COMMUNITY TREND

Editor,

In response to Councilmen Jones, Carter and Stoner calling for Dr. Hartsell
to resign. Have Jones, Carter and Stoner seen the Enquirer's online poll?
Close to 90 percent want Dr. Hartsell not to resign. Over 80 percent
disagreed with the council's handling of the school controversy.

Some people have compared Jones, Carter and Stoner to Larry, Curley and
Moe. I personally think that is an insult to the Stooges.

John Stephenson

Hartselle

School Board Doing Good Job

Editor,

I have held the Hartselle School System up as and example to my community
leaders numerous times. The Hartselle system has put it all together. They
have excellent academic credentials, recognized sporting programs for all
age levels and sexes, highly regarded technical programs and a community
that has supported the programs since the days of J. C. Pettey. Hartselle
and its school system have for years prepare their students for continued
education or to become an immediate productive member of society.

From my distance and only outside reading in, the current City Council
appears to want to micromanage the city's support systems. Before the
school system trauma it was the utilities board. The reports read in the
Hartselle Enquirer lead in the same direction.

Both those boards were made independent and appointed for a reason. That
reason is so that they would not have to be concerned with their own
political agenda or that of the current city government. Boards should
focus on the task assigned to them without worrying about political
repercussions for making a hard decision. If the citizens allow the council
to put a member of the council on the board or decide to elect a school
board, the focus now becomes, "what do I have to do to be reelected," not
"this was a hard and unpopular decision, but it was the right one."

Dr. Hartsell and the school board made the correct decision regarding the
two students that passed out. The only people needed to be involved were
the students, their parents, medical personnel, and school administrators
if the students broke school rules or there was a danger to other students.

I am in agreement with the council pressing the school board for clear and
appropriate policies and procedures regarding drugs and emergency
situations. That's not micromanagement. That's voicing general concern and
an expectation for the board to act accordingly. I am also in agreement
with members of the council that wanted to call a "no confidence vote," but
question the body the vote should be applied to.

Lee Weinman

Gardendale

Editor's note: Due to the overwhelming number of letters to the Editor
received this week, space limitations prevented the Enquirer from
publishing all the letters. The remainder of the letters will be published
next week.

Councilman Defends Position

Editor,

My name is Allen Stoner. I am a city councilman for Hartselle, citizen of
Hartselle, and a parent of two children, one of whom is already a student
in the Hartselle school system and another who will be entering the
Hartselle school system in August 2002. My mother's family has resided in
the Hartselle area since the founding of this city in the late 1800s.

My father, Richard Stoner, served on the local school board in Hartselle
during the 1960s, while it was still a part of the Morgan County school
system. He was chairman of the school board when Hartselle made the
difficult and controversial decision to separate from the county school
system in the 1970s. I am certainly proud of my family heritage in
Hartselle and honored to stand on their shoulders in my efforts to make a
contribution to Hartselle's progress. I also happen to love this town and
am not afraid to question its most "sacred cow," particularly when I
sincerely believe it will result in positive change for the administration
of the school system.

In regard to the current debate about our school system I have considered
every step I have taken with careful thought and prayer. Unlike others in
this city who think that every disagreement is "negative" and every
argument "strife", there are many times when open discussion is good. That
is called the democratic process - open and free debate about the issues
that affect our lives.

Referring to our current debate as "war" is an overstatement. Asking
questions about who, what, where, when, how and why is not creating strife
or being negative, it is called seeking the truth

There are many in this city who want to keep Hartselle's debates "in the
family" and away from the eyes of the public. Too many Southern stories
have been written about dirty little family secrets that eventually destroy
the family from within because no one wants to discuss the problem openly
and fix it. The same thing is happening in Hartselle today.

The dirty little secret? The collapse of two students at Hartselle High
School and the manner in which the superintendent, principal/athletic
director, and a well-known athletic coach handled it. These are the facts:
a positive drug test by a student athlete, the suppression of that positive
drug test by the school superintendent by telling the public one thing and
the mayor another; the failure to take any steps to punish (or help) the
student/athlete; and the refusal (or failure) of four school board members
(Tom McHugh, Kathy Goodwin, Joe Berry, and Susan Puckett) to see any
problem worthy of their investigation into any of this. How to fix it, when
private efforts are not successful? That good old American democratic
process - open discussion and public debate.

The only real victim in this debate has been the "truth." I know what Mayor
Knight, Councilman Carter, Councilman Jones, and I have done during this
whole debate - an honest investigation and search for the truth. I am a
firm believer that knowing the truth will set you free (and not just in
spiritual matters).

Dr. Hartsell did not tell the truth about the positive drug test and
everybody knows it but nobody wants to talk about it openly and fix the
problem because they do not want to be accused of causing strife or being
negative about the school system. (See the children's story, The Emperor's
New Clothes) The same can be said about the appearance of unequal
enforcement of the school drug policy and the appearance of a complete and
utter failure by the four school board members to diligently investigate
any of the above questions until after an open discussion and public debate
(not war) brought the issue to a head.

As the superintendent of the school system Dr. Lee Hartsell is head of the
school system, but he works at the pleasure of the school board. It is not
any different than a corporation, where there is a president and a board of
directors. In a corporation the president runs the daily operations and the
board of directors sets policy and makes sure the president is doing his
job effectively. The same applies to the Hartselle school system - Dr.
Hartsell oversees the daily operations and the school board sets policy and
oversees the superintendent. Since the school board hires the
superintendent he is their responsibility.

If the board is unhappy with the superintendent, they can rightfully demand
that he account for his actions. Since the city council appoints the school
board members they are our responsibility. If the council is unhappy with
the school board, the council can rightfully demand that the board members
account for their actions (or lack thereof.)

For those of you who will immediately remind me that the school board is
independent and beyond the control of the city council I would respectfully
remind you that these school board members are appointed by elected
officials (your city council) who place great trust in the persons they
appoint. The boards that carry the greatest weight and bear the most
responsibility/controversy are the Hartselle City School Board and the
Hartselle Utilities Board. When we city council members are dissatisfied
with the actions/inactions of these boards we, as elected officials, have a
responsibility and obligation to ask who, what, where, when, how and why.

If you, the citizens of Hartselle, are dissatisfied with this arrangement,
then you can either elect city council members who will never question the
school system (even when the truth screams for someone to shine the light
on it) or you can ... elect your school board members and forever remove
them from any "pressure" by the city council. By electing school board
members you solve all of the above problems and make the board members
answerable only to the public (that means you.) I am personally opposed to
an elected school board system because I still believe that an appointed
school board is the best way to ensure that the best interests of the
school children are always the primary goal of our school system. How to
avoid this? By not forgetting that citizens in a free society will abandon
the appointment system in favor of an elected system, when they believe
appointed school board members no longer listen to their concerns or are
otherwise not answerable to the public.

To put it more bluntly: when citizens get that bad feeling that the fix is
in, the truth is being suppressed, and their intelligence is being insulted
by a school superintendent and "appointed" school board, whether these
perceptions are real or not.

Finally, I should do a little house keeping before I close this, my very
first letter to the editor.

I did not ask for the resignation of school board chairwoman Susan Puckett
or any other board member. Even though I have only been in politics for 18
months I guess it was inevitable that I would eventually claim I had been
misquoted. I did state, however, that Dr. Hartsell ought to consider
retirement because I questioned his continued effectiveness (but then I
have made suggestions to other people in the past and they ignored those,
too). I still want to know what Coach William Booth knew and when he knew
it concerning the positive drug test, when he came to a council work
session on March 25, with the baseball team in tow and demanded an apology
from us. Contrary to one recent opinion writer my skin is not so thin to
take criticism, but I am irritated when an entire city council is forced to
listen and watch the currently-popular Booth pound the podium and lecture
the council without being able to respond with the truth due to laws
governing juveniles and student confidentiality. What did he know and when
did he know it? That question just continues to nag me.

Allen Stoner

Hartselle