George Reid, who has been the School Board member for District 4 for almost twenty years, has announced he is not running for re-election this fall in local elections.
Reid, who has refused to answer any questions from me for well over two years, presided over the board as it’s chair most recently, until an elected school board was voted on positively in 2007. He has widely been seen as someone who acquiesced to the wishes of the superintendent during most of that time. Manipulation of meetings, refusal to answer questions and other negative traits have not endeared him to the people in the county or his district.
An example of this is his lack of leadership and violation of school policy in the period running up to the decision to demolish buildings and build a new high school and middle school in 2007-2008. School board policy states clearly that any buildings or construction by the board will require investigation and use of as much alternative and energy efficient construction. The new $36m schoolswere built with no eye towards this at all, and when asked about that fact, several administration and school board members claimed the skylight filled that requirement.
An interesting side story to this is that while trying to get answers to various questions from Mr. Reid, the Chair, Christine Ross, offered to try answering my questions and promised confidentiality since no progress was being made in Mr Reid talking or answering anything. A few emails were traded with Ms. Ross, but then she copied Mr. Reid and the superintendent at the time, Jim Thornton. These are the two I was asking questions about, and her actions spoke volumes to me about her protection of them.
Luckily, there are elections this fall. Besides Mr. Reid, one other member has declined to run for re-election (Doris Seal, District 3). I won’t be running, but I would think even a potted plant or an empty chair could do a better job than George Reid. Good riddance.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 