ATTENTION CATSKILL COMMUNITY! 
This is a copy of  letter sent to each BOE Member today.

Dear Catskill BOE Members, 

We are writing this letter at the behest of a large number of Catskill Community Taxpayers and Residents. A petition testifying to the support of the positions expressed in this email will be submitted to the Board Clerk early next week. 

WE (UNDERSIGNED) RESIDENTS OF CATSKILL HAVE LOST CONFIDENCE IN THR ABILITY OF SUPERINTENDENT DAN WILSON TO PERFORM HIS DUTIES AND THEREFORE REQUEST THE BOARD ACTS ON THE COMMUNITY'S WISHES TO DISMISS THE SUPERINTENDENT IN A NO CONFIDENCE VOTE IMMEDIATELY.

The Community wishes to let it be known that it is EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED in the Board for not allowing extra time for the Community to express its concerns, given the unprecedented turnout at the BOE meeting on Wed March 13th. 

A signed petition (attached) was submitted two days in advance of the Meeting to the Board Clerk asking for:

 1. To provide a sufficiently large venue to accommodate the anticipated large crowd. Unfortunately, the venue was still too small. Many Community members were not allowed to enter due to the limited capacity of the venue which could have easily been expanded. 

2. We asked that the Board ADD SIGNIFICANTLY MORE TIME than the allotted 15 minutes for commentary as the Community felt it was needed to be PROPERLY HEARD! This request was denied by Board President Engelin. This additional requested time could easily have been voted on by the board when asked to do so by Ron Chiminelli at the meeting. Any member could have introduced a motion and ultimately it could have been voted on by the board right then and there. This INACTION by Board President Engelin, as well as the rest of the Board, was a slap in the face to the Community and showed a lack of understanding of the extent of the concerns of the Community! 

3. The Community requested that a few Spokespeople be given more than 3 minutes to speak as these spokespeople were representing the collective concerns of numerous citizens. This too was not allowed by Board President Engelin. I, (Ron Chiminelli) had to shorten my speech by 14 minutes, and was thereby prevented from publicly speaking on the perceived indiscretions of both the Superintendent as well as members of the Board. Although I submitted the full version of my speech to the Board, We, the Community have NO ASSURANCE that the Board has read it or any other document submitted by the Community. We believe that the Board should PUBLICLY ACKNOWLEDGE that said documents WERE RECEIVED and we ask that the Board ATTEST to READ and CONSIDER the merits of all presented material, as well as release a general statement that assures the community that it will ACT on the requests where deemed credible. 

4. The Community requested that Board members reflect on their past conduct and recuse themselves for conflicts of interest, and/or step down, or be voted out by the rest of the Board before the Board meeting on 3/13/24. Since the Board neither acknowledged nor reported on this point, and since all Board members were present at the meeting on 3/13/24, we do not know if our requests were given consideration in advance of the meeting, or acted upon, or simply ignored. Due to this PERCEIVED INACTION, the Community has LOST a great deal of CONFIDENCE in the ability of the Board to act on its behalf. There appears to be a glaring Absence of Transparency and Accountability in the Board's recent inactions in the last few weeks. 

While the community recognizes that the Board cannot speak as to DETAILS of pending i investigations, it certainly CAN AND SHOULD speak in GENERALITIES as to its actions! The Community demands that the Board inform its resident taxpayers and communicate openly with said Community to lend ASSURANCE that they are indeed acting on the Community's behalf. Additionally, a statement should be released by the Board as to whether or not it LIED to the community at the end of Wednesday's meeting when the Board announced it was going into Executive Session. The Community saw Board members being escorted to their cars by police and then drive off. This gave the appearance to the community that it was LIED to. If on the other hand, the board left and moved their executive session into another undisclosed location, then it would be a violation of Open Meeting law. Either way, the public deserves to know via a public statement. 

It was blatantly obvious from all Speakers at the 3/13 Board meeting that the Catskill Community demands an investigation into the Superintendent as well as question the validity of any procedural correctness of the recent investigations that the Superintendent's office directed. The Community would also like the Board to investigate a possible LIE by the superintendent on 3/13. Was the School Board indeed ever advised and presented with documents the superintendent said he had given to the Board regarding the school Senior trip?... Or was this a lie to the Community as well as to the BOE? I hope the superintendent's words will be investigated. 

The meeting showed that the Community, as well as the teacher's Union and the student body, have LOST CONFIDENCE in the Superintendent and have ASKED FOR HIS RESIGNATION. Since he has not done so, we the Community ask that the Superintendent be placed on Administrative Leave while the Board investigates him as well as his perceived faulty previous investigations. This action is well within the Board's power. We also ask that the Board consider answers to the seven questions posed in copies of the speech given to each Board Member by Ron Chiminelli on 3/13, and use these points to guide their investigation into the Superintendent's actions. In addition, we ask that the board act on the recommendations put forth by the united statement of the Teacher's Union.

If indeed this Board puts the current superintendent on Administrative Leave, I would like to submit to the board a LOCAL, Highly Experienced, Eminently qualified, former Superintendent in Several New York City and State Districts who would be willing to interview and take a position as an Interim Superintendent. (Resume is Attached)

Additionally, the Community requests that the Board use its Power to IMMEDIATELY set up another Open Meeting WITHOUT the presence of the Superintendent and allow SUFFICIENT TIME for the Community to be heard and for Representative Spokespersons to be allowed to properly present their complete researched findings. 

The final request that we, the Catskill Community, ask the BOE to do, is to conduct an Annual or Year to Date Performance Review of the Superintendent. List the Superintendent's accomplishments, as well as his shortcomings, and scrutinize every action and decision. Grade his performance objectively and determined if he has met his contractual obligations.

If the Superintendent's performance review is deemed inadequate or poor, the district should have adequate cause to terminate his employment and may be able to do so without paying him for his atrocious performance.

We, the Community, are convinced the Superintendent has been bullying staff and has been doing an inadequate job of serving our District's needs. Is there ANY EVIDENCE to prove otherwise? We have already collectively asked for his resignation due to a Loss of Confidence by Students and Teachers, as well as the Community at large. We ask that you place the Superintendent on Administrative Leave and Investigate his actions and act to Terminate his Contract of Employment for Cause and act quickly to replace him with a suitable Interim Superintendent. 

Catskill CCSD BOE, use the POWERS at your disposal and ACT in service of the Community that elected you to REPRESENT THEM at this TIME OF CRISIS!

Written by Ron Chiminelli & Karen Van Wie