Superintendent’s Ouster

The ouster of Somis Union Elementary School District Supt. Dale Forgey was a shocker.

Not because the superintendent lost his job, but that there was such a job in the first place.

How in the world can we justify a school district employing a $70,000 superintendent, a business manager, an administrative coordinator, a child-care program supervisor and other special services support staff for a school district of 320 students with 13 regular classroom teachers?

The maintenance of a 320-student school district is simply not financially efficient, particularly at a time when the state of California experiences an $11-billion shortfall in tax revenues and schools face a need to cut $2.2 billion in student programs and services.

If each of the state’s approximately 5,850 public schools serving grades kindergarten through eight (about 150 of which are in Ventura County) operated with Somis’ administrative/operational overhead, the state would have gone bankrupt long before now.

It’s about time we acknowledge the fact that schools must operate as efficient businesses; and in Somis’ case, efficiency of operation begs for either consolidation or school district unification.

ROBYN SMITH, Ojai