Proffitt Chosen as New OJR School Board President

Perhaps the biggest news to come out of last night's Owen J. School Board meeting was a number -- 610.

That was, at one point, the number of people signed onto the on-line meeting whose topics of discussion included:

• the acceptance of the resignation of Karel Minor in the wake of a racially insensitive remark in Facebook in the midst of worldwide protests abouyt racial justice; 
• the resignation, and rescission of that resignation, of Owen J. Roberts High School Principal Ken Napaver; 
• the adoption of a $113 million budget that raises taxes by 2.6 percent; 
• the continued shockwaves regarding sexual assault that have followed in the wake of the arrest of teacher Stephen Raught; 
• and the adoption of a "health and safety plan" to re-open schools in the midst of a world-wide pandemic.

Here's another significant number -- 41.

That's how many different individuals spoke during Monday night's meeting, some more than once.

To say it was a long night is an understatement, so I am going to limit myself to the easiest of all the topics before my eyes fall out of my head -- replacing Minor.

The school board accepted Minor's resignation unanimously.

He announced his resignation June 3 after an community uproar over a post he made on Facebook, which he said was a joke, that made reference to how George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer.

"Racial equity matters," board vice president Leslie Proffitt said as the meeting got underway. 

Superintendent Susan Lloyd thanked "the parents of our black and brown students who emailed me their stories of injustice. Your stories made me sad, and then they made me angry," she said.

"I am going to take my outrage and using it to fuel my commitment to right these wrongs," said Lloyd, who also reported the initiation of professional development training for teachers and administrators "to have those uncomfortable conversations about race and inequality."

Later in the meeting, the board voted unanimously to name Proffitt, as the new board president and John Diehl as the new vice president.

"I want to thank you for all the work you've put in over the last four or five days, Diehl told Proffitt. "It's been a whirlwind and I appreciate your leadership and responsiveness at this time."

After being named vice president, Diehl said "I'm still learning," adding "I ask for an ounce of patience in a very inpatient time."

The board also decided how it will go about filling Minor's seat on the board.

An advertisement seeking resumes of those interested in the post will be placed in The Mercury and posted on the district website. Applicants will have a week to indicate their interest by contacting the board secretary and chief financial officer Jaclin Krumrine.

The last time the board had to pick a replacement 13 people applied, and they were all interviewed at a public meeting, said Melissa Booth, who was board president at the time.

If too many people apply, the board will have to discuss publicly how to reduce the number before conducting interviews.

The board has 30 days to make a selection. After that, the post can be filled by a judge.

There are plenty more news items to come out of this meeting, but I am not going to write them up here tonight. They will be reported in upcoming editions of The Mercury.