Community members show support for board, Look
Published 7:24 am Wednesday, May 23, 2018
In another chapter of the ongoing discussion surrounding the pending departure of Superintendent Keith Look, a petition with signatures from 126 community members was presented to the Danville Board of Education Monday night to show support for the board’s decision.
“We, the undersigned, value and support the Danville Board of Education. The Board has voted and it is time for us to move forward and ensure the success of the Danville Schools,” the petition reads.
The petition was handed over to the board, with a request to make it part of the meeting minutes, by Maurice Bell, a parent and volunteer in the district.
“I’m not here to debate … I think it’s time that we need to move on,” Bell said. “We just want to support the board’s decision, the decision that you made. We thank you all for all the hard work you do for us.”
Bell said there were a “number” of people in the community who agreed with the board’s decision.
On Feb. 19, during a board meeting, three of the five members of the board — Paige Matthews, Susan Matherly and Lori Finke — voted to vacate the position of superintendent in the district. Members Steven Becker and Troy McCowan voted against the measure.
In almost every board meeting since, community members have vocalized support or disagreement with the board’s decision, including a group of concerned citizens who filed an open records request into the emails of Matthews, Matherly and Finke.
Before Bell spoke during Monday’s meeting, a member of the concerned citizens group, Dianna Devine, spoke, along with Danville Mayor Mike Perros, both in favor of Look.
Perros said, “You all are better than this. Danville Schools is better than this.”
Devine read the end of a report the citizens group had written in response to the emails they examined, requesting that board members rescind the decision from the February meeting and renew Look’s contract.
The board gave no response to the statements, which — according to board policy — they are not required to do so.