LTA's resignation call denied
Susan Fonseca, president of the Langley Teachers Association, listens as the board of education chairman tells her the board will not to hear the LTA’s call for superintendent Cheryle Beaumont’s resignation after it was revealed the school district is facing an $8.3 million budget shortfall.
Email
Print
Letter to Editor
Share
Updated: September 24, 2009 2:38 PM
The school community has a wealth of strong opinions and strong personalities, Langley Board of Education chairman Joan Bech stated at Tuesday’s first public meeting of the school year.
“We’re not all friends. Some of us don’t even like each other.”
That was evident when the Langley Teachers Association executive sought to present a motion calling for the resignation of superintendent Cheryle Beaumont, setting off a brief spat with Trustee Steve Burton, and heckles from the gallery intermittently during the meeting.
LTA president Susan Fonseca was about to tell the board that teachers in Langley have no confidence in Beaumont’s ability to manage the district, and that the board should ask her to resign.
There was loud applause from school administrators in the audience when Burton said that the motion should not be allowed because it dealt with a personnel issue. In the public sector, these are always discussed behind closed doors.
To allow the motion could lead to a string of disgruntled parents coming before the board to complain about their children’s teachers, Burton argued. He accused the LTA of “political opportunism.”
The LTA had crossed the line, he charged.
“I am not the equivalent of a disgruntled parent,” an angry Fonseca shot back.
Bech sought the advice of secretary-treasurer Wayne Braun who said: “This is not the forum for this to be done.”
Bech agreed.
“I don’t want anybody’s reputation to be besmirched. They can’t defend themselves.”
Later in the meeting, Bech scolded Burton, after he accused the LTA of being “unprofessional and mean-spirited.”
“You also follow the line, so watch it,” Bech said.
v2
