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Saturday, April 26, 2003 Onslaught Dear Hockey Saga Diary, I told Julio today that however merited the decision to remove Randolph was it was the worst political decision he could possibly have made. It might have been easier to put up with some modest irregularities and parental complaints than to get distracted while the District is having plenty of other upheavals. One small catastrophe I hadn't counted on is the imminent loss of our brilliant Finance Director, Greg Hein. He'll be going to a district, of course, than can pay him much more and give him better benefits. That's two top administrators who are bailing out. Julio still seems to think that this was the right thing to do. I hope so. The tenor of the calls and emails and news stories is getting more abusive. Now its not just Laurie Knapp who is taking it on the chin. Connie Carter and Bruce Watkins are coming under fire. Sheesh! It would be hard to find two nicer or more dedicated people. Connie is getting beaten up for auditing the East hockey fundraising. Apparently its not kosher to have kids fund raise and then get cut from the program they raised money for. I'll have to admit that the remedy for this seems ridiculous - allowing the kids to keep the money themselves. I can't argue with people who complain that when they give money for a school activity they expect it to go there and not into the kid's pockets. There has to be a better solution. Bruce is being beaten up for offering Mike Randolph a going-away celebration. Its an embarrassing bribe. Knowing Bruce he just wanted to let Mike down easy but it sounds like he was trying buy Mike off. I think Bruce knew how explosive this decision was going to be and he tried to come up with a solution to avert a calamity. Instead the party offer has just added to the indignity. A coach with Mike's tenacity isn't likely to roll over easily let alone for cake and ice cream. So far no one has taken the other side. I'm not surprised. All those parents who are reported to have asked for Mike's removal have been mighty quiet. I've been sympathetic to the folks I've talked to and thank goodness no one has taken my head off like the they did over at East with the secretaries. I've tried explaining the contractual language that prohibits us from being told why the decision was made. No matter how eloquent I am on the subject people aren't buying it. I tell everyone that I have a lot of respect for our administrators and that while it was obviously a political mistake to mess with East Hockey I'm convinced that they did what they think was right. I sure as heck hope they knew what they were doing. |