Letter: Nepotism has an odor of foul play

School Superintendent Jeff Moss "noticed that the retiring academic improvement officer's responsibilities were covered by other positions." He asked his subordinate, chief instructional officer Dereck Rhoads, "to restructure it and lower the pay from $110,000." Rhoads created a director of innovation central office staff position at a salary of $90,000.

At the request of Rhoads, the job posting is updated/changed from requiring experience as a teacher and principal to read that the experience was preferred.

Darlene Moss, Jeff Moss' wife, then applies, becomes one of the highly ranked applicants, and is interviewed by "the team," all of whom are under the ultimate supervision of Jeff Moss, and Darlene Moss is recommended for selection.

The selection was then approved by Rhoads. Jeff Moss then says he " ... had no part in hiring" and "I look at it that we hire individuals based on capability ... regardless of who they're related to."

Darlene Moss may be the most qualified and a perfect fit for the position, but the appearance has an odor of foul play. That's why some companies and many governmental entities at all levels have very clear anti-nepotism policies.

Based on his expressed views, I also seriously question Board of Education Chairman Bill Evans' sense of propriety concerning this hiring.

Finally, and perhaps more importantly, couldn't the $90,000 be better used to provide more in-classroom instructional personnel?

Michael F. Vezeau

This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 9:56 PM with the headline "Letter: Nepotism has an odor of foul play."