West Bend School District responds to Questions

In response to a lengthy letter from Gordon Goggin to school board member Lynn Corazzi, Superintendent Pat Herdrich has responded.  I’m not going to go through the whole thing, because, frankly, I have other things to do like watch the Bristol race, but I wanted to post it for all to see.  I do have a few comments, however. 

First, I continue to be frustrated when the Superintendent or other school administrators respond to citizen questions put to board members.  Yes, the board members may need to ask some questions of the administration to get facts before answering, but the board member is still responsible for responding to the query.  As a citizen, I don’t care as much about what Dr. Herdrich thinks about these things as much as a I do a board member who happens to be up for election in a few weeks.  This is particularly galling when Mr. Goggin is asking Corazzi to defend a statement that he allegedly made in public at a meeting and Dr. Herdrich responds with, “I cannot offer a first-hand response. However, Lynn Corazzi confirmed that this comment reflected one of several observations he made about working within a Fortune 50 company, and was in no way related to any financial management practices at the West Bend Public School District.”  Seriously?  Corrazi can’t reply for himself?  If Dr. Herdrich his spokesperson now?  What does Corazzi think about all of these things?  I can’t tell you.  I haven’t seen his response. 

Second, it does certainly appear that Mr. Goggin has leaped to some false conclusions, but that doesn’t make the questions invalid.  Dr. Herdrich spends a lot of time rightly detailing the various responses to Mr. Goggin’s questions - or at least the various exchanges that may not constitute an actual response.  She also spends some time telling him the accrued costs of replying to him (over a grand if you buy that) and explaining all of the reasons why the district had not responded to all of his questions.  While all of this information is perhaps interesting and truthful, it is exactly the kind of attitude that has continued to damage the district’s reputation regarding openness and transparency. 

You can read through the responses.  In some cases, Mr. Goggin appears to be wrong.  In other cases, he’s on target.  And, as usual, in some cases the district dodged the question.