Goodrich – Retiring Goodrich Schools Superintendent Raymond Green prefers not to hire relatives of district staffers. His successor doesn’t agree.
Since she’s working with her mother this summer, new superintendent Kim Hart has first-hand knowledge of the positive side, but asserts there’s no wrongdoing.
‘I don’t think we really have a nepotism issue,? said Hart, who became Goodrich Schools? new superintendent July 1.
‘We have had a few staff members employed who were related to others.
‘Dr. Green’s policy was not to hire relatives. I would like to see us hire the best, and sometimes that may mean people who are related to others in the district. It’s a small town and many people are related to each other.?
Does nepotism’hiring or showing favoritism because of family relationship instead of merit’apply in the case of Hart and her mother Dorothy Booth, secretary to the superintendent?
Booth, who plans to leave her position in January 2005 after training her replacement, says no.
Booth has maintained from the start she’d step aside if her role interfered with Hart being hired as superintendent. Between January and her intended June 2005 retirement, Booth plans to fill in as needed throughout the district.
‘I think it’s very nice of her,? said Hart of her mom. ‘but it doesn’t bother me at all that she’s here, it’s been her place (of work) for the last 32 years.?
Relatives working together in the district formerly became an issue after a husband-and- wife teaching pair both hired into another district, leaving the Goodrich district with the dilemma of immediately replacing two educators, Booth said.
After working in the Flint Northwestern School District, Booth was hired in 1973 as a secretary in the Goodrich Middle School office, and transferred to Reid Elementary two years later before taking the position of Goodrich High School office secretary in the early 1980s.
Of the photographs lining the front halls depicting former GHS principals, Booth has worked for all but former principal Roy Stacy, she said.
In 1990, she began working year-round in accounts payable at the district’s business office before being hired to handle payroll. When finance secretary Betty Ladzinski was tragically killed in a 1999 car accident, Booth filled the position before being approached last year for the job of Judy Affeldt, secretary to Green.
‘I had planned on working two years with Dr. Green,? said Booth, ‘but he retired a year early.?
Booth plans to work three to four months training a new replacement, a position expected to be posted and filled this fall.
At a minimum, the new secretary will need to be proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, Publisher, and know the Genesee Intermediate School District’s Microsage program, she said.
Booth admits having her daughter publicly refer to her as ‘Dorothy? is ‘something that sounds strange,? but doesn’t mind. The situation is just the nudge she needs to move on, she said.
Working in the same district feels quite natural to Hart, who remembers helping her mother as a child when she brought work home, and buckling down in algebra when a teacher mentioned a problem to Booth. She also learned an appreciation for the skills of secretarial, custodial, and other staff members, she said.
Hart appreciates her mother’s sacrifice, even though she doesn’t feel it would be inappropriate for her to stay.
‘Of course any child would love to have her mother’s support in the advancement of her career,? said Hart, ‘but we’ve been working really well together the last 14 years, we know how to separate business from personal.?