CAMANO: Schreiber reelected Stanwood-Camano School Board president amid controversy
Isabella Loy reports from the Stanwood-Camano School District for the Stanwood Camano News.
Al Schreiber will continue as president of the Stanwood-Camano School Board following reelection at the Dec. 3 school board meeting, alongside new Vice President Steve King and Legislative Representative Betsy Foster.
The president and vice president serve for one year, while the legislative representative serves for two years.
Schreiber was elected president and Charlotte Murry was elected vice president last December.
Murry has also served as the legislative representative for the past two years.
They Said It
For the president’s seat, Director Miranda Evans nominated Murry and Foster nominated Schreiber.
“During our year with Director Schreiber as our president, we’ve gone from a cohesive, functioning board that focused on what is best for our students to what you see today in front of you, which is a dysfunctional board that does not communicate amongst ourselves,” [Director Miranda] Evans said.
Evans said the board does not properly communicate with staff members or the community under Schreiber’s leadership.
“We violate our own policies. We do not hold ourselves to the same standards that we hold our staff and our students,” she said. “I just think that we could be better served with a leader that understands, wants to learn and wants to get better.”
Foster said her experience with Schreiber as president has been nothing but positive.
“I’ve been working with Al Schreiber for a year, I’ve learned a great deal,” Foster said. “I appreciate the direction that he’s going in leading this group. So that is why I support you. I trust you, and I appreciate your leadership.”
Murry said she felt Schreiber’s leadership has led to broken trust.
“When you are working as a team, you one of the biggest issues with team building is when trust has been broken,” Murry said. “And I would say that throughout this year, your behavior and how you’ve interacted with us has been a huge violation of trust.”
“Trust is important,” Schreiber said. “Once broken, like fine china, you can rebuild it, but it will never be the same. … And I will try to do better this year.”
For the vice president seat, Evans again nominated Murry.
Evans said she relies on Murry to get information that Schreiber does not share.
“The reason that I actually have the level of information that I do get as a board member is because Director Murry shares it with me after she meets with Director Schreiber and Dr. Rumbaugh,” Evans said. “I’m not sure I would get that if we had a different set of leadership up there. So I’m concerned that the limited communications I currently get would be even more restricted.”
Schreiber nominated King, saying his experience as a college professor and his frugal mindset make him fit for the role.
“I think he would be valuable in the vice president role because one of the primary duties there is to look over our bills and invoices … and with his financial background I think he would do a much better job there,” Schreiber said.
King nominated Foster for [legislative representative]. Evans again nominated Murry.
“Director Murry, as our current legislative rep, goes to Olympia all the time,” Evans said. “She does a great job of bringing back the information, hosting a study session, soliciting our input.”
“She does a great job of advocating for our district and our students, not her personal beliefs,” Evans added.
Schreiber said that Foster has expressed interest in being the legislative representative since last year, but he asked her to wait and get some more experience.
