Supervisors may need supervision

This situation with the Everett School District is quite the fiasco. Superintendent Carol Whitehead and the district require the Kodak paper to submit copies for review prior to printing. Seems like a reasonable request given that the target audience is children and the paper’s publishers are also children, using district equipment and supplies paid for by taxpayers.

The district slaps some heavy rules on the newspaper. Teacher Kay Powers openly supports the kids in their First Amendment lawsuit against the school district. The next group of kids publishing the underground version of the paper violate those rules and Ms. Powers disobeys adminstration directives. The district tries to fire Ms. Powers only to turn about in the face of strong union opposition.

Then we hear that the district may have hidden a camera to spy on Ms. Powers, the discovery of which may have been behind their decision to reinstate her. Through late last week, Ms. Whitehead vehemently denies knowing about any videotaping. Then days later she turns around and says she was consulted on the original decision to install the camera months ago. Is there a blatant and very public lie in there somewhere? Maybe “it depends on what the meaning of the word ‘videotaping’ is.”

You could make a soap opera from the whole thing. If only it weren’t playing out in front of the kids. The original intent of the request by Whitehead to review the school newspaper before publication appeared to be a show of concern for the children and youth who would read it. It appeared that there would be some adult supervision added where it has seemed lacking of late. I’m thinking that the adult supervisors may be the ones who need supervision.

Better still, why don’t the whole lot of them (teacher and adminstrators) do everybody, especially the kids, a favor. Apologize and resign!

John Smith

Snohomish