The World According To Chris Brewer

Hooray for Russ Crawford, initiator of a recall of six of the seven Rainier, Oregon school board members. His efforts have paid off so far, with the recall petitions having passed — the citizens of the good town of Rainier will vote on May 27.

Or, the Rainier School board folks could end it all early, resign and we could all go home and watch LOST.

The school board folks aren’t bad people, I assure you all of that. It’s just that they sat around and did nothing when they could have put an egomaniac in his place (yes, I am talking about you, R. Michael Carter, RSD Superintendent) and saved the dignity of their school district.

From the Longview, WA Daily News:

Columbia County Elections officials verified the final signatures needed for the recall petitions Thursday morning. Board members now have until 5 p.m. Tuesday to either resign or submit a statement of justification that will be placed on the May 27 recall ballot. Ballots will be mailed out May 9, said Pam Benham, Columbia County’s elections supervisor.

The board members subject to recall are Chairman Dale Archibald, Penny Blahm, Rod Harding, Scott Schuff, Bill Scholten and Chad Womack. The only member not on the ballot is Alison Dale-Moore who was appointed to the board in December. She hasn’t served long enough to be recalled.

As I said, great people who otherwise wouldn’t deserve to be recalled, but allowing the following to happen is just too much:

The recall is part of 10 months of turmoil in the district that boiled over last summer but appeared to return to a simmer in recent months. Much of the discord centered on a power struggle between Superintendent Michael Carter and then-Junior/Senior High School Principal Jeff Gilbert — and how the school board handled the conflict.

The school board reprimanded both Carter and Gilbert this summer and required each to sign a plan of assistance to keep their jobs. Gilbert resigned instead and recently was hired to lead Reynolds High School — the state’s largest — in the Portland suburbs.

The recall effort began in January.

In February, though, the state Teacher Standards and Practices Commission declined to take action on the complaints against Carter and Gilbert, effectively clearing them of unprofessional conduct charges. And later that same month the school board ended Carter’s plan of assistance and signed him to a new three year contract.

And how much of a jackdonkey is Michael Carter? Well, let’s not forget his personal vendetta against Jay Davies, one of the best people to ever work in the Rainier School District. But read this:

“We’re a democracy and the citizens have the final say,” Carter said. “The board and myself have acted ethically and professionally and if any citizen has any questions about anything they board has done or myself we encourage them to give us a call and check on it. … I have faith in our citizens and believe that people who take the time to do the research and homework will come to the right conclusion and not listen to just a small faction.”

What a load of crap. Ethical and professional does not define the majority of Carter’s tenure at Rainier (and I’m sure the same applies at Glencoe as well). I posted factual evidence of many examples last year where Carter or people associated with him were involved in some very questionable conduct, especially for people with the responsibility of educating our children.

And finally:

Crawford and his supports needed 431 verified signatures to force the recalls. They turned in between 498 to 580 signatures per school board member, though election officials stopped checking after each hit the 431 number.

Recall ballots will go out to all 4,175 registered voters in the school district. All voters get to vote on each board member up for recall regardless of which voting zone they represent. And, because each board member will be voted on separately, it’s possible some board members will be recalled while others remain in office.

If you have to retain any of the school board members, please make sure it isn’t Archibald or Harding. Please.

Rainier voters, do the right thing. Recall your school board, and get some folks elected that will run the maniacal R. Michael Carter out of town. As I stated, the current board is full of nice people but they failed the community when they did not stand up to Carter during his power trip last year.

Please, Rainier voters, recall your school board members, elect people that will stand up to Carter, and make the School district proud once again.