To the editor:
(Editor’s note: the following letter was sent to Brandon School Board members and re-printed with permission of the author.)
Dear school board members,
I recently retired from the Brandon School District after 32 years of service.
During that time of service, besides teaching at the high school and middle school, I was president of the BEA (Brandon Education Association) for 18 years and vice-president for two years. I coached for 22 of those years in both male and female programs. I worked under at least five different superintendents during my tenure. The Brandon school community came to my assistance during my very first year teaching there in 1975, when I lost my wife of nine months to leukemia. So, I had a long and wonderful career and experience working for and with the Brandon School District. I still care very much for the students, employees and community members of Ortonville-Brandon. That is why I am very concerned and distressed about the low morale and disharmony that is seriously growing within the ranks of the Brandon professional staff. This includes teachers and administrators. I have spoken with at least 50 teachers and administrators that I will leave unnamed out of fear of retaliation by the present Superintendent Tom Miller. Mr. Miller never did anything to upset me while I was employed at Brandon, but since I have left I have heard only negative comments in regards to Mr. Miller’s attitudes, decisions, and means of dealing with employee relations.
His style of direction has almost totally alienated your teachers across the board. How can this type of management style produce what is best for the students of the school district?
The final Tom Miller decision that brought me to writing all of you is Mr. Miller’s decision to reassign Brandon H.S. Principal Mike Ferguson to a newly created position out of what I feel is a personal vendetta. Mike Ferguson has dedicated his last 11 years to the kids of B.H.S. and deserves much more than this. The former Superintendent Bart Jenniches and myself worked diligently together to make the Brandon schools work with a positive relationship toward each other, and if you haven’t noticed there was great harmony in the district. Now in two-and-a-half years that relationship has literally been destroyed.
If you sincerely care about the students and employees of the Brandon schools, I hope you will investigate these concerns and issues. You owe it to the kids and the community.
Brad Skauge
(former president of the BEA and former Brandon Schools teacher)