Should the Chartiers Valley school board open Dr. Tammy Whitfield's job?

According to one of our board members, when the board decides to open up a contract the person in question is essentially being fired. This was stated several years ago during a school board meeting in which another Char Valley employee was being targetted.

In terms of good business practice, good business practice would have been to review the contract in a timely manner, add the contract review to the agenda for the evening, and discuss the matter in a civil fashion at the meeting. Good business practice, if the contract was not resolved at the end of the meeting, would have been to table the discussion until the contract could be more carefully reviewed. None of this happened.

 Obviously this didn't happen.  I just feel they are trying to do an injustice to her.

 Betsy Sapienza / Jay Burkhart / Brian Toth.....do these names ring a bell? Other wonderful professionals who the school board decided to "open their positions" to find others more qualified.  If we do not do something, this pattern will continue to happen in the Chartiers Valley School District.

A multi-million dollar company....irresponsible leadership....bailouts.....sound familiar?

 Maybe your individual opinion of the above mentioned people was they were wonderful professionals.  I personally had many unprofessional experiences with one of those mentioned and was happy to see them go.  Chartiers Valley is a much better place without his/her unscrupulous influence on our impressionable teen-age children.  As a matter of fact, Dr. Whitfield was key in smoothing things over in one situation.  I do agree we need more administrators like her.  But again, these decisions cannot be based on individual feelings and one-sided views. 

The most important trait of a good leader is to open your mind to others views.  Bullheadedness and intolerance for diverse points of views breeds irressponsible leadership.....which calls for bailouts and other drastic measures.........sound familiar?

 I have watched the onslaught of responses with great amusement.  Good business decisions require time to make.  My question is "who's responsibility would it have been to provide the board with a copy of Dr. Whitfield's contract prior to the board meeting"?  As a citizen I would like to see what the board is debating. 90% of the people that have responded to this blog have responded based on emotion.  Do they all know what is in that contract?  Contracts for superintendents are available online, however not for asst superintendents.  Once made public, maybe then people will feel differently.  I frankly am very proud that our board made a difficult decision to wait.  They paused.  They didn't not renew or not offer.  They merely paused until they could get the facts, rather than make a decision without all the information.  Isn't that what we teach our kids?  To make good decisions?  To get all the facts? Even if it means not being popular?  We as parents should practice what we preach.

Clearly you haven't read the "onslaught of responses."  If you had, you would have seen that they had plenty of time to review the contract.  Months before, Ms. Figorski said she would form a committee to review the contract before it expired.  She didn't.  She waited until the night the contract was up to say they hadn't reviewed it yet. Several board members spoke up, demanding that they review the contract that very night instead of opening the position and dropping (as someone said earlier) a bombshell, publicly embarassing one of the best employees in the district while her daughter was in the room.  It was disgraceful and shameful.  Read some of the earlier posts about good business practice, which this was NOT, and maybe you'll see why this was NOT the way we teach our kids to make good decisions.

 What is your definition of plenty of time?  Who's responsibility was it to get the contract?  Isn't it possible that based on all that transpired that there is more to the story than what we know?  What we do know is that the contract was not reviewed.  I much rather again "pause" to make the right decision than act as you described with  "several board members demanding the contract be reviewed and ultimately approved on the spot?"  What if after reviewing the contract that night the same decision was reached, to wait.  How would that have spared "public embarrassment'?   Ironic that both the employee and daughter were present. 

It was not ironic that Jamie Whitfield was at the meeting with her mom.  If you knew what you were talking about, you would know that Jamie was a student council officer.  It was one of her duties to  be a student representative at the school board meetings.

 There is much much more to this situation than our community knows.  The Board members are making decisions based on their own personal agendas as well as the sick paranoid views of others in the district.  There are at least 4 Board members who are siding with individual(s) who want to maintain control of their position and environment in our district. The other two who voted with them don't have minds of their own and follow the leaders.  The truth is that Dr. Whitfield has made the people working in the district accountable and they don't like or want this.  So they contact these particular Board members and advise them on who they want out in exchange for helping them to get reelected.  It makes you wonder, what are they trying to hide?  What are these people doing that they need to revert to such despicable acts?

What is happening is ethically criminal.  We as a community need to dismember this group of individuals by voting them out as well as getting rid of the one(s) in the district who are behind this situation.  We need new people who are educated individuals.  Educated in their field and the best practices on how to run a school district.  People who are trustworthy, have character and are willing to go out on a limb for the good of our children, tax-payers and the district as a whole.  This present Board of Directors had an agenda that was calculated and this is how they run our district.  There are a couple that base their votes on the issues at hand not on their personal views or political bullying.  I believe that we also need better communication in our district.  If our Board had better communication with our administrators, teachers, parents and community then we would have a stronger district.  Honest communication about what is happening, whether it is hiring and firing, new construction, athletics, developing new curriculum or a new menu in the cafeteria.  This empowers everyone.  But this is not what this Board and individual(s) wants because it removes the power from them.  By the way, where is Mr. Skender in all of this?  He is our Administrator and he has felt the wrath of our Board also. 

Dr. Whitfield's credentials are impeccable.  Her track record over the years speak for themselves.  There is not a valid reason for this to have happened to her.  If someone had dropped the ball in the process of reviewing her contract in a timely manner, then speak up and admit that you made a mistake.  This is the right thing to do.  We are all very busy and oversights can happen, we are all human.  But the fact is they won't do the honest thing.  So now Dr. Whitfield is forced to hire an attorney to fight for what is right.  The end result is that our district may ultimately be forced to use our district monies to pay for this Board's stupidity.  

There is still more to come and the one(s) working in the district and the Board members who are spearheading this situation will eventually cause their own demise by their actions.

You are truly naive if you think that the board is acting in a prudent manner by simply taking "time" to consider the contract (as indicated in the response by "Seriously").  These contracts have set time limits and the board had PLENTY of forewarning that Dr. Whitfield's contract was coming due.  As indicated in the original article, and clearly stated by another board member, a committee was to be put together by the board president to examine and make recommendations.  Given these facts, either the board president FORGOT to put together a committee or CHOSE NOT to put together a committee to examine the contract.  These are the ONLY two explanations.  In either event, the board president's actions were negligent. 

Again, as a community member, you should be ashamed that this board has created such a PR blunder.  Have you ever heard of this happening in any other local districts?

Yes, the comments in this forum are VERY much fueled by emotion, I will give you that.  However, this because people in this community are sick and tired of the politics that this board plays.  Dr. Whitfield's contract is just the tip of the iceberg, I can assure you.

 WOW! reading through the posts it seems like there is little disagreement in the desire to keep an over compentent, dedicated  assistant superintendent , Dr. Whitfield.  What an ugly blackmark for the CV School Board. 

From the outside looking in, if this move from the school board was a prudent, economic decision it certainly was not carried out correctly. The atmosphere that was created from a last minute call of discussion of a contract at a board meeting does not create a bargaining situation.

If this is part of a contract negotiation procedure from the board, I am glad to see a lawsuit.  Drastic actions call for drastic reactions. 

As in "good business", you only get what you pay for.  If you have a proven leader, inovator, negotiator, friend and advocate to the students and parents.... what are are you looking for?

Without knowing all the details, this sure smells like personal vendetas and agendas... just common sense.  CV Board... sure hope you are reading these posts and thinking... hmmmm....

 From what I understand, Dr. Whitfield's contract is no longer just being opened. Her last last day will be in October when her contract expires. She was fired. A sad day for the Chartiers Valley School District.

It is truly a sad day.  Remember this when it is time to re-elect certain members of this school board.

I for one am glad that my youngest child has just graduated from this district.

I agree – it truly is very sad.  Dr. Whitfield is someone that works tirelessly to do what is right for the children in the Chartiers Valley School District.  The residents are losing this incredible advocate for their children and are paying to do it.  The board hired another attorney and now, because they have forced Dr. Whitfield to fight for the position she so values, will incur legal costs as well.  Not to mention the time that will be spent on this issue.  The children should be benefitting from the taxpayers’ hard earned money!  I hope that people share these strong opinions with the board members they elected and remember their actions during the next election.  The system is fatally flawed when a few people can have such a profound negative effect on more than 3,000 students and all of the staff. 

 Our children are not automobiles.  They are our future! As a parent, resident and taxpayer, this outrageous behavior is NOT what I voted for board members to do.  So do not imply that we voted in the board members to behave this way.  "Due diligence" - haha - isn't it the Board's responsibility to review the contacts and OBJECTIVELY review the track-record of the employee whose contract is in question.  Face it - they knew the contract was up and they chose to act selfishly and without cause. They are self-serving and reckless. They are destroying our community and have made a habit of going directly against the wishes of the majority of the residents of the district.  What the board WAS voted in to do, was to be the voice of the community and they have done exactly the opposite.  Shame on CV.  Please everyone - VOTE IN NOVEMBER - Remove all six of these board members from our School Board.  We did it a year ago when a member tried to have a GREAT person - TImm McConnell fired - WE CAN DO IT AGAIN!  Dr. Whitfield and Tim McConnell are excellent employees of the CV School District. I thank them both for the wonderful job they have done with our students!