School board nearly fails test of performance from staff

St. Charles school board members got a report card of their own this week -- and it probably won't make the refrigerator.

According to Superintendent Donald Schlomann, school administrators at a recent staff meeting gave the board a near-failing D- grade for its performance.

That's in comparison to the A- and B rankings administrators assigned to teachers and curriculum, respectively, he said.

"That's not the rating you want," Schlomann told the board Tuesday. "We owe this community something better."

Schlomann broke the news "not to lecture" the board, he said, but to demonstrate the need for improvement.

Recent controversies surrounding the departure of former Superintendent Barbara Erwin and the decision to redraw school boundaries have left the board openly bitter, distrusting of each other and resentful. They also were the impetus for 10-year member Chris Hansen's resignation this week, he said.

The proverbial report card shows that not only taxpayers are feeling the discord, but people running the district's 17 schools as well.

"Most of the administrators know these board members individually, from school functions and PTO meetings," Schlomann said.

"They like these people. I like these people," he said. "It's just that somehow they've lost that professionalism at the board level, and that's what troubles them (administrators) the most."

Schlomann said the grades came from a panel of about 60 principals and department heads.

Through a show of hands, most gave the board Ds or Fs, he said.

Bob Lindahl, a former administrator elected to the board last spring, responded by saying it might be time to "pick ourselves up, swallow our egos and do whatever we need to do to get where we want to go."