Choices Narrow for Ludington School Board

[XLFD]

The Ludington Area School District (LASD) Board met starting at 5 PM on both Monday and Tuesday, the first two days of November, to conduct interviews with three superintendent candidates to replace Jason Kennedy and formally retire the interim superintendent, Peg Mathis.  On Monday they were set to interview William Roderick at 5 PM and Jason Misner at around 6:30 PM; Tuesday they would interview Kyle Corlett and then plan to choose 1 or 2 candidates for a second interview to be held next Monday.  

This reporter would attend both meetings, but only be able to stay on Tuesday due to a commitment in Scottville on Monday.  As you may know, I've been attending board meetings in order to express my displeasure in the school boards decision to have a continuing mask mandate on students and staff.  All other schools in Mason County have adopted to use parental choice as their standard for mask usage, yet four board members of LASD have been reluctant to cede that right and instead have chosen to assert it as their own power.  To keep the pressure on, I related some issues of liability which I hope they may take to heart in the future, yet I doubt their innate elitism will allow it:

XLFD:  "I wouldn't normally bring up an unresolved issue at a school board meeting where the sole purpose for the meeting is to interview superintendent candidates, but the agenda does have two items to discuss and act on, so I will bring the issue back up.

With Scottville dropping their mask mandate at the October 18th meeting of their school board, Ludington remains the only school in Mason County that mandates mask usage, all others allow parents to make that medical decision for their children.  Four elitists on the Ludington School Board-- Nagle, Autrey, Reed and Carlson-- believe their blanket prescription is the best health tactic for each and every child in the district.  

They may defend their medical tyranny in two ways.  First, they may say the district allows exemptions for those who apply and meet some arbitrary standards weighed by school bureaucrats.  That introduces a host of liability issues when those standards are perceived as being unfairly applied among students who are denied.  Second, they may say that the district doesn't have a true mandate, only one that kicks in when the county test positivity rate is more than 10%.

This is untrue.  After the period of September 10-16 the district stated the TPR was nearly 13% according to the CDC's records of that statistic.  A look at the CDC's graph of the county's TPR at that time showed otherwise.  The 7 day running average on September 16 was 7%, following a three day period when TPR dipped below 5%.  

I will not dispute that the same source would claim that the TPR over the last seven days for Mason County was 13%, but as someone with an advanced degree in math, I cannot square the circle in determining how the CDC would come up with 13% when the whole week's 7 day running averages were below ten percent.  Apparently the district's leaders can't either, for when I asked for their proof of this number in a FOIA request, they could offer nothing in support of their 13% figure other than they saw it on the CDC website at the time.  The graph is still there showing the TPR was 7% for the September 10-16 period.

If this statistic is so poorly defined, why is the school district deciding their mask policies based on it?  Once again, it imposes needless liability on the district when concerned parents wonder why the lower number was ignored.  Avoid all of this added liability by trusting  the parents to do what's best for their own children; remove the mask mandate."  [END comment]

You should have seen the looks on the faces of the four mentioned board members during this comment, but nobody could because they were setting an example by virtue signaling and wearing their masks for the whole meeting.  Of the three board members who voted to allow choice, Scott Foster went maskless, while Leona Ashley and Josh Snyder alternately had masks on and off through the meeting  As per the rules adopted, Candidate Kyle Corlett had to wear his mask into the room, but was able to take it off once the interview started.  Mask rituals.

Before Mr. Corlett (pictured left) entered the meeting, however, his son was passing out profiles of his superintendent father under the watchful eyes of his mother and sister.  It was an 8-page pamphlet telling everything you might want to know about him.  The interview itself lasted about 70 minutes, shorter than the interviews of the previous night, when the board went over their choices later they attributed that to him having the ability to handle the questions the most efficiently.  

Corlett's interview went smoothly and he came off as fairly eclectic, personable, and knowledgeable, quite a bit like the old superintendent.  The only thing I found mildly disagreeable is when he compared his position to that of a mayor; the analogy fails because a superintendent is not an elected official, he's primarily a tool that the school board uses to achieve their ends.  The better analogy is that of a city manager or a township/county supervisor.  

Nevertheless, Mr. Corlett charmed each of the seven board members.  When the interview was over and the board members individually picked two candidates to have a second interview, he was on every list.  Jason Misner would be supported by five, including all four of the autocrats.  William Roderick was noted as very dynamic, but most considered his lack of superintendent experience and knowledge of Michigan education standards as a minus.  Foster and Ashley would be his two supporters.  

One gets the impression that Kyle Corlett has the advantage going into the second interview as he was universally accepted and seemed to have the best reviews.  Both will be introduced further to Ludington's school district next Monday during the day before the second, more interactive, interview is scheduled.  

[Willy]

Thanks for attending the meetings X. You've got to wonder about Corlett, using his family to promote him for a job. He's the man of the house, he shouldn't be recruiting his child to do what he should be doing.   Some of Ludington's school board don't seem to understand their roles in this process. Mini tyrants I would be a good word to explain them.