The patrons of the Cutter Morning Star School District are due an apology from the president of the school board for his insulting remark that critics of the current administration should "take a hike."
Board President Mark Rash made the remark on Tuesday at the end of a two-hour regular session while defending Superintendent Nancy Anderson against criticisms by members of the community of poor leadership and financial improprieties, as is their due as taxpaying citizens of the district.
Rash said he is "really frustrated," "really upset," and "really disturbed" with the amount of time and effort and "thorough disruption" of "our administration."
He pointed out, appropriately, that no financial improprieties have been discovered by legislative audits, which are conducted every year. Then he said he is disappointed by those who have made accusations against Anderson and the district.
"I'm tired of it, I'm frustrated with it and for a lack of a better way to putting it, I would professionally request that they take a hike," Rash said, and also denounced criticisms of the district's transparency.
"Transparency is a relationship between this board and that superintendent," Rash said.
We respectfully disagree. Transparency should be a relationship between the public and the public officials it elects.
The board president and each of its members are responsible to every single parent and guardian in the school district, not just the ones that support their individual positions, or the positions of their administration.
To dismiss any parent's concerns by telling them to "take a hike" is not only disrespectful, but also goes against the very foundation of an elected official's responsibility.
Elected officials have one job, and that is to serve the public. Every parent with a child in that school district has the right to address their concerns to the board. Anything else is completely unacceptable.
We would also remind the board that the only people with the power to tell someone to "take a hike" in this situation are the voters of the Cutter Morning Star School District. The ballot box gives them this power. For any elected official to take this tone with any of their constituents speaks to a detached and unsympathetic attitude that can make resolving the situation more difficult.
This board and the school district's administration should welcome the questions and concerns of the public. Transparency is the quickest route to fewer questions and concerns.
A new position was requested by Anderson to fulfill public requests made under Arkansas' Freedom of Information Act. Six FOI requests totaling thousands of pages of documents were submitted in recent weeks.
The new position was approved Tuesday after Rash said he felt the position was needed to deal with the "exorbitant costs" of the "unnecessary situation that we have been dealt."
It is our position that fulfilling the public's request for additional information to bring to light, or disprove, improprieties, is never unnecessary, no matter the cost. It is a duty, and a law, that every public official must fulfill.
We close with this quote from Pope Francis, which seems especially appropriate in this case: "Every man, every woman who has to take up the service of government, must ask themselves two questions: 'Do I love my people in order to serve them better? Am I humble and do I listen to everybody, to diverse opinions in order to choose the best path?' If you don't ask those questions, your governance will not be good."
Editorial on 11/26/2017