Students petition for school super's resignation

Petition signed by approximately 60 high school students

SOAP LAKE — Once again, requests for the resignation of Soap Lake Superintendent John Adkins were heard at Monday's regularly scheduled board meeting.

But this time, students were making the request.

"He doesn't perform any of his superintendent duties; when a teacher has a complaint or files a grievance the board, they just push it off to the side," said Soap Lake High School student Collin Barnes following the meeting.

Barnes submitted a petition with approximately 60 student signatures and said he brought the petition before the board as a concerned student who has found it nearly impossible to speak with Adkins on each of the five to 10 instances he has tried to approach him on school issues.

"He makes his own schedule," Barnes said of Adkins.

Barnes said he has also seen the effect Adkins' performance has had on teachers. He added that he doesn't believe their complaints or grievances have been heard either.

"They (the board) say they will take it into consideration and (then they) push it under the rug and pretend it never happened," he said.

Concerns regarding Adkins' performance surfaced last December when the Soap Lake School District staff sent a 26-2 vote of no confidence to the school board, along with 21 complaints made toward Adkins.

Allegations range from minor complaints about Adkins not being actively involved in district functions to more serious allegations of sexual harassment.

An investigation into the allegations was filed with the district's insurance carrier, Canfield and Associates in Ephrata, and completed earlier this year with no findings reported.

Barnes' presentation of the petition was stopped after he had made reference to specific personnel members, which board members said was in violation of its public meeting rules.

"With the way the board has been acting recently I sort of expected it," Barnes said.

A request for a leave of absence from librarian Dorothy Harris was also heard.

In a later interview, Harris said her request for a one year leave of absence is a direct result of having to work in a "hostile work environment" where a lack and unwillingness to communicate between Adkins and staff have influenced her decision to leave temporarily.

"I am not alone," she said.

Denise Mehal, business manager for the SLSD, spoke for Adkins in a phone interview this morning.

Mehal said Adkins did not wish to comment on last night's board meeting and that rumors of the district being in a budget deficit and laying off a high number of employees is not true.

"We always have funds, we never spend more than we have," Mehal said. However, she clarified that although expenditures have exceeded recent revenues, this was because the district had allotted money for school improvements.

Furthermore, she said, there have only been three or four teacher layoffs due to reduced enrollment.

When asked to comment on last night's board meeting, Mehal declined to comment further.