In November, Patrick Weil was named the best high school principal in Northwest Indiana. This week, the Valparaiso School Board forced him to resign.
It is difficult to fathom why Valparaiso High School's principal, who has strong support from parents and teachers and presided over a school with rising test scores, was forced out.
Everyone in Valparaiso is wondering out loud whether Weil fell out of favor because of a decision the School Board or superintendent didn't like, or whether some improper action is to blame. Weil's personnel record indicates no accusation of illegal or improper action.
"You wonder what they're covering up," parent Ann Byrnes said this week. "People just don't quit like that."
Weil's ouster is a big loss for the school district. Not only did it lose a talented and caring principal, but it also tainted the school district's reputation.
Valparaiso's appointed School Board is accountable not to the voters but to the Valparaiso City Council and the Center Township trustee, who appoint the members. It is among a small minority -- 5 percent -- of school boards in Indiana whose members are not elected.
The School Board and administration must nonetheless recognize their responsibility to represent the parents and other citizens in the school district. They owe it to the public to explain why someone who was honored by his peers last fall should have been forced to quit.
Valparaiso's school district has had a culture of secrecy and an environment of fear for far too long. School employees have been afraid to speak freely about the school district and its administration. That is a detriment to the district. Improvement comes from an atmosphere in which constructive criticism is welcome. This is especially true in an academic environment.
The Valparaiso School Board and administration should begin by explaining why Weil was forced out. Then it should retain an independent consultant to hear what the faculty and staff members have to say about the school district, without fear of retribution, and then promise to make that report public, without being first reviewed by the school administration.
The school district's culture of secrecy and environment of fear must end. The School Board and administration must see the value of openness in handling the public's business. Either that, or it's time for those people to be forced out.
