Tuesday, October 09, 2007

"Little" Greenville

Concerned citizen offers help...

It makes one wonder if God hasn’t put a curse on Leland. The Schools are in chaos, with scandalous accusations of sex, drugs, mental cruelty, and a multitude of others ills. The City is in uproar, with no sense of direction, allegations of misuse of taxpayer’s funds, the city streets are in deplorable condition.

The Mayor, and now City Clerk, along with other city employees who pay little, or no utility bills (little, or no light bill, no water, or garbage or trash bill). While the rest of the citizens pay extremely high electric rates. With a non-functional Police Dept., and a host of others problems. In addition, no one has an inkling as what to do about either.

First, let us start with the Leland School District . You have an administrative staff that does not live in Leland, and who do not have Leland at heart. The District has a very weak and incompetent Board of Trustees who gives the Superintendent a free hand to degrade the teachers, and exploit the taxpayers of Leland. The Board is allowing the Superintendent the opportunity to get herself and her flunkies the highest salaries the last years before retiring in order to get the optimum retirement benefits.

The citizens of Leland must not sit idly by waiting on the State Department of Education, or The Attorney Generals Office, to come in, and do what we know we must do for our children, and this community. It seems that the bad elements of our community out number the good, but we must not let that deter us.

I will setup a meeting with the spokesperson for the district parents in order to call a citywide meeting to work out strategies to deal with the problems of this community, and share information with others in order for all of us to be on the same page.

It sounds as if Leland has fallen victim to the ills that plague Greenville! Engulfed in a population in which everyone is "on the take", it is very difficult to discern the true "criminals".

Although this writer's identity was provided to me in his email, I never disclose one's identity without express permission. From the tone of his message, he seems to be a man of action who is offering to spearhead a parents meeting with school officials, so he probably has no problem revealing his identity... but that is his choice.

He is right about the need for these problems to be addressed very quickly. We should not forget that district superintendents, as well as school board members, are simply public servants who are charged with insuring the welfare and integrity of our public schools. Like all elected or appointed public servants, their job is to uphold the laws and regulations which, "we the taxpayers" have put in place.

It sounds like fear and intimidation have reigned supreme in the LSD for quite some time. When public servants begin to perceive themselves as "untouchable" is precisely when taxpayers need to "tap" them on the shoulder.

As I have stated before, if Dr. Richards has nothing to hide, she should welcome this opportunity to publicly exonerate herself and return to the business of educating our children.

Forthright

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your support, but I can tell you, teachers will NOT come forward. If Dr. Richards doesn't step down, then there will be hell to pay for those that meet with you or come forward. No one understands unless you've lived it. It's the most horrendous, unprofessional treatment a person could receive and she NEVER bats an eye!

Anonymous said...

That is the truth, as sad as it may be, teachers are too fearful to come forward. Even those who are retired don't speak up. One person likened it to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and said it took several years to get over. Unless you have been in here, you can't even imagine. By the way, hooray to our brave spokesperson. We know who he is.

Carl said...

Sounds like a federal investigation may be in Leland's future. One can only hope.

Anonymous said...

This is absolutely absurd! I grew up in Leland and am currently a school counselor in Mississippi, and I have never heard of such unprofessional, unethical goings-on in all my life. Ms. Richards should be ashamed of herself for acting in such a manner. God bless the educators of Leland because I don't know if I could stand by and watch such nonsense go on without 'risking' my job. Someone needs to take a stand. My thoughts and prayers are with Leland.