{"id":9966,"date":"2014-01-17T11:39:50","date_gmt":"2014-01-17T16:39:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=9966"},"modified":"2014-01-17T11:39:50","modified_gmt":"2014-01-17T16:39:50","slug":"it-is-time-for-the-casd-board-to-do-the-right-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=9966","title":{"rendered":"It is time for the CASD board to do the right thing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Appointment of new board member Saturday will have consequences<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/span>
\n\"UTMikeColLogo\"<\/a>On Saturday, the Coatesville Area School District Board of Education will make a decision that will likely shape the manner in which the school district runs for years.<\/p>\n

At noon, the board will convene to vote on a replacement for the late Paul Johnson, after failing to do so, Tuesday night. Four members – Diane Brownfield, Stu Deets, Kim Mammel, and Deborah Thompson – all voted for Robert Beckershoff, the Republican who finished second to Deborah Thompson in the November balloting for the Region 1 seat.<\/p>\n

Four members – Neil Campbell, Jim Fox, Laurie Knecht, and Rick Ritter – abstained \u00a0and voted for no one, but the implication seems to exist that the four favor the return of Dr. Tonya Thames Taylor \u2014 who finished last in the Region 1 voting, garnering just over 11% of the vote.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, Taylor was accused of hiring relatives to work for the school district, including a niece, Adrienne Shaw \u2014 who is a convicted felon. Shaw, who does have a 2003 felony theft conviction, does not show up in the master list of district employees provided to The Times<\/em> after a Right To Know request last fall, so that accusation could not be verified.<\/p>\n

Whether those allegations are true or not, Taylor\u2019s responses to the texting scandal involving former Superintendent of Schools Richard Como at a number of public meetings were more than enough to give the public pause. Those facts \u2014 and not some dark media conspiracy, as has been claimed \u2014 were why Taylor did so poorly at the polls.<\/p>\n

When 89% of the voters say no, it\u2019s not just a mandate, it\u2019s a demand.<\/p>\n

As an aside, the lack of transparency in this process is alarming. When other school districts have a board vacancy, a public interview process occurs for potential replacements, an open discussion of their opinions and qualifications. We see no evidence of this taking place.<\/p>\n

The general consensus appears to be that Beckershoff, as the second-highest vote getter, should get the appointment. It is difficult to argue with that logic \u2014 although a case could possibly be made for any number of new faces. The only clearly wrong choice would be to appoint Taylor.<\/p>\n

Aside from the ruinous political consequences \u2014 not just for future board elections, but for the looming State Representative race in the 74th District \u2014 it will be just one more punch in the gut to a community that deserves better.<\/p>\n

Without all of the current controversy, Coatesville would be a school district facing serious challenges, whether it be the current high tax rate, the looming impact of the Keystone Exams, facility issues, and, not least, the search for a new, permanent superintendent. It is time for the district to move beyond scandal, but putting Taylor back on the board would stop that cold.<\/p>\n

I hope your voice is heard Saturday, that democracy isn\u2019t subverted (or written off as little more than \u201cmob rule\u201d).<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hope that, for once, the greater good of the community and the school district is the primary concern of those who vote Saturday. A vote for Taylor by five board members would make it clear that the cancer attributed to Como and his cronies runs much, much deeper.<\/p>\n

You deserve better. The kids deserve better. The teachers and staff deserve better. And the greater Coatesville community deserves better than to again be held up as a laughingstock, as corrupt and inept.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoatesville Pride\u201d needs to mean something again.<\/p>\n

Demand it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Appointment of new board member Saturday will have consequences By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times On Saturday, the Coatesville Area School District Board of Education will make a decision that will likely shape the manner in which the school district runs for years. At noon, the board will convene to vote on a replacement for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112,3],"tags":[166,2780,1375,3484],"class_list":["post-9966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-featured","tag-board-of-education","tag-coatesville-area-school-district-casd","tag-dr-tonya-thames-taylor","tag-robert-beckershoff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9966","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=9966"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9974,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9966\/revisions\/9974"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}