In a letter to the Reading Eagle, Mike Schorn, a former
Reading School District teacher and a former city councilman, put his finger on
the problem at the Reading School District as clearly and concisely as I’ve
ever seen it.
“For nearly two decades self-serving [school board] members
have been interested only in employing family and friends, most of whom had
little or no professional background. School board members used nepotism to get
their people in positions of leadership, and most of them have failed.
“Our teachers and administrators have gone without
professional nurturing. Thus when the opportunity knocked elsewhere, they left.”
My question is, how did this go on for so long? What
leverage does a community have to intervene when such an important institution
is off the rails? Did political and business officials ever privately lean on
board members, reminding them of the clearly defined duties of school board
members?
Sure, the board members were duly elected, over and over
again. Does that mean the local parties or the voters themselves are to blame?
I also think the Eagle dropped the ball on this. It never sends reporters to
talk to parents or teachers to find out how students are being affected. You
have to do more than just cover the public meetings to get to the bottom of
things.
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