Holland Sentinel Letter to the Editor

HPS is guilty of incompetence

To the Editor:

At last week's bargaining session between the Holland Education Association and the board of education, the district's business manager, Bob Fein, admitted that he had made a "calculation error" in the district's proposed revenue over the next three years to the tune of $6.3 million. How convenient for the board that this error went undiscovered for over three months, and was remarkably found the very day the two sides met to attempt to negotiate a contract. Is it not the responsibility of the school board, in particular Treasurer Kevin Clark, to oversee the financial issues of this district? Where were they while this $6.3 million error hovered beneath their noses?

Superintendent Frank Garcia has said that this is not "mismanagement" but rather a simple error in the calculation of projected income. Regardless, a $6.3 million error on a budget that is used to plan for the future went undiscovered for over three months. If nothing else, this is a clear demonstration of the administration's and the board's gross negligence and total incompetence to conduct the business of the school district.

It is long past time for the district to give up its "shell game" and stop hiding the district's true financial condition and it is long past time for the board to sit down with the HEA to settle a fair and equitable contract.

Greg VanPortfleet,

West Olive