UVa professor Jeffrey Rossman, one of the Democrats considering tossing their hat into the ring in the 57th House of Delegates race, has decided not to run. He’s one of a half dozen potential candidates who have bowed out, with only former mayor David Toscano running so far. The seat is currently held by Del. Mitch Van Yahres, who has occupied it for 24 years. Rossman’s open letter on his decision can be read below the fold.
Continue reading ‘57th HoD Race: Rossman Is Out’
Archive for April, 2005
Thursday night’s school board meeting sounds like it was pretty tense. In yesterday’s Progress, James Fernald wrote:
A split in the crowd of more than 150 at the meeting was evident as most speakers either showed support for Superintendent Scottie Griffin or criticized her.
Mark Krebs, a former School Board member, asked the board to consider removing the superintendent.
“This is a superintendent who has made her race an excuse for her incompetence,” Krebs said. “Do these comments make me racist?” Many in the audience shouted over his “no” with an emphatic “yes.”
[…]
M. Rick Turner, dean of African-American Affairs at the University of Virginia and president of the local chapter of the NAACP, again at Thursday’s meeting accused members of the City Council and School Board of being racist.
“This insidious form of racism and corruption has taken us far away from solving the achievement gap,” Turner said. “A modern-day lynching is happening right before our eyes.”
Hey, don’t hold back, Dean Turner — tell us how you really feel.
cvillenews.com member “Upset” has his/her own account of the meeting, describing what went on.
To pack all of the school board/Griffin news into one post, Courteney Stuart has a piece about Griffin in this week’s issue of The Hook, while Cathy Harding has a big ol’ story about the state of Charlottesville schools and where the current situation fits into the long-term narrative.
After nearly a month of David Toscano being the only candidate in the 57th District House of Delegates race, things are heating up. On Monday afternoon, UVa professor Richard Collins announced his candidacy, as Liesel Nowack reports in the Progress. To a crowd of about 50 people on the Downtown Mall, Collins announced his plan to eliminate the “growth tax” — the much-hated biannual reassessment of property values — and reassess only when property is sold. Collins is one of the founders of Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population, and is perhaps best known for his opposition to continued unrestrained growth in the county.
On the presumed opposite end of the growth spectrum is Clement “Kim” Tingley, a developer who intends to announce his candidacy at 10am on Wednesday morning, WINA reports. Tingley has been talking about running for several weeks now, so his candidacy has been expected.
With all three men now vying for the Democratic nomination, things should be quite a bit more interesting on the political scene between now and the June 14 primary. A Republican candidate is yet to emerge.
Disclosure: I have informally advised Collins on a volunteer basis, and I introduced him when he announced his candidacy. Also, my fiancee is on his campaign payroll. So you can basically assume that I’m making most of this stuff up.
Rick Sincere points out that the city has posted election results going back 45 years. They’ve got PDFs of City Council election results going back to 1960 and general election results going back to 1977. Good stuff.
My apologies for the site downtime since last Thursday. After last week’s windstorm and subsequent power outage, Sprint DSL facilities out here on 20 North had some kind of a short, which killed my home phone line. On Thursday, they fixed it, killing my internet connection in the process. (Given the choice between phone and internet, I’ll take internet any day.) They just fixed the DSL five minutes ago.
Too bad Sprint is the only provider out here — I hosted this site via an Ntelos connection since its inception, up until December, and never had any such trouble. I’ll have to figure out some sort of alternate hosting for this site — I can’t see Sprint cleaning up their act any time soon.
For the past two and a half years, there has been a secret investigation into corruption in the Charlottesville Police Department. Late last week, that investigation was made public when two police officers were arrested. Reed Williams has been following the story for the Progress, and on the day of the arrests he wrote:
Two Charlottesville police officers were arrested Friday on federal charges of ignoring illegal activities and divulging sensitive information in exchange for bribes of money and sexual favors.
Officers Charles Saunders, 46, and Roy Fitzgerald, 45, and two other men face corruption charges that include bribery, conspiracy, witness tampering and making false statements. Both officers pleaded not guilty in federal court and were released on $25,000 bond.
The two men are said to have been bribed with cash and sex by Charles Phillips, who managed Maxx and, on the side, a prostitution ring.
All of this came to light in 2001, when Police Chief Tim Longo learned that the two officers had been watching strippers at Maxx while on duty and in uniform. He suspended the two and had the state police investigate. The state police, in turn, turned the case over to the FBI. Saunders and Fitzgerald have been on duty the entire time, but were suspended last week as the indictments loomed. Phillips, of the now-defunct Maxx, will plead guilty to a bribery charge, and his business partner will plead guilty to conspiracy to obstruct a federal investigation.
In yesterday’s Progress, Reed Williams had an update, with reactions from the police, City Council, etc.
A memorial service for Phil Gair — known affectionately as “Buddha Phil” — will be held this Sunday, April 17, near downtown. Phil died of a heart attack early last month, and if volume of e-mail and frequency of discussion are any indicator, it surprised and upset a large, surprising array of people. The service will be held from 1pm-3pm at 901 Belmont Ave.. (Could somebody cruise by there and figure out if it’s a house or a church or what?)
Photo courtesy of Max Fenton.
Hafner LLC, the Gordonsville textile manufacturer, has abruptly shut down, laying off all 90 employees. The Canadian-owned company took over the old Liberty Fabrics facility, which shut down in October of 2001, laying off 345 workers. David Hendrick has the story in today’s Daily Progress.
Manufacturing once played a major role in the Virginia economy, but the effects of NAFTA began to erode that in the early 90s. With the end of the textile quotas on January 1, it’s all but certain that all fabric manufacturers in the United States will cease to exist in the coming months as we race to the bottom.
Local fella Sean Tubbs has set up what could be a fantastic new resource — the Charlottesville Podcasting Network. Podcasting was invented last year, and is defined by Wikipedia as:
A podcast can be described as an audio magazine subscription, in that a subscriber receives programs without having to get them, and can listen to them at leisure. It can also be thought of as the internet equivalent of timeshift-capable digital video recorders (DVRs) such as TiVo, which let users automatically record and store television programs for later viewing.
Podcasting essential does with audio what blogs have done with the written word — that is to say, democratize and decentralize it. Freed from the constraints of radio, long-form niche programming becomes possible. Sean has set up the Charlottesville Podcasting Network for those who have audio to share of local events, whether it be a concert, a speech, or an interview.
On Monday, C’ville Podcasting had a feature by Tubbs about the Salmagundi Film Festival. Tuesday, Janis Jaquith (my momma) interviewed the Thomas Jefferson Center for Free Expression’s Robert O’Neill about the Jefferson Muzzle Awards that were just announced. Though you can listen with fancy software, you can also just check out the blog entry for each piece and click to download the MP3.
Having helped out Sean a tiny little bit while he’s set this up, I’ve kept a close eye on the site, but I’ll certainly continue to do so. I feel good about what Charlottesville Podcasting Network can add to the mix of local media.
I think I’m going to start referring to the three stations as NBC 29, CBS 19, and ABC 16 when I write about each. This whole call-letter thing is confusing, but everybody can tell the different networks apart, I figure.
Yesterday afternoon, a woman got her boot caught on her car’s accelerator, and drove straight up the steps of the downtown branch of JMRL. WINA’s picture is totally great:
WINA’s got the story, but you pretty much know it all now.
The census just released their 2004 population updates, and Charlottesville’s looking quite a bit smaller than it was a few years ago. In April 2000, the city had 40,099 people — by July of 2004, that dropped 8.7% of 36,605. The World Class City™’s loss of 3,494 souls may have fled outward — Albemarle County expanded by 5.4% in the same period, increasing from 84,186 to 88,726, an addition of 4,540 people. (3,494 ex-Charlottesvillians, 1,046 New Jersey refugees?) John Yellig’s got the skinny in the Progress.
The Census Bureau hasn’t updated their website just yet, but last year’s Charlottesville data can be found there. As always, the surrounding counties are growing, too — Greene, Louisa, Orange, Nelson, Madison and Nelson all expanded, some significantly.
With the home prices in C’ville having risen 88% between ‘00 and ‘04 (the median has gone from $116k to $218k), presumably it’s the lower and middle classes being driven outward, but Albemarle sales prices have shot up, too. Do we abandon Charlottesville to the free market, running the risk of becoming Virginia’s Detroit? Or do we take this as a sign that all is not well in our fair city and figure out what the solution is?
Damn:
When members of the Charlottesville School Board hired Scottie Griffin as the city’s school superintendent, did they check out her background?
Did they know that Griffin had sued the Flint, Mich., school system in 1999 and that the suit was settled behind closed doors?
[…]
Did they know that about 30 students and two parents had picketed outside Flint’s Dort Elementary School when Griffin was principal there asking that she be removed from her position?
[…]
Did the Charlottesville School Board know when they hired Griffin from New Orleans that she was being sued there in federal court?
[…]
Did anyone in Charlottesville know that two months after Griffin started in New Orleans that Clay had informed her she was requesting a transfer away from Griffin “due to intolerable working conditions?”
The list goes on, and on, and on. Some folks here on cvillenews.com had done some homework on Griffin and dug up a couple of these things, but obviously the Progress has been hard at work, because, as I said: damn.
It’ll be in Sunday’s paper, but it’s online now.
Yesterday, as planned, Phil Gair’s memorial service was held. I didn’t count, but I figure there were about 60 people present. Phil’s family was present, of course, and among those was Cynthia Gair, his sister. (Those who know Phil likely heard of the weekly conversations with his sister that served to anchor him, time-wise.) Cynthia commented here this afternoon, but I want to elevate that comment to a front page post, so that everybody gets a chance to read her thoughts.
Wow. I’m amazed. This is Phil’s sister. Thank you so much, Waldo, for telling me about this site. And thank you so much - any of you who made it to Phil’s Tree Planting yesterday, as well as all of you who have been friends of Phil’s over the years.
Since Phil’s death, we (me, Phil’s mom Peggy Lou, and his brother Dan) have learned a lot about Phil’s friendships and his role in your community. It’s been heartwarming and comforting to know that so many others saw Phil’s magic. My mother and I have just read your posts about Phil. How wonderful that he was so appreciated.
The three of us had regular contact with Phil (I’ve talked to him every Sunday - at least - for, oh, 30 or more years). I’m just beginning to absorb that he’s not here anymore. There is a big gap in my life that can’t be filled (phil’d) by anyone but him. Like - for all of you - the spot outside Chaps.
I’ll keep this entry brief (or sort of brief) but can give you some information on a couple matters that were brought up in posts under the announcement of his death. We have a couple recordings (tapes) from Phil’s musical days. I haven’t played them so I don’t know what’s on them but will check them out. Unfortunately, Phil didn’t think of himself as a good musician - but in addition to guitar he played a fine banjo and was an amazing harpist (harmonica). Also, one of his best friends in the late 60s - and a member of the band he was in (sorry - can’t remember the name of the band) has gotten in touch with me in the last week - so I can get information from him (or put you directly in touch with him) if any of you wants. He now lives in Florda and doesn’t use email.
About Phil’s teeth - and his general health - a continual source of worry and concern to us over recent years. In this, as in everything, Phil was his own person and made his own way. We pleaded with him to go to a dentist. We even tried bribing him (this almost did it!) but no go- he staunchly refused to see a dentist or a doctor.
I hope you all know how important you were to Phil. The friendships with each of you were his sustenance.
With sadness and deep appreciation,
Cynthia Gair, Phil’s sister
San Francisco
At the service, we each took turns relating stories — often funny — about Phil. It was sad, but also happy, and it was wonderful to see so many Phil admirers in one place. At the end, everybody took turns reaching into the urn, scooping up a handful of his ashes, and sprinkling them around the base of the tree planted in his honor. The spring breeze stirred up the ash, sending wisps of Phil through the air, wafting towards the Downtown Mall.
Board of Supervisors Chair Dennis Rooker has already announced his intention to seek another term in office, and now Supervisor Sally Thomas has announced that she’s running for a fourth term, WINA reports. She’s served since 1994, representing the Samuel Miller district.
Also announcing is 66-year-old Tom Jakubowski, who has unsuccessfully run for the Albemarle BOS twice before. He’s launching his third attempt, seeking the Rio District seat, current occupied by David Bowerman. Jakubowski previously ran against Bowerman in 2001. Again, WINA has the story.
Update: John Yellig and Julie Stavitski have more in today’s Progress.
After a 34-day-long search, UVa has announced their hiring of Dave Leitao as the new basketball coach to replace Pete Gillen. He’s signed onto a five-year contract, at $925k/year. Andrew Joyner had the story in yesterday’s Progress.
WINA reports that the city has given the OK to figure out where to put a new fire station, likely somewhere on the southern end of town. The goal is to have it under construction in two years, for the purpose of improving response times.
Note, too, that this fits in with proposals to develop the area south of town. As developers well know, home insurance rates heavily depend on the distance between the home and a fire station. Building a new station on the southern end of town will make it more feasible to suburbanize Albemarle where, currently, Charlottesville dissolves to countryside within just a few miles on 29.
This year’s budget was approved, as in past years, on a 4-1 vote, with lone Republican Rob Schilling opposing it. A week ago, after his vote, he issued a statement on his opposition and his beliefs about the budget process. Keep reading for his full statement.
Shirley Presley — the source of many a lively discussion here — has filed a lawsuit against the city and the Rivanna Trails Foundation. She claims that, in her razor-wiring of the Rivanna Trail’s encroachment on her property, she was the victim of a conspiracy between the city and the RTF intended to deprive her of property, maliciously prosecute her, and violate her rights to due process. She wants $300,000 for her emotional pain, mental pain, and humiliation, plus $10,000 for every month that people continue to trespass on her land.
Liesel Nowak has the story in today’s Progress.
UVa is completely overhauling the intersection of Emmett and University Ave./Ivy Rd., now that they’ve bought all of the private property there. They plan to knock down the Cavalier Inn and the gas station and install a $97M Center for the Arts. The building will house the UVa Art Museum (née Bayly) and a performing arts center, spread across 127,000 square feet. In the process, Carr’s Hill field is going to be given an all-weather surface, a sculpture garden will be constructed, and the whole area is going to be turned into a major entrance to UVa.
Carlos Santos had the skinny in Sunday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch, and Kathleen Meyers has more in today’s Cavailer Daily.
NBC 29 has made sure that all viewers know that they’re totally redoing their Charlottesville studio, gussying it up in their thus-far one-sided ratings war with CBS 19 and ABC 16. This means, naturally, they’re getting rid of the old stuff. Fear not, rabid NBC 29 fans — the old news desk is available on eBay.
This news desk has been used for years on the set of NBC Channel 29 in Charlottesville Virginia. Both pieces are fully functioning and usable. Would be great as a collectible or for amateur broadcasting. All the cable and electronic connections are working.
It’s a little less impressive looking on a tarp in middle of a field in Stuarts Draft, admittedly, but wouldn’t it be the perfect tableau for your collection of candid Stacy Horst photos?
Thanks to Dave for the tip.
In a press release today, candidate for the Democratic nomination for the 57th District Hosue of Delegates David Toscano accused one of his competitors for the seat, developer Kim Tingley, of push-polling — that is, paying a polling firm to call voters and say bad things about Toscano, under the guise of being a poll. The press release reads:
Last night, many Democrats in the 57th District received telephone calls from a Florida company apparently hired by candidate Kim Tingley to conduct push-polling interviews. The pollsters, who when asked, identified themselves as “working for Tingley,” made numerous and incorrect assertions about the character and record of three-term City Councilor and former Charlottesville Mayor David Toscano. If, in fact, Mr. Tingley is not behind this “guerilla marketing” campaign tactic, we call on him to repudiate this effort being conducted on his behalf. If he is indeed the perpetrator of these negative push-polls, we call on him to cease any further such activity. This tactic is reminiscent of the negative campaign style witnessed in the recent presidential election and is consistent with the type of smear campaigns that distort a candidate’s record under a win-at-all cost mentality. If Mr. Tingley wants to continue to be a progressive player in the Charlottesville area, he will need to realize that here, we try to run clean, issues-oriented campaigns.
Has anybody gotten one of these calls? Is it really a push poll — which would be very unusual and probably a big waste of Tingley’s money — or is it just a regular ol’ poll that asks, reasonably enough, about Toscano? Is Toscano feeling the heat from Tingley? Or is Tingley trying to get his name in the news? Tingley Tingley Tingley?
Disclosure: I’ve been known to volunteer my time for Rich Collins, who is also a candidate in this race. I’ll keep disclosing this ’til I get sick of it. The good news is that he’s a mediator, by career, so maybe he can sit these two guys down and get ‘em to work out their differences.
Albemarle Supervisor David Bowerman announced at last night’s meeting that he’s not running for reelection to his Rio District seat. The 61-year-old has served since 1989. Tom Jakubowski has already announced his candidacy, and Bowerman says that at least a couple of other people are interested in running. WINA has the story.
cvilleyankee writes: “The School Board accepted the resignation of Dr. Scottie Griffin effective June 30. Dr. Bobby Thompson & Ms. Gertrude Ivory will act as superintendent during the transition period. A separation agreement was also accepted by the Board.”
Nothin’ against cvilleyankee, but can I get some confirmation on this?
Update: “Upset” writes that s/he was there, saying that at around 8:40pm, the school board announced that Scottie Griffin has decided to “pursue other interests.” I recommend bowling.
Update: The increasingly-on-the-ball Daily Progress has a story on their site, even though the meeting just got out, like, an hour ago. New facts include that the board accepted her resignation by a 5-2 vote, board chair Dede Smith cried after the meeting was through (”It’s been one of the hardest nights I’ve ever had”), and Griffin won’t actually give up the gig until June 30.
In a press release yesterday, House of Delegates candidate Kim Tingley denied fellow-candidate David Toscano’s allegations that Tingley has been running a push-poll. The press release reads as follows:
Tingley Takes High Road Responding to Toscano Allegations
April 20, 2005–Clement “Kim” Tingley’s campaign today denied the use of negative campaigning in response to allegations from the David Toscano campaign.
As is standard practice in political campaigns, the Tingley for Delegate campaign has hired a professional opinion survey firm to conduct a scientific survey of concerns affecting voters in this district.
The survey, which was designed as a scientific measure of voter concerns, covered a broad range of issues relevant for this election. It also included a small number of positive and negative questions about both candidates. In the poll more negative questions were asked about Mr. Tingley than Mr. Toscano.
Mr. Tingley denounced push polls and negative campaigning as unethical. When asked to comment, Mr. Tingley responded “I do not believe Democrats should attack other Democrats in primaries, since this only hurts the party in the general election.”
A former public servant with 15 years in county and city government, Kim Tingley has spent the past 20 years building affordable housing with his own business. He serves on the board of Virginia Forever, where he has worked towards clean water funding and land conservation.
Tingley’s depiction of the poll seems to match the portrayal by cvillenews.com user Jack, who received one of the calls.
In today’s Progress, James Fernald provides an update on last night’s school board meeting, at which Superintendent Scottie Griffin resigned from her position.
After reading the piece, I’m inclined to agree with others who have said that things are going to get worse before they get better. There is great potential for this to get uglier than it has so far. The first red flag is that the 5-2 vote to accept Griffin’s resignation was almost, but not require, along racial lines — the two dissenting votes were cast by Muriel Wiggins and Bill Igbani, two of the three blackschool board members. Accurately or not, this provides the public impression that votes were cast for reasons of race. Igbani said, after the meeting, that he intends to leave the school board before too long — again, a red flag.
After the announcement came, Rev. R.A. Johnson — a strident supporter of Griffin and a harsh critic of those who have questioned Griffin’s qualifications and methods — declared: “Don’t think you can hire somebody black and that’s going to satisfy us.” This calls attention to the bind that the school board is in: if the next superintendent is black, there will be accusations of tokenism; if s/he is white, there will be further accusations of racism.
In the meantime, Dr. Griffin remains the superintendent until June 30, and it’s sure to be an uncomfortable two months.
In this week’s Hook, Courteney Stuart has further revelations about Griffin’s background, including that she’s held seven positions in the past decade, and left four of them midway through the school year, which is quite uncommon. It turns out that the school board knew nothing about her resume or her two legal cases, because they — rather appallingly — counted on the recruiting firm to take care of that. According to the board’s attorney, they may consider taking legal action against the search firm.
All of that may be beside the point, though — if her resignation is perceived to have been forced because of her race, the facts are unlikely to persuade those who see nothing more than institutional racism.
It’s not surprising that Igbani plans on leaving the school board. What’s surprising is that they’re not all planning on quitting.
Because I have terrible time management skills and, currently, writer’s block on my class-assigned paper topic, I want to lay out the history of Charlotteville superintendents for the past few years, since I found a little back reading to help get a sense of how we got where we are today.
- 10/19/2001: Bill Symons, superintendent since 1996, announces his intention to retire in June of 2002.
- 05/01/2002: The school board announces that they have three finalists to replace Symons, whose retirement is 60 days away. Those are Jean Murray, Albemarle’s assistant superintendent for instruction; James Bughsley, deputy superintendent for Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Schools in North Carolina; and Kriner Cash, superintendent for Martha’s Vineyards Public Schools. Two of the three candidates are black, which is noteworthy because there is pressure on the board to appoint a black superintendent. A decision is due in five days.
- 05/25/2002: Cash, the board’s stated #1 pick, declines the offer.
- 05/29/2002: Pughsley, the board’s stated #2 pick, accepts the job of superintendent in Charlotte, NC. Murray, the board’s last choice, withdraws her application. Now there are no candidates.
- 06/14/2002: Murray leaves her job to become superintendent of the Stafford County school system.
- 06/27/2002: City Council refuses reappointment for all three school board members whose terms are ending, appointing Peggy Van Yahres, Michael Heard, and Bill Igbani. This clean sweep was said to be a result of the board’s bungling of the superintendent hiring process.
- 08/19/2002: Ron Hutchenson, who had been named as a stand-in until the board could name a superintendent, is hired on a two-year basis, giving the board some breathing room to hire a new superintendent.
- 05/27/2004: Dr. Scottie Griffin is named superintendent.
I have now read and written the word “superintendent” so many times that it’s lost all meaning to me.
This just in from WINA: Some guy from Greene County thinks that Charlottesville’s car decals are “too fancy.” Thanks for that, Howard Huffman of Ruckersville. We’ll get right on that. And thanks, WINA, for the hard-hitting journalism.
Aerial writes: “The Presidential Recordings Program at the University of Virginia has made available almost 5,000 hours of tapes recorded by six U.S. presidents from 1940 to 1973. They can be listened to for free at Whitehousetapes.org.”
Kind of off-topic, but cool enough to mention here. :) News.com has the story.
Fridays After 5, in its latest incarnation, has announced both the location and the lineup for the first half of the season, WINA reports. It’ll be held at the corner of First Street and Garrett Street, behind the Pink Warehouse, its location until the amphitheater exists again. The bands in the May-June chunk of the season include Indecision, Alligator, the Chickenhead Blues Band, and the Hackensaw Boys.
Those who don’t follow these things closely may appreciate knowing that the city sold the rights to the public amphitheater to developer Coran Capshaw last year, he promised to maintain some incarnation of Fridays after 5, and the Charlottesville Downtown Foundation closed shop in January, since without Fridays, they’ve got no revenue stream.
Update: John Yellig has the story in today’s Progress.
Cecil writes: “Since we’ve been talking about him so often, this story about Rick Turner’s efforts to get more UVa students involved in tutoring city school kids might be interesting to the cvillenewsians. Presents somewhat of a rebuttal to those who claim that M. Rick just parachutes into various controversies and then skedaddles when the cameras leave.”
In the next week I’ll be taking my final exams, which are the only thing standing between me and my degree from Virginia Tech. Studying and writing has kept me busy for the past week, but I plan a more hermit-like existence in the coming week. Posting will be accordingly light.
The two guys accused of bribing a pair of Charlottesville police officers with cash and sex have pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges, reports Reed Williams in the Progress. The really amazing bit is this:
According to [U.S. Attorney Thomas J.] Bondurant, [police officer Charles] Saunders once drove to [Jason] Madison’s house in a police wagon while in uniform and had sex with a blindfolded, underage girl.
It’s one thing to watch strippers while on duty and in uniform. It’s another altogether to pay to have sex with a blindfolded minor while on duty and in uniform.
Charlottesville assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction Laura Purnell — who blew the whistle on superintendent Scottie Griffin in February — has found herself demoted to “coordinator,” whatever that is. The school board says that they’re “top-heavy in the administration,” which many parents have criticized them for recently, and saw that as a a position that should be eliminated. Purnell has been offered the new, lower position, presumably entailing a pay cut. James Fenald had the story in yesterday’s Daily Progress.
The question, of course, is whether this has anything to do with her central role in taking public the internal criticism of Griffin. It was a month ago now that Griffin tried to fire Purnell, and just a week ago that Griffin resigned. Is Purnell being punished? Or is the school board just responding to an often-heard and reasonable criticism that the school system spends too much money on central office staff and not enough on teachers?
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