And then there were two

Over the last few years there's been a lot of talk in the Rochester school district about a division in the school board between the four board members who voted to hire Superintendent Romain Dallemand in 2007 and the three who preferred a different candidate in the first place and never completely got behind him.

 With the resignation of Cris Fischer on Thursday, all three board members who have been openly skeptical of Dallemand have voluntarily--and recently--left the board. Granted, Sandra Soltis and Diane M.H. Blakely both did so in less dramatic fashion, with each choosing not to seek a second term in the November elections. 

Then there are the four board members who supported Dallemand from the beginning and voted to approve his three-year contract extension in 2009: Fred Daly, Mechelle Severson, Breanna Bly and Jim Pittenger. 

Daly and Severson are both off the board in January, with both not surviving the August primary. 

 That leaves Pittenger and Bly as the two remaining board members, with both having terms that expire in December of 2012. 

Four new board members will be seated in January from a field of candidates that in   general has been highly critical of the current district administration and board. 

It isn't clear yet when Fischer's replacement will be appointed by the board. The obvious question is whether that replacement will be selected by the current six-member board or the board that's seated in January. 

So what does this all mean? 

It's likely that instead of a board that's been generally supportive of Dallemand and his administration, there will be one that is more critical and holds a comfortable majority in that direction. After the recent turbulence on the board itself, it will also be interesting to see what kind of dynamic the new board achieves and how that will shape future decisions in the district. 

Comments

[Travel2]

Why were the 180+ comments taken down from the original article? This issue impacts the entire community and as someone having a child in this district, I am very interested in the dialog and opinion of others. I am not very "connected" in this city, so I rely on the comments of others (which of course require discernment and sifting on my part) as one source of information on important issues, especially as I find that the PB often does not provide the depth of investigation I would like.
PB, please reactivate those comments!

[Jay Furst]

Travel2: We often have to take down comments or suspend the commenting function because people abuse the privilege, pure and simple.

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