It's the End of the Beginning! - posted by John

The superintendent resigned, the chairperson of the school board recalled, and an informative public forum all in the course of 9 days!  Citizens for 13J Excellence has proven that we are a force for good in the school district.  That is, of course, thanks to all of the dedicated volunteers who held signs, distributed petitions, sent emails and kept smiling through it all.

We wouldn't have gotten here if it weren't for General Mona Hinds, who marched us rapidly forward with unending optimism, and Kathleen Stanley's determination to scrutinize every suspicious activity, and Jill Love's attention to detail in keeping our operations in complete compliance with the laws on political action committees.  So a great big thanks is owed to these three.

It has also been my personal pleasure to get to know all of our steering committee members better, and to associate with so many wonderfully talented volunteers.

Yes, it is the end of a great month, the end of a hard climb, and the end of a difficult chapter in our community's story.  This is a sweet victory.  But we are conscious that the damage done in our district by years of unethical and arrogant behavior will take some time to heal - especially in a time of ultra tight budgets and fundamental problems facing our educational system.

So Citizens for 13J Excellence will still be around.  There is too much work to do to expect our our school board to do it all, or even our teachers and adminstrators.  The days when most people have no idea who's on the school board (or what the school board is) need to be put behind us. The schools are a resource to our community, and we have a great community of talented people who can pitch in to assist where needed.

The school board will need our support over the next few months as they transition with the new board members, including a replacement for Susan Stoops, and as they search for a replacement for the superintendent.  And meanwhile, they'll face the really big problems.

As you may have read on one of our other pages, our mission is to support Central School District in these ways:

Facilitate communication between community citizens and district leadership,

Promote transparency and integrity in district administration,

Promote awareness in the community of the achievements and needs of our local educational system, and

Bring community support and resources to aid the district in providing a quality learning environment for our students.

Now, it's time to move forward.  It's been a great ride so far!