Behind the Scenes

As election time nears I’ve been trying to figure out exactly what the “behind the scenes” parent group is and what they want. By definition they are a hybrid pressure-political action group. After all, they have engaged in the following activities: sought to influence Eagle Ridge Academy board policy and action; exerted pressure via letters to State Board of Teaching in an attempt to influence the licensing of teachers; requested the Minnesota Department of Education define “regularly” licensed teacher for the first time in the state’s history because the group had an interest in seeing two publicly elected board members unseated; worked with local politicians to draft and introduce legislation to change state statutes regarding charter school board membership to achieve one mission of the group – achieve a parent majority board; had a strategic objective to see that a school employee (the Director) lose her job and engaged in continuous actions to achieve the objective; have group members running for school board; hold group meetings; conduct canvassing activities by repeatedly emailing and calling other school parents advocating their group viewpoints; and maintain constant communication on issues dear to them using a web group that was public until they realized others were reading what they wrote. It is now a private web group because they obviously don’t want everyone reading what they “chat” about. Actions speak louder than words and their actions point to a hybrid pressure-political action group. Do we really want such people serving on the Eagle Ridge Academy board?

An elected board member is to represent the board and not the views of a specific parent group. Current board member Karilyn Jons has difficulty understanding this role and it has already cost the school dearly in terms of both human and fiscal capital. Former board member Cindy Ripple also did not fully understand the role. She ruled with a personal agenda and anyone who disagreed with her strategy endangered their job and was the subject of public verbal abuse, including the director and teachers. This same trend will occur if members of this parent group are elected to board seats. Their actions clearly indicate that they will stop at nothing to get what “they” want and they don’t care about the careers they ruin or families they hurt in the process. Is this how Eagle Ridge Academy will define leadership? Election results will provide the answer. May God grant us peace.