Cozy Board/Superintendent Relationship?

The Des Moines Register, via a kind reader's email:

Beyond the personal side of this story, the emails raise questions about the school district's management and the relationship between the superintendent and the school board.

For one, Sebring meddled far too much in a new Des Moines charter school that had been overseen by her twin sister, Nina Rasmusson. Scores of emails reveal Sebring was directly engaged in internal affairs of the school, and that Sebring sought to use her influence to shield her sister from criticism. Rasmusson resigned from the job on Sebring's advice to avoid being fired because of problems in the charter school.

One email reveals Sebring's attitude about her relationship with school board members: "We're having a little trouble reigning (sic) in two of our new board members," she wrote in a Feb. 10 email to Rasmusson. "They are well-intentioned but crossing the line."

It's easy to see how Sebring might have had the idea the board worked for her, not the other way around. Other emails suggest Sebring had a close personal relationship with at least one member of the board.

It appears she'd had them under her thumb for years. Members allowed Sebring to hire her sister, even though that clearly posed a conflict. They said nothing when she failed to promptly deliver a state accreditation report showing problems with the district.

And, to the end, board members seemed more concerned with protecting her than holding her accountable and being accountable to the public. They held a closed-door meeting to discuss her unexpected resignation May 10.

They knew Sebring had violated the district's technology policy forbidding the use of school computers or email for personal correspondence and the exchange of sexually explicit messages. Yet they issued a release that misled the public by failing to disclose the full story about why she resigned early.

This school board thanked Sebring for her service and let her go on her way, protecting her to the very end.

This is the same school board the public now must rely on to find and supervise the next superintendent. Members should be taking responsibility for their mistakes. They should be learning from them and making changes in how they do business. A school board is the boss of a superintendent. It's time for this board to finally figure that out.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at June 4, 2012 8:27 AM
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