Bob Shirley resigns a few days ago and then Russ Lehman.

Via email:

I resign from the OSD Board of Directors effective 9:00 am. June 30 2008.

If you are interested please see attached resignation memo explaining my reasons.

My ideas, and a budget proposal, which I originally sent on June 19 is also attached. This memo, it became clear last Tuesday night, was moot as the board was informed then that it’s already too late to make any substantive changes (with regard to anyone in the OEA and any administrative staff) to the superintendent’s proposed “budget”. It turns out that we had to act BEFORE we even got the superintendents budget.

Please feel free to distribute widely

Thank you very much to all the great people who I have worked with and come to know through this experience.

Russ Lehman

His resignation letter lays out his reasons, which seem to be a combination of health and his relationship with the rest of the board:

It has become clear to me now, that my recovery would be best served by resigning my position on the board. The stresses inherent in serving on a board that continues to suffer severe leadership and organizational problems are at this time, simply too disadvantageous to my health. I believe that my final responsibility as a resigning board member is to identify the specific leadership/organizational issues that, from my perspective, are rendering the board ineffective. The most critical of these issues is the lack of understanding or conflicting views about the role of a school board member.

Read the entire thing here. 

Jim over at the 5/17 blog has all the run down on the indecision of the Olympia School District on choosing a new school board member.

As Jim would say, here it is, for free:

Both sides held their positions, Frank Wilson and Carolyn Barclift refusing to name a second choice, Russ Lehman and Bob Shirley calling for compromise. At the impasse, Lehman and Shirley voted against a motion to send the list of three candidates to the ESD, and the matter ended with adjournment at 3:24.

...

Shirley gave a five minute lecture on the proper role of the Board, Lehman accused Wilson and Barclift of merely paying lip service to diversity, and Barclift ended a sentence with "I'm not gonna go there." When Wilson said the Board should quit wasting time, and that the ESD could make a "good decision," Shirley asked him point-blank why the Board couldn't just do the same itself., there was enough general orneriness that you might think you'd walked into a chu Overallrch's choir practice.

You can read the rest of Jim's coverage here, but here are two great liveblogs he did of two meetings where the board discussed bringing someone new on:

Twenty people showed up to ask fifteen questions of three applicants for the District 2 seat. On average, how many times did the words "difficult," "listening," "students," "sustainable," and "experience" appear in each answer? Show your work.

Okay, pencils down.

All in all, an interesting two hours (blogged in more detail here) as Theresa Tsou, Paul Parker, and John Keeffe fielded questions from the audience, mediated by Peter Rex, the District's communication director.

Event: A community forum allowing citizens to ask questions of the three remaining applicants for the District 2 seat on the Olympia School Board.

Location: Board Room of the Knox Administrative Center, 1113 Legion Way SE, Olympia.

Time: 6:30-8:30 p.m.

For more information, click here.

This is the third in a three-part series*, introducing you to the three applicants for the District 2 seat on the Olympia School Board, which was vacated when Rich Nafziger resigned. The series goes in reverse alphabetical order, wrapping up before March 12, when the candidates will face questions in a "community forum environment."

A longtime Olympia resident, John Keeffe is the only current applicant with previous Board experience, having served from 1991 to 2003. He knows firsthand how difficult the job is, so why would he want to come back, especially when the district faces tough times? In his own words (via email):

I created a job resume recently and I thought a lot about what my passion was in relation to work I wanted to do. I found that the place that would give me the most satisfaction is a job that is at the intersection of government and the public. The 12 years I was on the Board previously, as well as the 30 years I worked for the Post Office, and my work with Parking Services allowed me to be in that intersection in a number of different ways. The School Board was in some ways the most rewarding because it was all about kids. When Rich left the Board and the position became available I thought about whether I could or wanted to do it again. After a lot of internal dialogue, and conversations with family and friends, I felt that this was a place that fit my job goal and where I could have a positive impact in my community.

Among other things, in his remarks to the Board on March 5th, Keeffe lists concerns about graduation requirements: taken individually, the WASL, Culminating Project, and extra math requirements might be worthy, but when taken together, they endanger electives, which Keeffe regards as essential for a well-rounded high school education.

This is the second in a four-part series, introducing you to the four applicants for the District 2 seat on the Olympia School Board, which was vacated when Rich Nafziger resigned. The series goes in reverse alphabetical order, and will wrap up before March 12, when the candidates will face questions in a "community forum environment."

I've made care to accurately quote or represent the candidates, and any potential errors are my own.

Paul Parker lives down the street from Jill Johnson, one of my colleagues at Capital. "Paul's hard-working, thoughtful, and smart," she told me over lunch on Tuesday. "Thorough, too." The only applicant with a law degree, Parker has worked in higher education and state government, and currently serves as a senior policy analyst for Washington State's Transportation Commission.

More to the point, Parker is an active PTA and Site Council member, and chaired the district's Budget Advisory Group in 2007. Last June, after examining the district's finances, the group advocated some cuts that, to paraphrase Parker, "washed out" with paired with recommended expenses.

Hi there, Olybloggers. I'm a long-time reader, first-time poster. Emmett O'Connell suggested that I cross-post my series on the four applicants for the Olympia School Board slot that opened when Rich Nafziger resigned, so here goes. Catch my other blogging at decorabilia, Washington Teachers, and 5/17.

The series goes in reverse alphabetical order, and will wrap up before March 12, when the candidates will face questions in a "community forum environment." I've made care to accurately quote or represent the candidates, and any potential errors are my own.

Parent activist Theresa Tsou is ready to bring her scientific expertise and data-driven approach to the Olympia School Board. A Ph.D. holder and groundfish expert, Dr. Tsou is known in the community for volunteer and committee work, and for her role in the opposing the "Connected Math" curriculum that was adopted last year.

Think you missed your chance to serve your community when you didn't apply for the open Olympia city council spot? Worry not civic minded citizen, the Olympia School Board has an open spot. If you live within the district above, you can get a chance to serve.

From 5/17:

I don't want to scare you, but the district faces some difficult choices regarding its budget. Nothing you can't handle, right?

You have to live in District 2, shown above, the salmon-colored region. Sources inform me that of 7 current applicants, only two meet the geographic criterion. I'm sure you can do better.

 From the OSD:

The Olympia School District is looking for applicants to serve on the Olympia School Board for the District 2 Position. District 2 includes the South Capitol neighborhood, as well as parts of the near east side of Olympia and a few areas of West Olympia. The vacancy was created by the resignation of Director Rich Nafziger.