Is it good that Reading School Board members are resigning?

Why did Yvonne Stroman retire from the Reading School Board?

The Reading Eagle said Stroman was not immediately available for comment.

Along with Karen McCree, she’s the second long-term member to abruptly resign with little explanation in the last month. Voters re-elected Stroman in November.The district serves 18,000 children and has a budget of $214 million, paid for by city, state and federal taxpayers. 

Over and over, reports blame poor leadership for fiscal and academic problems. The local media should better educate the public about what’s going on in the giant district.

According to the Eagle, Board President Rebecca Acosta said Stroman’s resignation e-mail “cites Stroman's role as executive director of a local nonprofit organization as the reason for her departure.”

Where is Stroman an executive director?

Her LinkedIn profile says she is director of community Programs at Community Prevention Partnership.

Community Prevention Partnership (which community they are trying to prevent, I don’t know) doesn’t list her on its website.

Was she one of the longtime board members that opponents excoriated at a candidates' forum in October?

They claim some school board members use the positions for prestige and power, not to promote education.

Questions the Eagle could ask:

• What prompted this shake up?
• Why did the two resign?
• Were they persuaded?
• If claims about their behavior are true, why haven’t toxic school board members been voted out in elections?
• What role do Reading’s political parties play in who gets to be a school board candidate?
• Why haven’t better candidates been selected to run?

The community deserves to know who is responsible for its public school system’s collapse so the same thing never happens again.

Berks County needs better journalism!