In late 2015 and throughout 2016, Blaine County School District\u2019s lightning-rod superintendent GwenCarol Holmes was exposed, variously censured, and even considered for contract non-renewal. Yet, by means both fair and foul, she and her supporters suppressed opposition and evidence, further filled the school board with rubber-stamps, and survived.<\/p>\n
The fact that unhappy citizens are again loudly protesting Holmes and her team\u2019s opaque, self-serving, authoritarian tendencies is no surprise for many. It\u2019s also no wonder that more than 1,000 people (that\u2019s right\u20141,000-plus!) signed, in short order, a no-confidence petition calling for Holmes\u2019 removal:<\/p>\n
www.change.org\/p\/the-bcsd-board-of-trustees-vote-of-no-confidence-for-blaine-county-school-district-superintendent-gwencarol-holmes<\/i><\/p>\n
What is surprising, however, is the collection of former outspoken Holmes defenders and promoters\u2014retired political figures, members of the business community, prominent local education voices\u2014who are now publicly opposed to their one-time hero.<\/p>\n
Better late than never, I guess, even if one surely must question the judgment of such people. Yet, in this era of extreme polarization, true conversions are rare\u2014and thus, immensely telling.<\/p>\n
After two decades of ethics-challenged superintendents, other administrators, and various school board members, BCSD seems long overdue for highly ethical, broadly respected leadership.<\/p>\n
Granted, such an outcome depends largely on the people who constitute our school board; board members choose and supervise the district\u2019s superintendent, who hires and oversees all other district employees; board members also shape governing policy and fill board vacancies. (Unelected, vacancy-filling appointees represent a whopping 60 percent of BCSD\u2019s current board!)<\/p>\n
Yet, it is us\u2014rank-and-file citizens*\u2014who ultimately put forth, select and supervise our school board members. Said another way: great, well-vetted candidates for school board elections\u2014coming up again in November\u2014and constant, rigorous public oversight are always essential for any school district\u2019s success.<\/p>\n
(*Note: never again should BCSD\u2019s publicly funded resources and personnel, or the administration\u2019s or boards\u2019 proxies, be used to cultivate and advance board candidates.)<\/p>\n
Jeremy Fryberger<\/b><\/p>\n
Ketchum resident<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In late 2015 and throughout 2016, Blaine County School District\u2019s lightning-rod superintendent GwenCarol Holmes was exposed, variously censured, and even considered for contract non-renewal. Yet, by means both fair and foul, she and her supporters suppressed opposition and evidence, further filled the school board with rubber-stamps, and survived. The fact that unhappy citizens are again […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-commentary","category-guest-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11591\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}