The El Paso Times editorial board has been skewering the Socorro school board for terminating superintendent Sylvia Atkinson and giving her a one year salary as severance. I don’t live in the Socorro district but how the Times can defend Atkinson is beyond me.
To begin with, voters in that district rallied around and elected board members who were known to be in opposition to Atkinson. Democracy in action!
Atkinson was ousted as superintendent from a much smaller district before she somehow got the Socorro job. At Socorro she alienated and forced out three experienced assistant superintendents who had helped to make the Socorro district the envy of others in our region. Atkinson replaced these with five of her own hand-picked administrators. For those counting pennies, that costs taxpayers a lot more money than Atkinson’s one-year buyout.
I’ll leave the measurement of student scores on standard tests to the educational experts. I never met Atkinson but I wrote her a letter one time. I could see that Atkinson was forcing out all kinds of good people and longtime Socorro public information officer Minerva Baumann appears to have been on her hit list. Minerva worked as assistant news director at KVIA for several years before taking the Socorro job. I can tell you that Minerva is the consummate professional. Socorro could not have a better public information officer. Minerva had admirably served under six full-time and interim superintendents including Atkinson.
That wasn’t good enough for Atkinson.
After Minerva went out on medical leave for a serious illness, Atkinson reassigned her the first day she returned to work. Minerva didn’t want to talk with me about her personal dealings with Atkinson. She doesn’t have to. The way Atkinson treated Minerva is all I need to know about her qualifications as a superintendent.
Voters got it right in Socorro. The next superintendent will be a dramatic improvement and hopefully, he or she will put Minerva back in the position where she belongs.
Kevin Lovell is general manager of ABC-7 (KVIA)
The Border Yankee
June 22, 2008
Democracy in action indeed!
Nobody seemed too interested in trying to understand the the thinking of the idiots who hired this wench in the 1st place.
Water under the bridge?
Perhaps.
But this town is STARVED for some accountability.
The apathetic ways of this community have got to change, and hopefully this is a sign of good things to come.
Easy E
June 22, 2008
Sounds like this guy is just mad that his friend didn't get her way. He has no evidence that she did a bad job. He simply states that his friends were fired. I guess we should get rid of anyone this lovel guy doesn't like.
I'm still waiting to see the testing results from the district that show she did a bad job. I have only seen results that show progress.
Education First
June 22, 2008
I, too, am baffled at the Times insistence in supporting Dr. Atkinson.
Let's play devil's advocate and say Dr. Atkinson was a strong educator who through strong leadership improved TAKS scores. Bravo! Right?
The bottom line, though, is that she was a divisive figure in Socorro. Here mere presence created a rift between the very people who need to work together for the betterment of the school district. In that sense, she was bad (very bad) for the Socorro.
So for the Times to say that the board and the voters got it wrong is ... well, wrong. Dr. Atkinson's departure will undoubtedly make Socorro a better school district.
Ken G
June 22, 2008
Dr. Atkinson will soon be gone and forgotten. When representatives of her next prospective job visit to ask about her qualifications, we should be honest with them. The Superintendent merry-go-round should stop here.
Media Watcher
June 23, 2008
Wow, first David Crowder admits his bias against Eddie Holguin, now we have KVIA's general manager admitting his bias against Atkinson.
And unbiased news coverage slowly dies.
Border Yankee
June 24, 2008
And I still haven't heard anyone question the ability of the SISD Board in making decisions regarding hiring and firing of Supers.
To me, this is the real issue.
whatever
June 27, 2008
I think he is upset about his friend not getting her way..maybe he should hire her at KVIA again. Her replacement is doing a great job. Change is good and that public relations office needed change. As for Dr. Atkinson, thank god she left..
easyrider
June 30, 2008
Minerva was doing a good job, but at some point, it became too difficult to keep negative publicity about the district from being reported in the media. This is what hacked Atkinson off. However, when you just can't seem to keep from stepping in the sh....., you become your own worst enemy. That is what Atkinson did.