Columbus schools and scandals go hand in hand. Pause the closing plan.
Adrienne Hood is a retired master sergeant of the United States Air Force Reserves and a community advocate.
I am a Columbus native, an Independence High School graduate, as well as a former employee of the Columbus City Schools district for over ten years. My two oldest children were also graduates of Brookhaven High School.
Over the years, I have seen one scandal after another involving our school district. This hand-picked, school closing task force and the leaked school board memo are just the latest.
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The community must stand up and let the powers that be know that we will not tolerate being silenced. The voice of the community has been silenced and taken advantage of for far too long.
The district has no public trust because they continually make decisions for the community rather than with us. Sadly, this is nothing new.
Scandal and Columbus City Schools go hand in hand
I have watched the coverage of this scandal play out over the past month, and unfortunately, I am not surprised by what has taken place.
How will the memo affect closure? Will the leak scandal derail Columbus City Schools' bid to close as many as 20 schools?
There seems to be a culture of deception that operates within local politics that often includes our local school board.
The fact that there was an “independent” investigation that found only one school board member responsible for the divisive “controlling the task force narrative” memo is quite laughable.
I do not doubt that Brandon Simmons wrote the document; however, I absolutely do not believe that he came up with this entire plan on his own.
What was the conversation that ignited such a plan? Who was involved?
Community trust in basement after latest scandal
There seems to be a routine when it comes to the scandals in Columbus. One or two people take the fall for a larger group that faces zero accountability.
I am reminded of the data rigging scandal that took place when I worked for the district.
Only a few suffered the consequence of termination when there should have been many more. Furthermore, the individuals in senior leadership positions that deserved the most severe punishment evaded it, with lower ranking staff facing the consequences.
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Regardless as to how we got here, the question is: what will be the resolution? With the community trust so low after this scandal, the board needs to pause this consolidation process and invite the community to be a part of it, rather than shutting us out.
At this point, some of the members of the task force don’t live in our district, while others have potential conflicts of interest. That is unacceptable.
The community shouldn't be shut out
The community is demanding that this task force be dismantled and that there is an open and transparent selection process that results in true stakeholders coming to the table. You don’t get the buy-in of the community by shutting us out.
If the school board wants the community to be a part of this revitalization plan, then invite the community, parents, staff, organizers and taxpayers to the table to do the work.
CCS is too big. Unhinged, unethical document shouldn't stop board from closing schools.
Integrity has been lost, but it’s not too late for it to be restored. The board needs to do the right thing and pause the process to get it right.
Adrienne Hood is a retired master sergeant of the United States Air Force Reserves and a community advocate.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus schools closing plan must be scrapped. Board can't be trusted
