Quite the crowd at Royal School Board meeting

ROYAL CITY - A large crowd at the Royal School Board meeting last week forced the board to uncover a story that's been brewing about a month. It relates to the retention of nine-year Superintendent Rose Search.

It was learned from the board that in at least three special executive sessions in the past month the board has discussed how not to retain Search after this year. She is contracted through next year.

The story started to leak out about a month ago. The Royal Register asked Search then if a particular special board meeting was about her. She emphatically said it was not, and she believed that.

At last week's meeting it was clear about 150 townspeople believed the story. By evening's end, board members said they had asked Search to attend three meetings. Search told the gathering she declined on advice of counsel.

Citizen input lasted about two hours. It was civil, but it was spirited. More than half of the participants were Hispanic parents who spoke through interpreter (and teacher) Mario Godoy.

Probably 99 percent were there to support Search. They asked the board to find a way to retain her instead of letting her go. They said their children are succeeding because of her efforts and that she communicates with them. They took to the microphone with confidence and spoke their minds.

"For me, as a parent, she's been doing a good job," Oscar Madrigal said. "After all we did to get her from Othello, why this?"

Laura Ontiveros said: "I've been hearing that her contract is good until 2016. I want to know if we can renew her contract because we like her."

"Why did the Hispanic community not know her contract might not be renewed?" asked Rodolfo Rodriguez.

Gloria del Carmen asked: "What did she do wrong?"

"Before you vote, take all of us into consideration," said Maria Santillán. "I'm happy with what she's doing for Royal."

"You left the poor lady out to dry, and I don't know why," Andy Anderson said.

Board Vice President Janett responded: "We haven't said she's done anything wrong."

"Then why are we all here?" Anderson commented.

Board Vice President Craig Janet said community input was taken before those meetings. The Hispanics in the audience said nobody asked them.

"Today you are giving your input, and we are accepting your input," Janett said.

High school teacher Veronica Barrett reminded the board: "You don't represent the teachers. You represent these people here."

Some wanted to know what it would cost the taxpayers to buy the last year of Search's contract. The board did not answer that question, but Search earned more than $123,000 last year.

Janett, acting in place of vacationing Board President Bob Murphy, tried to keep the lid on the story. He said no action was taken as a result of the aforementioned special meetings and said they related to a public employee.

But the crowd was relentless. By the time citizen input was finished, it was clear the public employee was Search and that, indeed, the board had talked about a buyout.

About 20 minutes into the meeting, Janett distanced himself from board members Warren Small, Mike Noftle and Justin Brown by saying he supported Search when she was hired and supports her to this day.

Murphy was back in town the day after the meeting. He said Tuesday he has supported Search from the beginning of her tenure and still supports her "wholeheartedly."

The big question of the night was "Why?"

At first Janett responded with "No action has been taken." But the folks insisted meetings are action and that the meetings were about Search.

Later, Janett's response was, "There was no smoking gun" type of reason. Citizen Luis Sanchez tried to respond to that comment, but Janett waved him off in favor of continuing down the list of 20 or so people who had signed up to speak.

Janett did not forget, however. As citizen input ended, he went back to Sanchez, apologized for waving him off and offered the floor.

"If there is no smoking gun, then there must be personal agendas," Sanchez said.

The comment caused a rumbling and ah-has through the crowd, and one of the board members shouted out that was not the case.

There were at least three occasions of audience applause, and all of them came after statements supporting Search.

One question that was answered was how the word got out that the closed door meetings were about Search. That occurred during an exchange between Anderson and board member Brown.

Anderson said it was Brown who had leaked. Brown said it was not him. Anderson said Brown had told his uncle Spud Brown. Brown denied again, then Spud Brown said Justin Brown told him a buyout was in the works.

"I said that was an option," Justin Brown said.

An answer to the question: "Why?" may have surfaced in statements by Royal Teachers Union President Brent Whitaker. It appears the acrimony that grew during teacher contract negotiations, which took more than a year, is still festering.

Whitaker came to the meeting with a survey he conducted among teachers on Feb. 18. Seventy-one percent of the teachers who responded said Search needed to improve her skills and they had little to no confidence in her.

Whitaker then added his own negative assessment of Search, with the conclusion that she leads by intimidation.

Whitaker did not say how many teachers did not respond. Three of them attended the meeting and spoke in favor of Search and disparagingly of their own union.

One high school teacher present, Veronica Barrett, challenged the survey's validity, saying it was not scientific. And she said anyone calling Search's tactics intimidation "needs to look in the mirror."

Barrett also said she was ashamed of the way her union had negotiated with Search, who was holding the line for the board. She said the union's effort was replete with personal attacks on Search.

Elva Ramirez, reacting to Whitaker's comments, asked: "If's she's authoritative, what is the board?"

Wiley Allred, the long-time football coach, wouldn't buy claims he had heard about poor staff morale as a factor. He said the same claim was made by the teachers against past superintendents.

To the claim he heard that Search micro-managed staff, Allred said he asked one administrator about that. The answer was: "I've never been micro-managed," Allred said. Then Allred asked the big question about the buyout.

"I would want to know how much it costs," he said. "I want it published."

The question went unanswered, leaving the rest of the story for another day.

Allred said he and his wife Maria had participated in various school projects at the request of Search. He said he and Maria "always came away impressed."

"She was asked to make tough decisions nine years ago, and she's been making them," he said. "She's hired some very good people. She's raised expectations."

Allred concluded by saying: "The recent change, I believe, is the election of new board members."

Katie Allred, a relative newcomer to the community and organizer and first president of the Royal PTO, started to attend board meetings and noticed that Search presented herself in a "very professional manner."

Noting someone had said Search was not visionary, Katie Allred said: "I saw Mrs. Search get in there and really work for the bond (4 times). Why would a person who's not visionary do that?"

Katie Allred drew a round of applause when she said: "I'm grateful for Mrs. Search. I'm grateful for her leadership."

Javier Machado was last to speak, before Sanchez. He asked who among school board members "started this?"

That question wasn't answered. It didn't matter to Sanchez. If the board ends Search's stay in Royal, he promised, he will mount an effort to oust certain board members.