listening standard SL.11-12.1 for more information.
