{"id":7331,"date":"2013-08-30T11:59:21","date_gmt":"2013-08-30T15:59:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=7331"},"modified":"2013-08-30T15:53:14","modified_gmt":"2013-08-30T19:53:14","slug":"casd-its-time-for-some-answers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=7331","title":{"rendered":"CASD: It’s time for some answers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parents, taxpayers deserve facts, not rumors and speculation<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span>
\n\"UTMikeColLogo\"<\/a>An old maxim suggests wisdom is \u201cknowing what you don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, it appears that when it comes to the Coatesville Area School District, we are all wise beyond our years.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what we do know: CASD Superintendent of Schools Richard Como has resigned\/retired effective Sept. 2 and while word of this circulated around the school district and beyond for days, the district refused to discuss it or keep anyone in the loop. We worked the story for days until, finally, we had such a tidal wave of sources reporting Como\u2019s departure that we felt the need to inform the community.<\/p>\n

Those are the facts as we know them. We also know this: People are angry and they want answers, sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot more out there right now, and we\u2019re working really hard to separate rumor from reality and won\u2019t repeat those rumors and even engage in speculation \u2014 but grab a seat at the counter at The Little Chef or the DoubleD Diner and I\u2019m betting you\u2019ll get up to speed pretty quickly on some of the dire things going around the community right now.<\/p>\n

If only a tiny portion of what is out there turns out to be true, you may well be seeing headlines for weeks.<\/p>\n

Personally, as much as it might help our business and generate even faster growth for The Times<\/em>, the last thing CASD or the Coatesville community needs is another punch to the gut. Maybe I\u2019m a lousy businessman, but I\u2019d rather see our pages pilled with stories about kids doing amazing things at Rainbow Elementary, or parks being built and new businesses opening in Thorndale than another story about a trusted public figure being under investigation.<\/p>\n

And with no information, and the history of misbehavior in the area, it’s not surprising when people assume the worst. For the CASD, the information lockdown seems to be an institutional issue.<\/p>\n

As we saw with the pump failure at East Fallowfield Elementary School Monday, CASD seems to suffer from a profound inability or unwillingness to tell folks what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n

Instead of letting parents know Monday that there were issues, CASD reopened the building Tuesday without working water \u2014 and it appears only one set of working bathrooms was available for 400-plus students and staff. Only on Tuesday, after kids were already in school and the Chester County Health Department shut the school, was there any meaningful communication with parents.<\/p>\n

And it is much the same with the late Thursday night announcement that Como would retire, effective Sunday. We question whether any statement would have been issued this week had we not published reports of Como’s departure.<\/p>\n

And frankly, the entire circumstance \u2014 and again, a lack of credible explanation and execution \u2014 doesn’t smell right, and again invites rumor and speculation.<\/p>\n

School superintendents don\u2019t typically suddenly wake up and decide to retire. Typically, that happens after weeks or months of discussions with school board members and an exit plan is developed to smooth the process for students and staff.<\/p>\n

That, of course, begs the question: Why the rush?<\/p>\n

Which, in turn, leads to a lot of other questions and few answers, whether it be from school administrators, officials or school board members.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, because there are no official answers, rumors are running rampant \u2014 some of which are likely far worse than the truth, not to mention the damage to the reputation of those mentioned in rumors that may not have any basis in fact.<\/p>\n

It is far beyond the time for transparency, but answers must be forthcoming. The students, parents and taxpayers of the Coatesville Area School District deserve nothing less. We will continue to press for them, but suggest that if those answers do not come, a flurry of phone calls, emails, letters and even in-person visits to the Benner Administration Building might finally prompt a response.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, these folks work for you. Remind them of that fact and that it’s high time for the boss to get some answers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Parents, taxpayers deserve facts, not rumors and speculation By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times An old maxim suggests wisdom is \u201cknowing what you don\u2019t know.\u201d Well, it appears that when it comes to the Coatesville Area School District, we are all wise beyond our years. Here\u2019s what we do know: CASD Superintendent of Schools Richard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112,3],"tags":[2763,24,29,2766,2767],"class_list":["post-7331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-featured","tag-casd","tag-coatesville","tag-coatesville-area-school-district","tag-superintendent-of-schools-richard-como","tag-transparency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}