On guard
Frazier must keep anti-nepotism policy
Dr. Frederick L. Smeigh resigned as Frazier School District acting superintendent last week, citing a lack of support from the majority of school directors who unanimously hired him in May to help with financial constraints.
Smeigh, who departed July 29, said in a letter to the board, “when the board asked me to accept the position because of their belief that the district needed to be ‘turned around’ I agreed, on the understanding that I would stay as long as I felt I had the support of the board.”
The board had voted to bring Smeigh back when the district was facing a $1.3 million deficit in the 2011-2012 budget in conjunction with the state’s proposed budget.
It’s unfortunate that Smeigh’s second stint as Frazier superintendent was so short. It seemed like an obvious match to bring back Smeigh, who enjoyed a tremendous run as superintendent from 1991 until his retirement in 2005.
His track record speaks for itself. When Smeigh came to Frazier in 1991, he led the charge to reverse the district’s low achievement and financial status in addition to helping it become the only school district in Fayette County to implement an anti-nepotism policy.
That anti-nepotism policy, Smeigh told us after his retirement, was the driving force behind the district’s turnaround. It’s a policy that we urge other school districts in the county to adopt. We also hope that the Frazier school board does not retreat from its anti-nepotism policy and continues to serve as an example for the other districts in the county.
So while it is a shame that Smeigh didn’t enjoy the support he sought, we hope that the board did take something from his time as acting superintendent and will heed the advice of his considerable experience.
Of course, his replacement, elementary principal Ken Meadows, is no slouch in terms of experience either. Having served a number of years as principal and also as a school board member in the Uniontown Area School District, we have high hopes that Meadows will be a good fit for the district.
The district has serious issues to attend to, and we agree with Smeigh that the anti-nepotism policy has played a major role in the district’s academic successes. We feel it would be a travesty to see the policy changed.
We can’t speak to the school directors’ intentions on the issue, as they were the only directors in the county who chose not to meet with us during the run up to the primary. Their silence is enough to cause us some apprehension, but we trust that they will do the right thing for the district’s students and leave the anti-nepotism policy in place. It’s an issue that the district’s residents should keep a close eye on.
During this time of transition at Frazier, one thing that should stay the same is the district’s anti-nepotism policy.