Superintendent Requests that School Board Not Respond to Parents on Crosswinds Issue

If you're wondering why your calls to the school board about the Crosswinds acquisition are going unanswered, except by Board Member Jim Gelbmann, an excerpt from recent email received by constituents from Mr. Gelbmann may clear up the issue:

Thanks for sharing your well-articulated concerns regarding the ill-conceived proposal to relocate WE to the Crosswinds building.  As noted in the Woodbury Bulletin yesterday, I do not support the proposal to relocate WE to the Crosswinds building.  Dr. Jacobus had requested that Board members not respond to parents on this issue...I agreed, noting that at some point I reserved my right to inform my constituents where I stand on this issue.  Since my position was made public in the Bulletin yesterday, I decided I should feel comfortable responding to parents and citizens on this issue.

In my opinion, contrary to Dr. Jacobus's recent Woodbury Bulletin Viewpoint, Transparency and the art of decision-making, it would seem as if Dr. Jacobus is attempting to prevent the (publicly ELECTED) very people who hired him to communicate with their constituents about an important community issue. Why would this be?

What is Dr. Jacobus worried will come of people receiving answers to their questions about what exactly may happen to the various schools in question if District 833 succeeds in acquiring Crosswinds School?

Is Dr. Jacobus worried about putting out incorrect information? Or is he worried that they don't have all the correct information as of yet (as he said in his Op-Ed - sometimes we must wait for information while it's being compiled), so it's just better to not say anything at all?

Or perhaps he is worried that people may start making connections between the new Hybrid Budget cuts - increased walking distances plus the elimination of 22+ teacher positions - and the potential costs associated with moving Woodbury Elementary to Crosswinds, then moving the choice program, Nuevas Fronteras, to Woodbury Elementary along with the costs associated with the potential building modifications that go with those proposed changes?

Maybe he's worried that people will start to think that maybe the budget issues were a ruse to make people believe that an increased levy referendum this Fall is truly necessary to shore up the district's finances, even when the administration is looking forward to an almost guaranteed increase in State funding that equals approximately $300/student within the next two years? (Based upon a post-Board meeting conversation I had with one of the board members, what they seem be planning is to use that money for other things like technology and "construction projects" as well as building back up the district reserves - not reinstating teachers or decreasing the middle/high school walking distances.)

In the end, why Dr. Jacobus requested that the school board not talk to constituents about the Crosswinds issue is beside the point: the problem is that according to Jim Gelbmann, Jacobus did request that they stay silent on the Crosswinds issue; and that seems to border on (if not completely is) unethical behavior:

According to the Code of Ethics for Adminstrators as outlined by the District 833 Administrator Code of Ethics, an Administrator:

• Makes the well-being of students the fundamental value of all decision making and actions.
• Fulfills professional responsibilities with honesty and integrity.
• Adheres to the code of ethics for administrators in Minnesota law.   Legal References: Minn. Stat. § 122A.14, Subd. 4 (Code of Ethics); Minn. Rules Part 3512.5200 (Code of Ethics for School Administrators

Which also begs the question as to why the elected officials on the School Board, who are technically Jacobus's bosses (they have the power to hire and fire the Superintendent), would agree to such a request?  Doesn't that also call into question of whether our elected board members are following the Code of Ethics for District 833 Board Members? 

If our elected leaders hire people unwilling to fully communicate their intentions for how our taxpayer dollars will be spent, and who also request that the Board does not communicate with the community which not only funds the distict, but also pays their salaries, elected and puts its trust in those Board members, then the people must insist that those leaders be held accountable for those actions. As parents, taxpayers and voters in District 833, it is our duty to pay attention to our elected leaders' actions (or non-action) on issues and to hold them accountable.