FeedDistrict 150 isn’t the only screwed up school system in Peoria
March 31, 2004 in The Wire
? Journal Star: ND students vow support for fired dean
/PEORIA - Students at Notre Dame High School vowed Tuesday to keep
supporting fired coach and dean Cindy Clark, while Clark and her
family tried to quell rumors about the sudden termination.
“We have to clear her name. We’ll not let this die,” said Rochelle
Clark, Cindy Clark’s mother. “My daughter has done nothing wrong.”
Clark, 44, a popular dean, math teacher and coach of girls
basketball and volleyball, was fired by administrators of the
Catholic school on Friday, prompting a large rally of students,
parents and supporters on Monday.
On Tuesday, Clark said she still feels sad and confused about being
fired from her job of 21 years. “I don’t know why this has happened.”
After attending a 7 a.m. student-organized rally near the school,
Clark was not feeling well and went to bed, Rochelle Clark said. She
suffers from multiple sclerosis but is not disabled from it.
She was accused of insubordination, but given no reasons or details,
Rochelle Clark said. She had no written warning - only a verbal
statement asking her to stop parents from writing letters to the
diocese about a decision to ban deans from coaching.
Officials from the school and the Catholic Diocese of Peoria have
refused to comment on Clark or return phone calls. /
I want to make it clear that I have no inside information on this case.
I don’t know any of the people involved in this dispute, on either side.
All I have to say is this: Peoria send their children to private schools
for two reasons. One reason is to get away from the nonsense that
infects any public school system that has to please s fickle electorate
and government bureaucrats. They often encounter the different sort
nonsense that comes from being controlled by people who don’t have to
please anybody but their personal beliefs, except for potential donors.
The other reason is to get a religious education. The people who run
churches tend to see things in black and white and aren’t often swayed
by marches and letters of protest.
Perhaps I am harsh. I’ve seen cases of popular public school coaches
losing their jobs without any public explanation. It’s a fact of life.
If a school board member or two decides you didn’t give their kid — or
the kid of a friend — sufficient playing time, you must be a lousy
coach. Also, school board members who will admit they aren’t experts
about how to teach children do think they are experts about coaching and
aren’t afraid to second guess after the game if over.
In the end, the Peoria Diocese can do anything it wants at Notre Dame.
Its not a democracy. If parents are unhappy they can vote with their
feet. It’s not like there aren’t other alternatives to District 150
schools. Heck, if District 150 had any brains at all, they would hire
this woman immediately.
Also: Anyone who has the support of former Illinois Central College
Coach Lorene Ramsey can’t be all bad. Ramsey is 100 percent class and an
endorsement from her speaks with more authority than the shabby
treatment she’s getting at the hands of the diocese.
