Red flags are going up all over the place at Fresno Unified. Clashes seem to be developing between some board members and the superintendent, and even between board members. And a group is saying that the board may have violated California's open meeting laws.
This all needs to be smoothed out. This friction between the board members and the superintendent jeopardizes any progress the troubled district has made in recent years. Everyone should just take a step back, take a deep breath and re-focus on what's important here -- steering the district in the right direction to give our students -- and the teachers who teach them -- the greatest opportunity for success.
What's it going to take to get this back on track?
It seems a bit too soon to push the panic button, to me. There are new faces on the Board, so there is naturally a period of adjustment. The alleged Brown Act violations don't appear to be anything that can't easily be cured and corrected -- and hopefully the Board will be a bit more careful in the future.
Part of a superintendent's job is to be a diplomat and to work for consensus. To expect that the Board will just automatically agree on every issue is pretty unrealistic.
Give them time, don't blow each disagreement out of proportion, and they will probably work things out.
Trouble is, everybody has their own agenda. Those agendas are mostly concerned with advancing big government solutions. And they can't achieve power or "win" politically if they are forthright about those agendas.
Furthermore, it seems, that the kids are just a by-product in the whole mess. Let's face it, the educational establishment's divisive wedge politics is obstructionist by its very nature. Reform has never been their intention.
It may be too late. Now, we are all paying the price.
I agree. Give the new board members a chance to get settled in. Unfortunately, the problems seem to be coming from board members who have been there for awhile.
I am a big supporter of Mike Hanson, the superintendant. I think he's the best thing to happen to FUSD in some time.
We don't have time for them to "settle in." They were elected to work for our children, not behave like children. I say it is time for them to grow up and do their jobs.