'Asleep,' really?

EDITOR:

"Asleep" seems hardly an appropriate descriptor for malfeasance.

Not that anybody ever reads them, let alone pays attention to what they say, but the Douglas County School District bulletin No. 302 "employment of professional personnel" clearly states: "The board shall approve the employment, fix the compensation, and establish the term of employment for each person employed by this district."

Furthermore: "Such approval shall be given only to those candidates for employment recommended by the superintendent."

Therefore Superintendent Carol Lark had to have recommended this person and the trustees rubber stamped it without even looking closely at it.

It seems readily apparent then that if guidelines were followed, both Lark and the trustees (who had to have known about this) fully recommended this person despite his disclosure about his legal problems.

I'll stick with malfeasance as to what has occurred while Trustee President Cindy Trigg was engineering Lark's contract renewal and pay raise.

Noticeably silent on the matter are our trustees who under the district bylaws section 2 "possesses such reasonable and necessary powers ... to promote the welfare of school children."

Section 3c makes the trustees responsible for "The determination of the management, supervisory ... positions" Section 3g charges the trustees with "The direction and arrangement of the administration and staffing the system, including the right to hire, suspend, discharge or discipline, or transfer employees." Section 3h states "trustees" have "The right to relieve employees from duty for lack of performance or any other legitimate reason."

If pending felony and misdemeanor charges are not a "legitimate reason" for measures to be taken here, then what is? But I'm betting you will never see this item on the "Trustees" agenda.

So if you folks are looking for someone to undo this hiring - it is the full responsibiliy of the "trustees" who gave the final approval here.

Steve Lang

Gardnerville