This is the editorial from the E-T today.


Secrecy provokes public mistrust - EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA
http://www.eagletribune.com/puopinion/local_story_246011806.html

The phrase

QUOTE:
We don't think the accreditation warning is a big deal. It's part of a song-and-dance the former educators at the NEASC perform to help current educators wrest more money from taxpayers.

pretty much shows the bias of the writer whoever they are so I don't take the opinion seriously.

Personally anything I've seen from Dr. Marini has done nothing to make me not trust him. Granted, in this instance his decision didn't turn out well and he took responsibility for it. My impression is that he had good intentions... but we know what road those can pave.

Of course a less sycophantic analysis is cui bono (who benefits)?:

In this instance an employee hid important information for three months from his employers, the school committee, and the public. During these three months the school committee evaluated and decided whether North Andover should retain Dr. Marini as Interim Superintendent. If the school committee knew the High School had been placed back on warning status, the decision might have been different. Marini only notified the school committee after the Eagle Tribune received a tip and began asking for comments. Marini then moved to smooth the waters and avoid getting fired. The facts are not admirable. (Without doubt Harutunian was worse so we're still on the upside.)

Why not put the accreditation documents online? That way, we can all see if its all about educational inputs or all about educational outputs or something well balanced between the two.

This will also give us more insight on how well our administrator's are doing.

Best wishes,
ahbgone

Oh you flatterer Mike... I had to look up the word to make sure you were calling me a brownnoser.

Personally I'm glad Dr. Marini is here one more year to bridge us to hopefully getting a qualified and (gasp) stable Superintendent going forward. I really didn't want to have a different one-year Interim Superintendent.

Like I've said... at this time I have a favorable opinion of Dr. Marini so I'm writing this off as either good intentions gone bad... or maybe in his position... a bad decision since he should have just stated everything above board. Maybe he really believed he could change the status quickly or that perhaps that some conclusions were reached in error and he wanted to correct them before the community got whipsawed with the news. I don't know... I haven't talked to him.

So... you can have your perspective... that a man who was supposed to retire and got retained to fill a need of ours has some hidden agenda... or one who made a bad judgement call that is exposed.

Going forward I would say that any Superintendent should at least consult the School Committee and his management with all news.

I agree with Don that we are better off with Marini than without him. What I am looking for is a rational explanation from the elected school comm. as to why they were not informed and what steps have been taken to make sure this type of issue never occurs again. Perhaps the relationships between the SC and the SA they are supposed to oversee have become too comfortable. This community had enough secrets and lies from the past Supt. Public business must be done in the public. When leaders fail to report issues or ignore the issues parents bring to them, our school system ends up in sticky situations.

I agree Dawn. I think he made a bad decision in his approach to this situation. I just don't have the impression that it was with malevolent intentions. But I do agree that it is important for information to be shared within appropriate channels.

I also agree that that public should know as well... although I believe involved parties should have the opportunity to pull together information first and get the facts so that when the public gets the information that it is organized and thought out. And, importantly, the public should always get information that they need to make timely decisions... such as keeping their children at the high school or not.

In this town it is extremely important for people to understand that everything is under the microscope... however good or bad that is.