Dismayed by Pfleuger’s resignation, school board’s actions | Letters

In my opinion, the school board’s acceptance of Gary's resignation is evidence that they, with the support of our newly appointed superintendent, Rick Thompson, not only had no intention of preventing it, but rather actively orchestrated it.

January 18, 2011 1:22 pm

I can’t believe this is happening. I’ve been distracted and agitated for days, wondering if there was something I could have said to change the outcome, something any of us could have said – wondering how we all missed any hint that something was going terribly wrong.

I went to the school board meeting on Tuesday evening in hopes that our community would collectively find the magic words to save our principal.

Although many words, and tears, were shared demonstrating Gary’s devotion to our children and community, it was not enough.

In my opinion, the school board’s acceptance of Gary’s resignation is evidence that they, with the support of our newly appointed superintendent, Rick Thompson, not only had no intention of preventing it, but rather actively orchestrated it.

They chose to ignore our pleas. Those of us present at the meeting, while we wanted to respect Gary’s words assuring us this was indeed his choice, couldn’t help question whether his words were spoken out of necessity rather than by personal choice.

I find it hard to believe that even with the entire voice of our community united in support of our principal, we appear to have no recourse to challenge the board’s decision.

Admittedly, Gary is not asking us to fight for him. In three years he has worked under three different superintendents, purchased a home and become an integral part of our community.

I imagine this hasn’t been easy for him. But as a mother of two girls with a collective 22 years ahead of us in this school district, I am compelled to try and fight this for their sake, not for Gary’s.

Our community clearly demonstrated that they desperately want what is best for our children. I question the motives of our school board and superintendent.

I firmly believe that utilizing our resources to begin a search for a new principal at this time is not in our community’s best interest, financially or otherwise, especially since we cherish the one we have.

Perhaps searching for a board and superintendent that reflect the voice of our community would be a better course of action.

Penelope Haskew

Friday Harbor