PNG board elections

[ndnfan]

What everyone's opinion?  There's been a complete shift in the board.  No imcumbents reelected in contested races.  New board members Rodney Balsamo, Jimmy Walters, and Lana Parker.  Carol Broussard's position was uncontested.  That leaves the old timers: Rusty Brittain, Darren McCutcheon and Gary Stretcher. 

Interviews with voters showed many people had concerns about the direction of the district, construction issues, disappointment about certain issues with the stadium and athletics and the overall district expenditures.  Heard lots about the board not listening to constituents or responding to questions.

[PN-G bamatex]

While I typically don't like to tread on this turf, I will say that I think people have overreacted to some of the board's decisions, and that's why it cost these three members their seats.

Our district is poised for a turnaround, and when I say this, I don't just mean in the athletics department. Our band has two fairly new directors at the high school and another fairly new director at GMS, and all four directors (two at PN-GHS, one at PNMS, and one at GMS) are very committed. Our high school band will grow by nearly 25 members next year, and the increase is only expected to sustain itself from year to year. In addition, the Indianettes are now marching with the band again, and their numbers are expected to grow accordingly. As always, we've got great academics departments. Our district ratings have increased over the last few years in that area, and with every new teacher we hire (and we've had several, lately) comes a plethora of fresh new ideas. Nearly every school in the district has a new or fairly new principal, each of which has made some much needed changes at his or her respective campus. And, as I'm sure everyone knows, we've got three virtually brand new coaching staffs at our high school and middle schools.

These are great accomplishments, and, as I said earlier, our district is poised for a turnaround, one that could bring us back to that "Tradition of Excellence," but someone had to lead us in this direction. The superintendent (Dr. Lani Randall) and the assistant superintendent (Billy Curl) have done their share, but so has our school board, and this, to me, points to the opposite of the so-called "arrogance," "selfishness," and "good ol' boy system" that many claim that we have. I'm happy for the new members, but I'm also not sure that they were the best choices, and I think everyone has given the incumbants a "bad rep," one that I don't think was deserved.

Just my two cents.

[png81]

I respect your opinion Bandkid but very much have to disagree. The voters didn't "overeact" to the boards decisions they reacted to them in the only way possible, by voting them out. The "old school" board created many of the problems you say we are turning around from. Two of the three that lost were long term members who had a say in many of the decisions to get us where we are today and the third was very close to those same decisions.

[PN-G bamatex]

I respect your opinion Bandkid but very much have to disagree. The voters didn't "overeact" to the boards decisions they reacted to them in the only way possible, by voting them out. The "old school" board created many of the problems you say we are turning around from. Two of the three that lost were long term members who had a say in many of the decisions to get us where we are today and the third was very close to those same decisions.

And the point that we're at today is a point of being poised for a turnaround, one that the school board, in part, got us to. That idea was the point of my entire comment. As much as I hate to say it, this school district has been going down since the 80's, and that decline was accelerated by the "Robin Hood" chapter and the recent hurricanes. We've been trying to turn that around for the last few years, we're about to do it, and that school board helped to get us this far. I just think that people took some things that the school board did out of context. Some assumed that there were ulterior motives when there was no evidence of such. It's just a little controversial.

[ndnfan]

png81 I tend to agree with you.  Constituents have gotten tired of the runaround from some of the board members.  Anytime a person asks for public info documentation and is denied or ignored and then has to file an Freedom of Information request to get said info, it's time for those responsible to go.  BTW, I'm not referring to the FOI requests about PNG's head coach position.  I'm referring to requested information regarding bond info and expenditures, requests for proposals, contracts etc.  These are the issues that never made it to the local media but many in the community knew about it and their votes in this election reflected it. 

I personally believe that the only "agenda" that 2 recognized police officers and an outstanding retired teacher could have is restoring the public confidence in the operations of the district.  I personally feel very secure knowing that there are public servants on the board now because they must operate above the fray as their own jobs dictate it.  No more secrets.

[PNGFan]

We'll see!!!

[PNG 4 ever]

I for one am very excited about the outcome of the election.  Change has been needed for awhile.  When you have a long time school board member making the inexcusablecomments that he made about the handicapped seating, well he needs to go.  He doesn't need to be in the position that he was in.  I think if the sitting school board members that are up for election in the next couple of years don't get the message that was sent by the election results, then I feel very sorry for them.