Head On

The majority of the Warrenton School District Board and the district Superintendent have had a head on crash resulting in Craig Brewington losing his position.

There are several things about this situation that are troubling. Brewington took the reins of the district in 2000 and every year the board reviewed his performance giving him high marks in all areas. Then very suddenly the review turned nasty.

At the last board meeting the review was delivered in closed door session. In public session Brewington stated that board chair Linda Dugan had come to his office and asked for his resignation otherwise the board would fire him. She denied that, twice, stating that she has all the paperwork to support her version of the chain of events that led to the firing.

KAST news asked Brewington to comment on the review to which he replied he had only just received it some 30 minutes before and wasn't prepared to comment. He mentioned it had something to do with "low test scores".

If Dugan had asked for Brewington's resignation "or else" why would the outcome of the review come as any surprise to Brewington? It appears Dugan gave him the opportunity to fall on his own sword, although she denies it.

One would think that one poor review in ten years would form the basis for an improvement program not a firing. It is puzzling that the board would even consider summarily firing the man if he broke no laws or engaged in some illegal activity.

If for some reason the board and the Superintendent had reached a differnce of opinion on district policy then it's odd that it wasn't discussed at length and in public.

Here's the other part that is puzzling. Somebody knew Brewington was going to be fired that night because the room was packed and the media was tipped off. Yet he seemed surprised.

Frankly, the whole thing doesn't pass the smell test.