Superintendent should step down
Published 12:01 am Thursday, January 13, 2011
As disappearing budgets dominate school districts’ attention across the state, the Darrington School Board finds itself still dealing with a problem peculiar to its district: the fate of Superintendent Larry Johnson.
Johnson remains on paid administrative leave as the board investigates whether the schools chief lived up to the responsibilities of his job on the night of Oct. 8, when the school district’s finance director, Myra Lewis, collapsed at his home and later died of a cocaine overdose at a hospital.
A Snohomish County Sheriff’s investigation cleared Johnson of any legal wrongdoing, but detectives were unable to answer many questions about Lewis’ death, including where she got the cocaine. On the night of her death, Johnson told emergency medical responders that Lewis had used cocaine, but wouldn’t say how he knew about the drug use.
After declining to discuss the events with a detective at the hospital, Johnson asked for an attorney. A warrant was obtained to search Johnson’s house, but only after an eight-hour period in which his rented cabin was unsecured. During the search, a small amount of marijuana was found in a prescription bottle bearing Johnson’s name, according to investigators. The amount was too small to warrant legal attention.
Unfortunately, the investigation unearthed as many questions as it answered, or more. Without legal charges, the Darrington School Board finds itself conducting an ethics investigation of its top administrator. It’s an especially tough spot the members find themselves in, since Darrington is a tight-knit town where everyone knows everyone. It was Lewis’ hometown.
As Lewis’ death underscores, drug abuse can happen to anyone. It’s time to get past the idea that only “bad people” can have a drug problem. Which is in no way saying people are absolved of their bad decisions, even, or especially, if they are what society considers a “good” person.
Larry Johnson holds a public position that requires the utmost trust from citizens. Doctors, teachers, lawyers, ministers — and those who supervise them — are held to a higher degree of accountability than people in other occupations.
The school board plans to reveal the findings of its investigation at its Jan. 20 meeting. Johnson should do the district a favor and offer his resignation before then.
Because of his position, even the small amount of marijuana found in Johnson’s home is enough alone to warrant this action. Such accountability and integrity is required of someone who enforces the rules for others.
The district deserves a fresh start. This is best accomplished without the top school leader mired in the middle of a sad mystery.
