Leadership means sharing vision (plus OpEd: Are there any open minds left?)
By Patric Hedlund, Editor
Voters will choose four people on November 6 to fill three 4-year terms and one 2-year term opening up on the El Tejon Unified School District Board of Governors.
Four year (choose 3)
Linda Sheldon (indep.)
John Fleming (incumbent)
Vickie Mullen (slate)
Lark Shillig (slate)
Bob Anderson has withdrawn from the race.
Two year (choose 1)
Scott Robinson (indep.)
Tim Schantzen (indep.)
Dean Crabb (slate)
I’m not endorsing candidates, but I do feel a responsibility to raise some questions. Candidates have targeted ETUSD Superintendent Katherine Kleier as the source of ETUSD’s problems. I view that as simplistic, just short of scapegoating.
Candidates fault the outgoing board of trustees for its constant 3-2 voting pattern supporting the superintendent. The 3-2 board extended Kleier’s contract for three years before her first contract was expired. They have allowed her too often to be short on facts and long on excuses in dealing with the board and the public. The ‘Work Together’ slate formulated by the teachers’ union vows to replace the current 3-2 vote with their own lock-step 3-person vote. Do we want to replace one lock-step rubber stamp faction with a lock-step opposition?
We still know too little about how new trustees-whether ‘slate’ candidates or not- will address the real challenges this district will confront in the next two years. Some suggestions heard from slate candidates coordinated by the teachers’ union seem off-target, such as when Lark Shillig and Dean Crabb objected to hiring a part-time school psychologist in this district which has lost too many children to depression, suicide and tragic drug- or alcohol-related accidents.
Another question arises: No matter how personally charming the family may be, is it really a good idea to elect the wife of the president of the El Tejon Teachers’ Association (ETTA, Chuck Mullen) as a board member? We should go into this with open eyes.
Superintendent’s Failure to Share Vision
Three strong traits mark effective leaders: the ability to share a vision; genuine enthusiasm for listening carefully to the visions of others; and the flexibility to identify shared goals to focus all parties into a cohesive team.
A year ago we extended an open Invitation to Superintendent Kleier to write a monthly column about her vision for these schools in these tough times. The New Mountain Pioneer is mailed directly to 5,500 local homes every month. That is a useful podium to articulate a vision for the future of our local schools, if your audience is the people who pay the taxes to support these schools rather than chums in Bakersfield. We believe property owners and parents have a right to know where the district is going. In 2011 Kleier said she was too busy to accept our offer. In 2012, and over the past three weeks, we have renewed the invitation to the superintendent, offering space in The Mountain Enterprise to share her vision for the future. So far she has failed to answer the invitation. So this week we gave this space to parent Kelly Franti’s OpEd.
OpEd: Are there any open minds left?
By Kelly Franti, an ETUSD parent
OK, now that I’ve been to both of the candidate forums, I’ve finally thought of a question which I would really like the candidates to answer: Do you still have an open mind about being able to work with our current superintendent, or has she already been written off?
I would guess that anyone, running for any type of office, is anxious to improve upon the job being done-kind of a "save the world" mentality. This is admirable and thank goodness so many people willing to run for office to serve the public feel this way. I have often felt that way and admire the willingness to make a difference.
Many times, however, once a candidate is actually in a position, they realize that saving the world isn’t as easy as they’d thought. There are more rules, red tape, confidentiality issues and just bureaucracy to deal with than they’d ever imagined there would be.
I have no doubt that El Tejon Unified School District Superintendent Katherine Kleier has made some good decisions for our school district. She has maybe made some bad ones too, and certainly has made some unpopular ones.
Were there good reasons for some of the more unpopular decisions? Most likely, but they are seldom laid out for the community to understand, so it appears we are simply being force-fed policies and changes that we don’t like, without being given the opportunity to understand why.
If Ms. Kleier would guide us through the "why’s" of some of the changes that have been made under her supervison, it might go a long way to changing some of the negative opinions that many have-including every single one of the current candidates for the school board-about the job she is doing.
If I asked her directly in the past, Ms. Kleier has been willing to explain her reasons. She has a dynamic personality and can be funny, intelligent and well-spoken. The problem is, not everyone in the district has the opportunity or the inclination to ask her to explain her decisions personally.
And they shouldn’t have to.
As the leader of our district, does she have the obligation to walk us through these challenging problems and give us insight into the reasons that some of these decisions have been and are being made? It seems like the answer should be "Yes."
It concerns me that I heard so many negative things at the forums, and not much about the possiblity of being able to work in a positive way with Ms. Kleier.
The jury is most definitely out, but what if she has really done a lot of good here? I hope Ms. Kleier can be more forthcoming with information regarding decisions she is making. Give us a chance to understand her thinking. We might even agree with her on some of it!
A current board member told me, "Katie has a vision of how she wants to shape our district." She needs to share the vision with the rest of us.
This is a small district, with many passionate voices. Working together should be easier than this. School Board Candidates, let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water: Keep an open mind!
This is part of the November 02, 2012 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
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