Letter to the Editor: Local voters call on board president to educate voters on all candidates

The following piece is signed by Kris Rath, Joy & Eric Seward, Katrina & Guy Roberts, Jordan Roberts, Daunte Roberts, Amber Vincent, Cheryl Harnsberger, Brookann O’Dell, Sarah Bensken, Sarah Windingland, Linda Meachum, Susan & David Gonzalez, Trisha Nelson, Kim Hooper, Diane Klock, Mark Webb, Garth Seiple

The M-S Board of Education president lacks a fundamental understanding of community engagement, civic duty and sworn responsibility to represent all constituents. It’s human nature to have personal beliefs about which candidates one would like to see on the board; however, it’s overtly unethical and reeks of impropriety for him to use his official “Max McComb: Mahomet-Seymour School Board President” Facebook page to sponsor and publish ads promoting a “team” of candidates as if this were a partisan election. This is a deliberate maneuver to make constituents believe that there are only four candidates running for four seats; however, if he were to demonstrate true leadership, his public comments would reflect that eight candidates are running for four seats. When the sponsored ads appeared on individuals’ feeds and the propriety of the ads came into question, he deleted all comments and blocked specific – not all – people from further questioning, commenting or engaging on his official page. Furthermore, Facebook removed an ad of his after identifying that it violated advertising policies by containing restricted content. This illustrates his inability to engage openly, honestly and fairly. He must refrain from unethical political tactics and abusing his elected position. The words and actions of an elected, nonpartisan official must remain unbiased so that voters can decide who will best serve our students, teachers/staff and community. Voters must be confident that sitting board members will work with newly elected board members in a productive, professional manner. By using his elected position to promote this “team,” he is not only undermining that confidence, but he’s also transparently demonstrating his failure to uphold the oath to which he swore. Regardless of the April 2 election results, let’s pray – as a community – that the new composition of school board members will convince the board president to behave in the manner to which his position requires and act with unquestionable integrity. Maybe they’ll even remind him that in two years his seat on the board will be up for re-election and that voters have long memories.