With school district headquarters as a backdrop, nearly 100 protesters assembled on Monday evening, June 10, to demand that Superintendent Stephen Phillips and two of his staff resign in response to the late-May revelation that the district is facing a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall.
The rally came about in response to word, delivered by an analyst from a state agency on behalf of district staff, that Newberg schools are facing a $3.94 million shortfall just weeks before it is required by law to adopt a budget. The estimated shortfall has grown in size over the ensuing weeks to many more millions of dollars, although exact figures are elusive.
Protest organizer Elaine Koskela led the rally, which saw numerous speakers take to the microphone to voice their displeasure with the situation. Koskela began by quoting Brandy Penner, who was among the minority on the previous school board that saw its conservative members fire former superintendent Joe Morelock and replace him with Phillips, despite the cries from the citizenry.
“’This will have rippling effects for months and years,'” Koskela quoted Penner. “That’s what she said two and a half years ago. … ‘This is going to set our district back decades. Not only that it is our children who will suffer.’”
Koskela insisted that Phillips’ hiring was based on his conservative views instead of his qualifications.
“Clearly their only lens was, is he one of us, not them. If his abilities and professionalism had been a lens, at all, he would not have been hired,” she said.
Irene Dunlap, a parent of students in the district, was scathing in her criticism of Phillips as well as his assistant superintendent and finance director.
“As parents, teachers and staff we come together with one voice — we have lost faith in Dr. Phillips, in (Deputy Superintendent Scott) Linenberger and Heather Bixby,” Dunlap said. “Their utter incompetence is on full display.”
Dunlap called for an audit of the district’s finances “or an inquiry to assess exactly what happened under the Phillips administration. Where’s the money?”
The crowd, many holding handmade signs calling on Phillips to resign, joined in the chant: “Where’s the money? Where’s the money?”
A student speaker beseeched Phillips to resign, saying “students deserve better leadership than him.”
A retired teacher from the district said she was aghast the district was so far behind on addressing the budget shortfall: “There is no possible reason that you wait until May to discover a (budget deficit) …”
She encouraged the gathered, however, not to give up on the district or its students but advised the administration to exit gracefully: “Mr. Phillips, with all due respect, please resign.”
Then two individuals with significant gravitas took a moment to speak: Terry McElligott and Rebecca Piros.
McElligott served for more than 35 years in the district as a teacher, administrator and curriculum director. She commented that, as an administrator, she had been through reductions in force (RIFs) in the past and the difference between then and now was the understanding that transparency, integrity, communication and honesty were paramount so all of the employees in the district were kept abreast of what was going on and what could be coming down the road as far as budget cuts.
“And you don’t wait until May to figure it out, you start preparing your staff — there’s going to be RIFs, there’s going to be this much money, this is probably where it’s going to go,” she said.
She added that past district leadership was collaborative in making budget cuts and that they had listening sessions with the public, who helped prioritize which programs and positions would be saved and which could be cut. She admonished Phillips after word surfaced recently that he was suggesting massive cuts, including the closing of an elementary school, unilaterally and without much input from school administrators nor the public.
Having worked in a tiny eastern Oregon school district early in her career, McElligott explained that the long-term effects of such cuts, including closing schools, could linger for decades as school patrons have long memories.
“You want a bond? You want an operating levy? You are not going to get it! They will remember you always cut their school,” she said.
She suggested, instead, cutting Linenberger’s position and putting that money toward proposed cuts to the district’s communications director position and community resources specialist that works with the district’s Latino population.
Piros, who served in the district for 11 years and was a union leader before being elected to the board, reflected on her experiences of being “RIFed” and how the principal at her school, as well as a former superintendent, cared for her through the process. Her time on the board also shaped how she viewed budget cuts.
“I understand what it means to look through a budget and know by February that we need to put everything on hold and that this situation is totally irresponsible and just unfathomable,” she said. “I ask, where did the money go?”
She added that during her time on the board they were diligent in ensuring that the district had a healthy ending fund balance, but now the district is left with nearly nothing at the end of this budget cycle, and the board was kept in the dark about the issue.
She closed with a simple plea to the crowd: “I encourage you all to stay in the fight and I will be thinking of you and supporting you from afar and I send you all my love.”
Counterprotester numbers one
When word of the Newberg Neighbors for a Better School Board’s protest surfaced Monday, the scuttlebutt in town was that supporters of the former school board would gather en masse to counterprotest, but the turnout was decidedly smaller than expected.
Judy Brown, a former educator at Newberg High School and wife of controversial former school board chairman Dave Brown, was the sole counterprotester to arrive on the scene soon after its start, much to the chagrin of some in the crowd.
“You’re not welcome here,” one man shouted.
“I’m not welcome here? I pay taxes too,” Brown retorted. “How rude.”
Brown proceeded to video-record the event. She did not speak to the crowd, other than to respond to one protester’s claim that her husband and the conservative school board were responsible for the economic morass the district finds itself in after hiring Phillips.
“They are not responsible for this,” she insisted.
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