Principal skinned

Give the Plattsburgh city school board this much: It put the excitement back in bureaucracy. After the school superintendent recommended Plattsburgh High School Principal John Fairchild for tenure, the board last month shot him down, 5-4, in the first vote of a two-step process (if the superintendent recommends, the board has to vote twice not to grant tenure--confused? You're not alone). Anyway, a huge outcry ensued. The supposedly apathetic modern teens of today staged a walkout on behalf of their principal. The Press-Republican's letters section drowned in pro-principal sentiment. Pro-Fairchild parents and students packed two subsequent school board meetings, producing this damn-I-wish-I-coulda-been-there moment:

Another senior, Kyle Maggy, chastised board members for what he perceived was a lack of focus and respect.
"I noticed board members seem more concerned with computers while people are speaking than listening," said Maggy, who requested that the board members shut down their computers while people were talking and pay attention.

I have no idea whether there was a good reason to deny Fairchild tenure. By law, board members are not supposed to publicly discuss personnel matters. There is literally no telling what motivated them. But Fairchild's supporters came up with plenty of reasons to keep him, like decreased dropout rates and improved teacher morale. Despite an overwhelming public show of support, the school board voted not to renew him again last night. This count was 4-4.

Voting no were Patricia Bentley, Dr. John Gallagher, Clayton Morris and Kevin Richardson, while Leisa Boise, Dr. Richard Robbins, Steven Sullivan and Fred Wachtmeister voted yes.

None of those votes changed from the first go-round on March 26. But one vote went missing. Who was that? Brian Herkalo. Let's assume he had a good excuse not to be there. Otherwise, it's a profile in cowardice.
By the way, many of the students at Plattsburgh High wore black today.