What a joke. I thought the newly elected board would be more transparent. The are our kids and I want their information. The good, the bad, and the ugly. It is our right to know what is happening.

The board terminated Cross for being an ineffective teacher yet his teaching evaluations were excellent, the bands scored superiour ratings in all competitions. This is all about Mr Cross asking parents to contact the administration if we were concerned about cuts. The fact that the vote was nearly unanimous with no input from parents says the board was not doing its job to inquire about the facts. I challenge the board or administration in light of the favorable teaching reviews and success of the bands to explain why they view Mr Cross as an ineffective teacher. This termination is unjust and may ruin Mr Cross' teaching career. Shame on this adminstration. I urge parents to contact the board and administration since. At least we do not have to fear losing our jobs for exercising freedom of speech.

I cannot begin to express my disappointment in our Board. The distortion and lack of transparency described in this article fall far short of the high standards for which I respected the one Board member whom I know personally. Certainly, they speak poorly of the integrity of the Board's decision making process. After all, if one has nothing to hide, one rarely tries so hard to hide it.

If the Board chooses to question judgment, they need not peer too deeply into their mirrors. Surely their HR department advised them better than to frame their two week recruiting window around the July 4 Holiday week! Proactive professionals might have launched their process the third week of June and assured the greatest possible visibility.

If this were television, our kids might tune find resolution to unresolved plot lines at the beginning of the new season. Will the band repeat their award winning ways? Will some of the jazz and pep bands be cancelled to join the marching band in oblivion? What trump card does the crazy lady hold that keeps her returning one season after another? What mysteries hide in the Chamber of Secrets? Unfortunately, this is not television and our kids can only experience reality at the beginning of a new school year. Let us all hope that their season premiere brings some positive casting surprises... and maybe some surprising returns,

In re-reading the article, I noticed an inconsistency with my remarks. The article indicates that the Band Director opening has been on the GPPSS website since June 19, whereas I indicate that the recruiting window was only two weeks.

My timing is drawn from Linda Schultz' letter of June 28 to band parents, which provided a timeline for the process:

"Earlier today [June 28] we posted the position of South/Pierce band director for both internal and external candidates...
* July 12th - posting closes
* July 13th - Dr. Outlaw and Mr. Buslepp will conduct a paper screen of applicants and identify the viable candidates to be interviewed
* Week of July 16th - Interviews and auditions for band director candidates. The interview committee will consist of Dr. Outlaw, Mr. Buslepp, several members of the music faculty and three parents. The auditions will use actual high school students being conducted by final candidates.
" Week of July 23rd - Final band director selection based on interviews and reference checks

I hope that this clarification is helpful to the readership.

My daughter and I attended the end of June board meeting in support of Mr. Cross. The young people who spoke did so with passion and zeal, it was down right moving. Many of them moved to tears, many of them taking take pause to compose themselves in order to continue speaking. The same can be said of the adults. The sincere statements of respect and admiration for Mr. Cross were impressive. No one spoke against the man or in support of the boards decision. As a Pierce band parent over the last two years I have been nothing but impressed with Mr. Cross. I have always found him to be professional, available, and exceedingly helpful. I am sad to say I do not find this to be true our school board. Mr. Cross always acted with complete transparency; providing clear and timely communications to students and parents. I am sad to discover that our school board does not act with that same transparency. I am sad to discover that our school board is neither timely or clear in their communications. In fact, they seem to choose to be quite ambiguous and frankly a little sneaky. I found the boards statement to the students and parents at the end of that board meeting to be patronizing. Chalking up our statements as the emotional ramblings of the uninformed. Effectively patting us all on the heads pinching our cute little cheeks and telling us to run along so they could go on about their very important business because they are all such very important people.

This article, that strains to cast dispersions on Board transparency despite our acting in accordance with the Open Meetings Act, is also factually inaccurate. The document posted as not acted upon and the Board simply voted to not renew the contract of the teacher in question, as is our right to do under the Michigan Teacher Tenure Act and which has nothing to do with "teacher effectiveness."

The public must remember, the Board does not arbitrarily decide to meet and take such action. We pay administrators to oversee district employees and then make recommendations to the Board, which should not be rubber-stamped and are not. Any one who observes our Board sees no evidence of rubber stamping. Even in this case, we opted not to adopt the resolution posted here. Q.E.D.

The administration recommended this teacher contract not be renewed. The Board asked many questions. The Board has subsequently heard the concerns of the public and has still concurred with the administration.

The public holds the Board to a double standard, with factions both wanting to know every detail and others calling for discretion in these matters. We're damned if we do and damned if we don't.

Mr. Walsh and ALL Board Members, I commend you, and greatly appreciate your diligence.

I was very surprised by the termination of Mr. Cross.
....and I am clearly at a loss.
On June 6 at the Defer Elementary Talent show I asked Mrs Walsh about a rumor that I heard, that Mr. Cross hours would be reduced for the following school year. Mrs. Walsh was very surprised . She called her husband Mr. Walsh and said that nothing of this rumor seeme to be true and that her husband had no notice of that.
One weeks later this fabulous teacher is fired for a letter calling for support, to reinstate his full hours.

We do not understand this decision and disapprove it.
I have come to know Mr. Cross as a highly dedicated teacher with very high standards. This is just what a parent wishes for in terms of their children's education.
I cannot understand the chain of events that led to the firing. I find it very unusual that a letter calling for support can stir such anger and lead to a loss of one of the finest teachers who I have ever met.
Isn't it after all a democracy we are living in?
While we were on vacation, Philipp, my son who was in Mr. Cross' band program, 7th grade, whistled Peer Gynt.
It warmed my heart. I was so proud of my son, his education and very thankful to Mr. Cross , who delivered a band concert this year that was outstanding in choice of the program and performance of his students.
My wish: Please, rehire Mr. Steve Cross and make sure that the outstanding music program continues.

Sincerely,

It was heart breaking when I heard that Mr. Cross was terminated from his position. This instructor who really worked hard for the success of every students in music. He helped my daughter a lot in her oboe class. On her first few months with oboe considering that it was her first time playing this instrument. He became a mentor of my daughter in becoming an Oboist someday. I watched some of their programs and I was so amazed with these students. They are the best and this is because of Mr. Cross hardwork and dedication. I wish that the board and admin let Mr. Cross back, I'm sure all the students will be happy.

It's been awhile since Critical Thinking 101, but I do recall enough to be able to approach this dialogue in a way that should highlight what the actual question is.

The question isn't nor ever was, about Mr. Cross's ability- it was about a personnel matter that the School Board was asked to review, consider deliberately, and vote on. The question of Mr. Cross's continued employment shouldn't rest on the quality of his teaching any more than it should on the kind of car he drives- its irrelevant. Therefore, Mr. Walsh can say that he found him to be a good educator and still found his lack of professionalism and specifically, the act that prompted the review in the first place, to be of a nature that would support the termination of his employment.
I find the continued suggestions that the Board & Admin have not acted with transparency deliberately within the realm of libel.
The School Board is made up of 7 people who are in a volunteer position- what this means is that they have real jobs, and a typical workday is 8-5 PM. You also have to consider that the end of the school year means that members of the Board & Admin are more likely to be out of town, and when you're talking about coordinating around 10 people for a meeting that is time sensitive and needs to accomodate work schedules it could very reasonably be scheduled for 7 AM. I believe to suggest a Machiavellian conspiracy does a great disservice to 7 people that put in many hours to serve our district.

Judy Gafa seems to imply she did not pass a resolution indicating Mr Cross was an ineffective teacher, but I would note the termination letter sent to Mr Cross sepcifically states he was terminated for being an ineffecitve teacher and for lacking professional judgment
The professional judgment the administration did not like was asking the public to contact the administration if there were concerns regarding cutbacks when Mr Dean refused to meet with him.

My hat is of to the GPPSS Board -- at least Brendan Walsh and Judy Gafa -- for joining in dialogue over the band director and music program. So much more could have been accomplished had this conversation occurred in middle of June rather than middle of July. Let us turn this energy to preserving and expanding upon our fantastic band and orchestra program!

I would like to clarify one more thing, there were no cuts to the band program. The budget was passed the on June 25th. I am going to reiterate that the district staffs to enrollment, one class of Music Theory had to be cut due to low enrollment. This is standard budgeting process the district has used since I have been on the board. Due to union contracts an employee with more senority was slated to teach the Music Theory class, who that is was left up to administration, I personally can't tell you if it is Mr. Gross, Mrs. Bowen or another senior teacher who has the class. But I repeat at NO TIME did the administration make cuts to the current band/orchestra program throughout the district, nor did the board approve any cuts to the music arts program at South High School.

Mr Walsh, is the termination letter attached to this article correct or was it a different one as well.

Wow. The statement by Ms. Jacobs that “the question of Mr. Cross’ continued employment shouldn’t rest on the quality of his teaching…its irrelevant” is chilling.
I emphatically hope that her point of view is not employed when evaluating future candidates in any GPPSS job search. Apparently the criteria for hiring should be “can you resist the temptation to advocate for the program you have spent countless hours building?” so as not to inspire your administration (who won’t meet with you to discuss your concerns) to consider your advocacy “blackmail” and then, oh yeah “are you an effective teacher?” Somehow, I thought that a school system such as Grosse Pointe used a bit more rationality in hiring and firing, and I also believed that union positions tenured or not employed something called progressive discipline. I believe that this example will seriously hamper the effectiveness of any future band director, who will of course be a probationary employee as well. Even before they are hired they will get the message that they need to keep quiet, since apparently passionate dedication and parent advocacy are only deemed appropriate in one sector of the music program.

As a taxpayer who is observing the unfolding events it is clear in my opinion, that a good teacher was fired on no real justifiable grounds. This decision did not seem well thought out and quite hasty in action which has had consequences on an effective teacher's reputation and most importantly on students in this district.
Did we as taxpayers vote to elect a 'dictatorship' board? One that has seemed to act almost covertly to see a teacher go? What kind of precedent does this set?
This kind of rash decision and the way in which it has been handled, in many people's opinion, puts our much loved school system at risk for a possible lawsuit.
The whole business is disturbing. It also appears from what has been published that certain dates have been backdated. It is curious that the email document sent to administration and human resources, given to the Patch, has the sender/senders blacked out. Finally, it is highly offensive that a previous post would suggest that people stating their opinion and exercising free speech is misconstrued to suggest libel. We are in North America not North Korea.

I am not a band member or parent but one thing I know for certain is that this board and administration do not care one bit for the students in this district. It is the same thing over and over be it the football scandal, electing a board president, firing a principal.... it is always the same thing. Students and parents fighting a board that
couldn’t care less about the kids. I really have a hard time understanding why these people want to be on a school board when they have absolutely no interest in our children. They are merely puppets to those that hold their strings. Once again a scandal perpetuated by our beloved board.

Yes, that's why these people, our Board Members, are there, they don't care about our kids, NONSENSE.....read up on gpschools.org.....these volunteering individuals have or had kids in the district. You couldn't be more incorrect.

My understanding is that Mr Cross attempted to meet with the HR person Jon Dean on numerous occasions during the month of May to discuss his employment situation. Mr Dean ignored the requests. It was then that Mr Cross sent the letter to the parents. These are some of the issues that would have come up had the meeting to terminate Mr Cross complied with the open meetings ACt and had the public known. I have emailed the administration about the requested meetings with Mr Dean and no one has denied that Mr Dean ignored Mr Cross' request to discuss his employment situation.

The administration has not responded to my question as to why if they deemed Mr Cross' actions offensive in light of their unwillingness to meet with him why they did not choose some other form of discipline short of termination.

I compliment all individuals who are willing to stand up and be counted for their opinions and their views. My praise includes many on the other side of this discussion from myself, whether or not I agree with their thought process or analysis: Brendan and Lynn and Judy and Maureen and the others of integrity who join this discussion as concerned members of the community are as worthy of praise in this regard as Roberta and Birgit and Joy and Alan. These individuals are willing to be identified by name with the views that they express and by this willingness the integrity of their views and motives may be seen for what they are.

I am disappointed, on the other hand, that some instead choose to hide their identities. Our discussion on the internet will be honest and worthwhile to the extent that we, of all views, do not let pseudonyms take the place masks or a hoods. Those nameless individuals are not willing to be identified by name with the views that they express and by this willingness the integrity of their views and motives may also be seen for what they are.