School board, govern thyselves

Iam disappointed about Dr. Aldridge Boone’s departure, and I am disappointed with the Rappahannock County School Board. I have had two kids in the system for some time now and have seen more positive changes from Dr. Boone’s short time here than any time in the past.

The open town hall meeting, positive changes in personnel at the high school, scheduling changes, changes to the test-retake policy, improved communication (especially online) and parent advisory groups were all laid out under his direction.

He asked, he saw, and he listened. Then a new school board arrives and with no warning . . . he’s history. This may not be as it appears, but when questions go unanswered, public mistrust and resentment will follow.

As I sit in the stands weekly to support a boys’ basketball team that has lost nearly every game by 30, 40 and sometimes even 50 points every season for the last four years, I am less embarrassed by the scores than I am to be seated with a few parents/relatives who regularly chastise the officials, call out players on the other team, yell at them and the opposing coach, chide them or yell at our own players in a negative manner. Would it surprise you that at most of these games, the biggest offenders of the school’s athletic policy code of conduct include a school board member and a school employee?

I am not exactly proud to be a Panther parent. It has been a long, painful five years in this school system with the constant turnover in administration, incompetence and favoritism in the athletics, and now a board whose actions over the last several weeks at least gives the perception of being egocentric.

How can an administration hold students and parents to a certain level of ethical and moral behavior, when a school board member is setting a different precedent? If anything, I hope that this board sets some tough standards for itself and the staff that address policy with students and public behavior at school events, but most importantly establish strict consequences for violation of these policies.

To not hold themselves to the same standards and expectations as parents or students is most certainly egocentric.

KIM LOVE

Washington