Oakridge board stands by embattled schools chief; she promises ‘more communication from me’

By DOUG BATES/Editor/The Herald — Reta Doland will keep her job.

Oakridge School Board Chairman John Weddle says the district will follow the recommendation of a consultant who concluded that months of intense community criticism of Doland’s performance did not warrant her termination.

Weddle’s announcement, delivered at the start of Monday night’s virtual (Zoom) board meeting, was followed by a succession of brief statements by members of the board. Each offered much the same message: For the sake of the children, it’s time to move on, and everyone needs to improve communication.

“It is apparent that communication needs to be more frequent and more clear,” Doland said in a statement she read to the Zoom audience. “You can expect more communication from me.”

Brief public comment was allowed on the subject at the start of the meeting.  Weddle read aloud three emails critical of the board’s handling of the controversy.

Interviewed afterward, Doland’s foremost critic, Oakridge parent Nicole Sulick, voiced little surprise in the board’s announcement and plenty of disappointment.

“I am baffled that they can continue to refuse to acknowledge my email of Feb. 15 in which I submitted my rebuttal to the investigator’s report,” she said. “And again tonight the board ignored my request during public comment that the board members acknowledge whether they had received and read my report.”

In her rebuttal, she found the consultant’s report to be superficial and filled with errors.

She and the Oakridge Teachers Association complain that he based his recommendation on just two interviews, one with Doland and one with Sulick. No teachers were interviewed.

The OTA, the union representing about 40 district employees, overwhelmingly voted “no confidence” in Doland this winter. A parent group, led by Sulick, submitted a petition bearing more than 300 signatures calling for her immediate termination.

Both groups accuse Doland of creating a “toxic work environment” and of failing to communicate.

The third-party consultant was hired by the board in response to the furor. Although he advised against Doland’s termination, he did conclude she needed to perform better in a few key areas and improve her communications.

“I know everyone is working hard and making daily sacrifices for the good of Oakridge’s children,” Doland said in the written statement she read Monday night. “It is not my intent to give you one more thing to read, but you can expect more communication from me. In response, I would also appreciate your willingness to reach out to me, as well.

“Knowing your challenges, successes and questions will help me better provide the support you need.”

In the string of short statements by board members calling on the community to move on from the turmoil, one director, Susan Hardy, offered a brief rebuttal to parent/teacher claims that Doland’s leadership is driving families and teachers away from the district. Hardy said the number of families transferring their children to Lowell schools hasn’t changed since the previous administration, and she maintained that the teacher retention rate has not declined, either. She said there are teachers who take jobs in Oakridge with the intention of staying only briefly, and it is not fair to say Doland’s leadership is what compels them to move on.

Afterward, Sulick challenged those statements.

“I had two current teachers message me during tonight’s meeting that they have decided that this board will not listen to teachers,” she said, “and they are both actively looking for new employment with the intention of leaving the district at the end of this school year.”

Herald Editor Doug Bates is a retired newspaper journalist who lives in Oakridge.