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To start the board meeting, the President of the board stated Misty Gossen, as Vice President of the board, would administer the oath of office. Mr. Victory then approached the President and handed him a piece of paper. The President then had the new board members administer the oath of office to themselves. I have never heard of or witnessed new board members having to issue the oath of office to themselves. Is this customary, a policy change, a derivative from the Superintendent, or was it a form of intimidation? The President then made a statement that absolutely does not make sense to me. Jeff Jaronek directed the new members to vote the way they feel led, and hoped the board could come to an agreement on what’s best for the school.
When the board leaves the room at the end of the day, they stand behind the vote that they made on their own, by the way they were led. I believe he meant to say the majority rules and the minority must follow. Did he really talk down to the new board members this way?
Do the board members not understand that Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Jones were defeated in the school board election? The direction the board and Mr. Victory is taking the school was defeated. That shall be a wake-up call! The losses will continue until the direction is changed.
For some reason there was a policy change because the letters of resignations were not read in the open session as normally done. Were the comments something the board and Mr. Victory didn’t want the public to hear? We continue to see teachers and administration leave our school system. There are numerous students who will leave the school after the year is complete. Do Mr. Victory and the school board have a clue how many exceptional students have left? How many 4.0 students, that are or were on the academic team, have left? Unfortunately, we have a coach that led the Cordell High School to a second-place finish in the State Academic Competition who is leaving. How many excellent teachers and students must we lose before the leadership in this school “gets it?”
The school system has a toxic work and learning environment. This is a public school; the board members have a responsibility for the fair treatment of the teachers and students and for transparency in the operations of the school.
Cordell Public Schools is not an institution under the private control of the school board and Superintendent.
Jerry Willard