Support for this edition comes from the Purdue Presidential Lecture Series. Purdue University invites the Greater Lafayette community to a Presidential Lecture Series event featuring Rick Atkinson — a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, bestselling author and historian — on Sept. 16 at 6 p.m. in Stewart Center’s Loeb Playhouse. The conversation will explore the importance of America’s 250th anniversary and the role that Purdue can play as a leading land-grant institution. This event is free and open to the public, with a general admission ticket required. Learn more and reserve your free ticket: purdue.edu/president/lecture-series/a-conversation-with-rick-atkinson
TEACHERS QUESTION LAFAYETTE SCHOOL BOARD OVER SUPERINTENDENT SEARCH
With the Lafayette school board looking to announce LSC’s next superintendent as soon as its mid-September board meeting, teachers are raising concerns about whether board members went into the search to replace Superintendent Les Huddle with their minds made up.
During a public hearing Aug. 24, when the school board considered the salary and contract terms for the next superintendent, teachers questioned transparency of a search that board members said from the start would concentrate on a pool of internal candidates from the Lafayette School Corp.
They also asked the board why attempts by the Lafayette Education Association, LSC’s teacher union, to get more information about the superintendent search – better yet, to get the presence of a teacher and others on the hiring committee – had largely gone unanswered.
“This leaves members pondering whether there is more than just one applicant being seriously considered,” Mary Franklin, an LSC teacher and LEA member, told the school board during the Aug. 24 public hearing. “This leaves members suspecting that a decision has already been made.”
Julie Peretin, LSC school board president, this week declined to comment on questions being posed by the LEA, saying she’d be ready to talk more about how the process worked out once the board chose the next superintendent.
But Peretin shared the top themes that emerged from a community survey sent to LSC teachers and staff over the summer and posted online for others to participate.
