Honesty, Accountability, Transparency

Drawing inspiration from many commenters on E-City Beat concerning the Great Falls Public School District’s $98M bond and $1.4M levy request, over the next few days we will be presenting views about whether or not the Great Falls Public School District is performing its public service in an honest, accountable and transparent way.

In my view, if the District wants to have an honest dialog with the public a couple of prerequisites need to be completed. First, Mr. Jan Cahill, as the Chairman of the School Board, needs to provide an unequivocal and sincere apology to the citizens of Great Falls who voted NO on the recent operational levy for the condescending remarks made by Superintendent Tammy Lacey. In the absence of an apology from Superintendent Lacey, it is Mr. Cahill’s duty to do this as an elected Trustee.

A quote from Superintendent Tammy Lacy:

“Congratulations to Bozeman, Helena, Kalispell, and Missoula school districts for passing their operational levies! Sorry Great Falls…the gap just got wider. By the way, Billings and Butte, the other AA districts, didn’t run levies. That makes us the only losers.”

Secondly, Mr. Cahill must assure parents of children attending school in the District that retribution, no matter how subtle or indirect, against children whose parents hold and voice opinions other than those held by the Board and some District employees will NOT be tolerated. That needs to be heard loud and clear.

“…Mr. Cahill must assure parents of children attending school in the District that retribution, no matter how subtle or indirect, against children whose parents hold and voice opinions other than those held by the Board and some District employees will NOT be tolerated.”

To quote from an anonymous mom whose letter appeared here yesterday, “A Mom’s Letter”:

“Because of the viciousness of this vote, I ask that I remain anonymous, not for myself, but because I fear that my ideals will be used against my child, who is a student in the Great Falls Public School District.”

In my opinion, if these two issues are not addressed soon, the District will have a hard row to hoe for every appeal to increase funding in the future.

Let me echo the sentiments of many of those who have expressed their opinions in comments on this blog and elsewhere: It’s time for the District to provide full honesty and transparency and to be accountable to the citizens of Great Falls.

Philip M. Faccenda
Philip M. Faccendahttp://www.straymoose.com
Philip M. Faccenda is an AIA award-winning architect and planner. He is the Editor-in-Chief of E-City Beat.

1 COMMENT

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

ARCHIVES