School unions vote ‘No Confidence’

The vote occurred a week before the White Salmon Valley School District Board of Directors came to a tentative resignation agreement with McGeeney. White Salmon Education Association President Peter Knowles attributed the vote to months of frustration with the superintendent due to a lack of transparency they saw with regards to the ongoing financial strain.

The district is facing a budget deficit of more than $3 million attributed to an increase in expenditures and not enough revenue coming in to cover current expenses, and with the depletion of a $2.6 million reserve fund during McGeeney’s term as superintendent, staffing layoffs are seeming to be a real possibility. Knowles said staff and teachers have been puzzled over how the situation reached this point without any public indication that it was headed this way.

“We’re reaching a point where some serious decisions will need to be made,” Knowles said.

Many teachers and staff will likely lose their jobs, Knowles said, adding that the district is already located in an area with a high cost of living, making it harder to attract young staff and faculty.

Since the severity of the district’s financial situation was made public in February, it has been difficult to get answers about what led to the current crisis. An all-staff question-and-answer meeting was mostly questions and not a lot of answers, Knowles said. “Our thought is, if you’re the superintendent and you’re facing this as your primary concern, you should have some answers,” he said, adding that the situation is “still so murky.”

A press release from the unions said educators and staff voted due to the superintendent’s lack of vision and poor relationships with staff, parents, and the community.

“This mismanagement demands action,” said Jeff Augustus, White Salmon Education Support Personnel president. “We need to take action now to correct course before our schools fall further into a budget hole that will hurt our children’s learning.”

Knowles has been a teacher with the district for 30 years, and he said he has never seen a situation quite like this one. He said the vote was meant to communicate with leadership that both the teacher’s and staff unions is not complacent. “We’re saying as forcefully as we can that we don’t believe the superintendent has the ability or interest to get us out of this.”

Acting Superintendent Jerry Lewis, who took office last Friday following McGeeney’s departure, said his goal with ongoing budget discussions is to “save as many jobs as possible.” Additional meetings between stakeholders will be held in the near future to determine a solution to the budget situation.