COMMENTARY: New Nestucca School Board Members Pushed Superintendent Out; Community Shows Support for Wonder Woman Wharton

For YEARS, Misty has exhibited a behavior and work ethic that this board have found troubling, and it should be clear why: Misty has worked TIRELESSLY to provide funding and options for low income families, has loomed FEARLESSLY in the community as she has campaigned for the creation of new programs and even a NEW SCHOOL for our kids, and has showed up SHAMELESSLY to every last event this school has provided to our kids and our local families, spending what is seemingly every spare second she has in and among the community she has so shiningly been a part of since childhood.

The reason these attributes are so reviled by this intrepid new squad is evident in the board meetings they conduct. Should you ever find yourself subjected to one, you will see a board that looks TIRED as they remain mostly non-vocal and seeming unable to complete a cogent sentence. They look FEARFUL as a concerned community shifts in their seats and asks questions while the board has to admit, repeatedly, that they haven’t a clue as to how these meetings are conducted, much less have any idea about the operation, mandates, legal obligations or budgets of a school district; and they appear SHAMEFUL when they have to be corrected, helped, and coaxed along in these meetings by a brave woman, who, while fighting back tears, is there helping them, and this community, to the very last second even after they have just fired her in front of her community for seemingly no reason.

Would YOU want someone so diametrically opposed to your values (or lack thereof) in your district? It’s probably fairly irritating to be outclassed by someone who ACTUALLY cares about our kids and has the education, training, experience and requisite passion to actually lead our schools.

WHO NEEDS IT?? Good riddance to passion. So long to competence! Aloha to accountability and ALOHA! to a team of rag-tag misfits who just want to return our district to simpler time, when women were quiet, obsequious and, most importantly, straight. Way to go, gang! I’m excited to see if you come up with a SECOND objective. I know I will be there when you think of it, because myself, MANY others in the community, and every last person that I encounter and encourage will be at all following meetings to ensure that this team has all the help it requires. And BOY, will they ever need it: Sacking Misty Wharton has left a massive vacuum of value, competence and know-how that ANY team would be reeling from, much less a group that can’t even be bothered to do the requisite reading and prep for the meetings they lead.

In all honesty, I was fighting back tears as someone I have a mountain of respect for was lead away from the school and community she has been instrumental in building. I don’t know Misty well personally, but as a graduate of Nestucca Middle and High School until now as a father of three children who attend the K-8, I have seen first hand the fruits and labors of someone whom I have long considered to be the absolute best of us. These are the people we should be championing, not brushing aside. I, for one, along with many others I have shared concerns with, will be making sure this school board is held accountable to their positions. Its going to be a LONG two years for this team if they think they are going to create a school district that is somehow better off without Superintendent Wharton.

I wish you luck, Nestucca School Board! I know it isnt going to be easy. But hopefully the kick-backs from the construction tax you denied the kids last night will funnel back into the businesses you run (totally not a conflict of interest) and will allow you the extra cash needed to take a spa day, enjoy a nice dinner, or, my personal recommendation, ordering four copies of this book: