Roundup Record Tribune & Winnett Times -

"Whoever controls the education of our children controls our future" W. Mankiller

We have seen nationwide and locally, school boards and administrations having unwavering powers to propel the education of todays youth. Transparency in mandates, policies, procedures, and all aspects of ones public education fall on the administration and local elected boards privy. Parents in various districts throughout the U.S. have questioned mask mandates, questionable literature materials, gender identification education, critical race theory, and many other items being closeted from parents knowledge. As was noted in my last letter to the editor, the current elected school board and publicly funded administration have continually and blatantly failed the taxpaying public on the activities of the superintendent search, along with other important decisions within the District. On the Districts application feed, it was silently posted on March 1st about an upcoming superintendent interview being held March 3rd, with a "Vo-Ag teacher Interview" an hour later. Ironically, this information is deficient on the historically utilized social media platform this District typically only uses, along with the Districts website. In a phone conversation with elected board chairperson Tom Vandeberg, he referred the deficiency of open communication with the parents and taxpaying public to the sitting superintendent. He was questioned as to why he; the elected board chairperson who is in charge of the superintendents oversite, wasn't ensuring transparency within the District, without resolve. As I have continued to highlight in these letters, this district continues to stonewall the public with any insight into the activities they perform. Mr. Vandeberg reported Josiah Mayfield of California was offered a contract for superintendent, and his wife Angela was offered the position for the open Vo-Ag teacher, which is currently held by Matt Vandeberg, Tom's son. Tom reported Mr. Mayfield held no superintendent licensure or experience, but was the "most capable" candidate, of the three interviewed and four applicants, based on the budget he manages in his current position. Currently Mr. Mayfield holds a position of "Assistant FFA Advisor at the California Department of Education" according to a web search, and also worked for the Career Technical Education as a coordinator. Phone messages to Mr. Mayfield have been unanswered for further clarification. Perhaps this district will take notice of their ineptness of communication with the public in which they serve, and will notify the taxpaying individuals of their new hire superintendent candidate and his experiences to lead the Roundup Public School district, and how he plans on being more transparent with those he will serve.

Gary Van Dyke

Roundup