Dear Editor:



Dolores Citizens: It is time to speak up and voice your concerns about the downward spiral that has been happening at our beloved Dolores Middle School and High School this year. If you think about it. the students, parents and teachers for the most part are the same as in previous years when things ran smoothly and very productively. What then has changed this year to cause such disruption, unrest and general turmoil in our schools? We have a brand new Principal and Assistant Principal/Athletic Director (AP/AD) who both moved in here from outside and began changing everything that made our school so great prior to this year. They immediately began changing policies and the way that things were ran, as if something was broken and needed fixed. There was nothing broken!

We have a great bunch of kids, a great bunch of involved and concerned parents, and a bunch of great teachers. All three of these groups have been repeatedly harassed, threatened and basically made to feel unwelcome and uneasy in our own school this year. Many parents who used to spend countless hours volunteering at the school, no longer feel welcome on campus and have mostly stopped volunteering their time. We have lost two very popular and dedicated coaches under the new Administration, neither one deserving to be let go, and both having very large support of the students and parents involved in those sports. The system for athletic eligibility has been far less than desirable or beneficial to the students this year, causing many concerns from students and parents alike.

We also have a Superintendant in only his second year of leadership at Dolores, and a poor year of Leadership it has been. After numerous e-mails and phone calls from concerned parents being ignored by the Principal and Assistant Principal/AD this year, people then turned to the Superintendant for help and answers. The help and answers never came, which has lead to over 80 families now taking part in either the Free Speech Coalition and/or the Student Parent Coalition (SPC). These upset parents and Community Members have called for the removal of all three people in Administration, producing petitions at the last school board meeting, with over 200 signatures on each petition. That amount of signatures was easily obtained, so imagine how many will be on there if a full campaign for their removal is launched?

At the March 5, 2013 School Board meeting, the board agreed to hold off on the Superintendent's contract renewal until all concerned parties had the opportunity to submit an evaluation of his abilities. After a week of waiting for the "evaluation" to be made public, it has finally been released for the public. If you would like to voice your opinion on this "evaluation" which asks questions pertaining to both the Superintendant and School Board, please feel free to contact Lenetta Shull of the SPC at kx4les0207@hotmail.com , or myself at rondaweir@msn.com ,to have it e-mailed to you. We must make the School Board aware of the serious problems before they even consider renewing any contracts.

PLEASE, talk to people, ask questions about what is going on at the school, and contact your publicly elected School Board members to express your dissatisfaction with how our Administration is operating this year, before it is too late for our school and the wonderful kids who have made it a special place to be.



Ronda Weir

Dolores parent