Tag: community

Help Save Our Schools: Several Actions To Take Now

After Tuesday night’s Newberg School District Budget Meeting, we know the financial state of our district is even more dire than we thought. And yet, at the meeting, the school leadership refused to answer questions that might clarify what was done to get the district into a financial mess; and also, what can be done to assure that the school district doesn’t make similar errors going forward.

Instead, as has often been the case, school leadership deflected, blamed others, and repeated “I don’t know” and “I don’t have an answer for that,” even though people in their position should know, and should have answers, given the leadership roles they currently hold.

Something needs to change before Newberg Schools plummet into a financial hole that might shape education in our community for the next generation, at least. Here are two specific ways you can help, right now, to assure a better future for our community’s children:

  1. Write the school board and let them know that we need change in our school’s leadership. Ask them to encourage the resignations of Superintendent Stephen Phillips, Deputy Superintendent Scott Lindenberger, and Director of Finance Heather Bixby. You can write the entire board at boardmembers@newberg.k12.or.us.
  2. Sign this petition, which reflects the concerns of your Newberg neighbors, and demands that Phillips, Lindenberger, and Bixby resign. We are hoping that a groundswell of support might make a difference in changing the leadership of our district.

If you need talking points, please consider this public statement, made Tuesday (5/21) by Newberg School Board Chair Nancy Woodward, one which reflects the deep concerns of this board, and the difficult road ahead for Newberg schools. We need someone in leadership who can help the schools navigate this road with care, transparency, and competence.

From Nancy Woodward, Chair of the Newberg School District:

The Newberg-Dundee School Board received news last night that the school district is over $3.7 million dollars in debt for this current school year. This stunning disclosure is as much a shock  to members of the School Board as it is to you.

Despite frequent inquiries of the superintendent on the status of the district budget, the school board was regularly assured that any potential budget shortfall would be managed through savings from staff retirement and resignations. Last week at the May 14th board meeting, the board was told there were new concerns about the current year and proposed 2024-25 budget.

Here is the current status:

The school district just paid $1.1 million dollars to the Oregon  Department of Education for overpayment of revenue. According to a recent independent budget review, the district is short over $10.7 million dollars to balance the 2024-25 school budget. The school board must legally adopt a budget for 2024-25 school year by the end of June.

Our next step is to fully understand the magnitude of this budget crisis and exactly what led the district to this point— and to share this information with you.

As a locally elected board, the Newberg-Dundee School Board has a fiduciary responsibility to the citizens of this community. We have a duty to protect the school district’s assets, provide transparency, accountability and promote a high level of professionalism from the organization’s leadership. We take that responsibility seriously.

Newberg students deserve our best, even under the most difficult of times. The School Board  is committed to providing ongoing, transparent communication and working with the the community and skilled professionals to resolve this crisis. You are encouraged to direct your questions, comments and ideas to the entire board at  boardmembers@newberg.k12.or.us

Superintendent Contract – A Citizen’s Take

Newberg School Board, and Dr. Phillips,                                               1/16/24           

While not able to attend, I have listened to the recording of the Jan. 9th Board meeting, and particularly the extensive discussion of Dr. Phillips’ contract and the Feb. 15th deadline to trigger/not trigger automatic rollover of the contract for a fourth year. I appreciate the seriousness and thoughtfulness in which all of the board members entered this discussion, both long-term members and new members to the Board. 

I would like to offer my thoughts on the situation, as a resident of Newberg and a parent of NSD alums. 

In an ideal world, all parties (employer and employee) enter into contracts in which everyone is thrilled with all details, and those contracts play out in environments that never call into question any element of the contract, or the working relationship from which the contract arose. As we know, in very few working contexts are all, or even most of these ideals met.

There are a few factors at play before discussing the 3 year rolling nature of the contract, the Feb. 15th deadline to amend/abridge and what doing so would or would not signify about Dr. Phillips’ future in the District. Among them are:

·      This 3 year contract was entered into after a relatively brief time on the job on Dr. Phillips’ part, and without public evidence of a robust performance evaluation by the previous Board. 

·      The contract was entered into with no public Board discussion, no public input, and, potentially, no or limited vetting by District legal counsel. 

·      In the less than a year that the new Board has been in place, no robust performance review of Dr. Phillips has been done. 

·      Indications are that this contract, both in its base salary and built in perks, is significantly more generous than those contracts of both previous Newberg Superintendents, and current Superintendents in comparable (3up/3down, to use Director Bridges’ term) Districts. 

·      As noted by the legal counsel, the nature of the 3 year rolling contract as written makes it very easy to continue indefinitely, and very challenging to amend or terminate. 

In listening, and watching the recording of the 1/9 meeting there seems to have been quite a bit of discussion and consternation around the term “terminating the contract.” I feel this clouded the issue. If, at the Feb. 13th Board Meeting the Board votes to “Terminate the CONTRACT” it is doing JUST that, terminating the automatic renewal of THIS contract AS IS two years from now. 

It is NOT terminating, or SIGNALING the PENDING, or even LIKELY future termination of Dr. Phillips. 

I recognize that, emotionally, it is less favorable for Dr. Phillips to be working under a contract that he knows will not last indefinitely, and he’ll need to renegotiate over the next two years, but this is a situation that employees face in all sorts of jobs (from teachers having contracts renegotiated to professional athletes being asked to renegotiate contracts that their teams no longer feel are favorable). 

Dr. Phillips then has a CHOICE. HE can decide if he likes working in Newberg, feels that his performance is likely to lead to a newly negotiated contract that will enable him to remain in Newberg OR he could decide to seek comparable compensation and employment in a new District. By not agreeing to roll the contract, as is, over for a 4th year, the Board is NOT FORCING HIM OUT, or even gently nudging him out. He is an adult professional, able to make decisions that he feels are best for himself and his family. 

In the hiring process that resulted in Dr. Phillips’ hiring, at least one imminently qualified candidate was passed over. Were Dr. Phillips to choose to leave, NSD would have other qualified candidates to choose from. 

Were Dr. Phillips decide to stay, and performance evaluations, District enrollments and finances and community support for him suggest he should be retained two years from now, he is absolutely free to enter into a new contract and remain here as long as all parties are satisfied with the conditions of his employment. 

I do NOT feel the contract should be automatically rolled over on the 15th because failure to do so might hurt Dr. Phillips feelings. 

I believe it is a bad contract for the District. It is out of line with our history, with comparable contracts in neighboring communities, and is likely to complicate negotiations with the teacher’s union who are almost certainly not going to be offered anything proportionately similar (in salary or perks). I believe the only responsible thing for the Board to do is to terminate this contract (in 2 years, as is the earliest possible date) and return the Superintendent’s contract to one more proportionately appropriate. 

My sense of this says NOTHING about whether or not Dr. Phillips should be the long-term Superintendent of Newberg Schools. Only annual and substantive performance reviews, and the future enrollment/academic/financial performance of the District can speak to that. I trust Dr. Phillips’ ability as an adult professional to understand the difference between rejecting an unwise contract, and the rejection of him personally. I hope the Board will not conflate the two.

Dr. Steve Sherwood

Newberg Resident

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