By Martin Gibson
Columbia Gorge News
DUFUR — Since June, Dufur School District 29 has seen a high amount of turnover and turmoil.
The board has lost half of its members, down from six in January; replaced a superintendent and principal; and heard resignations from administrators and teachers amid accusations of ethics violations in public board meetings.
The board held emergency meetings on July 6, July 8, and July 20 for executive sessions and attempts to fill multiple vacancies.
On July 7, Ag Teacher Becky Boles resigned during public comment. Boles said she felt the board did not inform her of, nor include her in, an investigation of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) program she advised.
Since the March investigation, “the behavior from students and parents toward me had been rude and outright disrespectful and has only gotten worse,” she said.
Boles said she was not given the chance to correct issues before this was moved to the board and an investigation began.
“While I appreciate the time and effort that was put into the investigation, I feel like there was very little inquiry into my side of the experience, just as there had been during the whole school year leading up to this point,” she said.
After public comment, 15-year Board Member Ann Kelly resigned, effective immediately, in the same meeting. She read her resignation letter into the public record.
Her concerns about board members’ actions had been repeatedly ignored or brushed off, according to her letter. Additionally, she said that board members micromanage staff; claim to follow rules in detail, but break rules and regulations; disparage administrators to staff and to the community while claiming to support them; created a toxic environment for staff; and that the recent resignations of staff stemmed from the intrusive actions of then-Board Chairman Tim Fain.
“Last year, I was looking forward to aiding the transition to new leadership and hoped my experience and history of Dufur School would be ... useful. Instead, my concerns about board members’ personal relationships leading to violation of communication and government policies have been repeatedly ignored or dismissed,” Kelly said. “[The] board president claims to be a rigid follower of policy but changes his interpretation of the policies to suit him as needed. Board members have overstepped their rules repeatedly, undermining the administration’s authority by ignoring systems and policies and insisted on micromanaging decisions. This is not a board member’s role.
“I want to be clear that it’s my belief that Dufur has arrived at this place because of the actions of individual board members, specifically the intrusive and unprofessional behavior of our board president ... As the lone voice advocating for the administration to do their jobs without undue interference, I no longer feel that I can effectively fill my role,” she said.
Among those resignations and losses, Superintendent Kristin Whitley’s resignation was formally accepted on July 8; the principal and Mental Health Counselor Tiffany Kenslow also left.
“It has been shared to me by community members that there have been conversations or communications involving board members in which my professional role is being questioned in personal or political terms,” Kenslow had told the board during public comment on June 23, “characterized in ways such as, having a ‘liberal agenda’ or other concerns regarding my effectiveness in my position and my choice to wear a lanyard that displays a rainbow pattern.”
In that meeting, Kenslow went on to affirm that, as a licensed social worker, she must provide students with a safe space to express themselves and to access help, even if she disagrees with them personally.
Following Kelly’s July 7 resignation, only Chairman Fain and Directors Dave Beeson and Shawn Egeland remained on the board.
Fain suggested that given “pressure” for him “to not be president [chairman],” he nominated Beeson as his own successor. Beeson then appointed Fain as vice-chair, and the meeting went on. Fain continued to act as chairman by reading the agenda and leading the discussion through the end of the meeting.
By August, meetings had switched to Beeson’s leadership. An Interim Superintendent Kurt Evans, formerly of The Dalles High School, had been hired. Two replacement board members, Rylee Lutter and Sean Skiles, were both sworn in Aug. 4, and new Principal Angela Davis was introduced in the same meeting.
The next meeting has not yet been announced.
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