Leadership means valuing school employees

I am deeply concerned that the La Conner School Board has not been taking seriously the reports that the current superintendent has been administratively reckless and emotionally destructive in her role as the leader of the La Conner Schools. There have been too many reports by too many to make this about Georgia Johnson.

What I’m aware of after having attended the La Conner School Board meeting June 4, and hearing all the information that has come forth since, is that this issue is not about the differences in perception (public or behind the scenes), and it is not only about the lack of information, or the legalities regarding executive session or board discretion in handling them, or funding. It is about all those things, but more importantly to me, it is about not valuing what people like Georgia Johnson or Beverley Bowen bring to our community.

If ANY employee “failed” to meet some standard or expectation or need, then it is actually the failure of the superintendent for not helping the person succeed. The job of any leader is to help everyone succeed and do the very best job they can within the constraints of money or time. I seriously doubt that Georgia did anything so egregious or so severe that after having a 15 year record of positive evaluations she deserved to be terminated after one questionable “bad” evaluation. At most, this was an opportunity to provide mentoring and leadership not top down “I’m the boss” and “because I said so” authoritarianism.

Georgia and Bev are very deeply valuable, whole-hearted, beyond pay, hardworking employees and that they have been “let go”/“forced out” is a tragedy. That is a loud signal that the leadership is moving in the wrong direction, away from valuing what really matters, away from the true leadership that we need going forward in this world. This isn’t the kind of leadership that will take us to a place of respect, honesty, open dialogue and a more diverse, interconnected and interdependent world we need to be inhabiting.

I believe our community deserves to have the school board carry out a thorough investigative process, interviewing many current and former school employees to learn more about how safe and supported they are feeling working for our school district.

Charlotte Underwood, LMHC

La Conner