COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL JANUARY 24, 2018
11A
Parent Continued from A1
employment or any district policies.
In August, an anonymous handwritten letter
was given to each member of the school board
citing Parent’s standing in the community and
claiming that the ex-partner of the SLSD employ-
ee involved with Parent was committing libelous
and slanderous offenses.
The same Cottage Grove resident who fi led the
initial complaint, paid a reported $700 for a hand-
writing analysis which concluded it was “proba-
ble” Parent was the author of the letter.
An unknown group of individuals wrote a let-
ter to the school board requesting that Parent be
placed on paid administrative leave until an inves-
tigation into who wrote the letter could be com-
pleted. The letter was placed on an online survey
platform by South Lane Employee Association
(SLEA) President Diane Hicks.
“SLEA takes the allegation of the anonymous
letter given to the school board in August very
seriously,” the SLEA letter read. “The letter slan-
ders and harasses a school district employee, and
if it is indeed from our superintendent, then this
would become a very serious legal matter.”
115 out of 153 SLEA members responded to the
survey requesting permission to forward the letter
to the school board. 110 approved the letter.
A second letter was sent to the district by 13 ad-
ministrators asking that the initial SLEA letter be
considered and a “no-confi dence” vote emerged
shortly after from nearly 80 percent of the classi-
fi ed employees polled.
“… I did not write that anonymous letter nor did
I distribute the letter to the school board,” Parent
said in a statement to the Sentinel. “Regardless
of who authored the letter, the letter was never
considered or acted upon by the board. The board
never considers anonymous letters and threw the
letter away.”
After an executive session held on Tuesday, Jan.
16, South Lane School Board Chair Alan Baas an-
nounced that Parent would retire from the district
in June. Just minutes prior to the executive ses-
sion, the board received a fourth complaint from
the law fi rm Reitmann and Reitmann on behalf of
four unidentifi ed school administrators claiming
Parent had threatened them with retaliation for
“having expressed reasonable concern regarding
superintendent Parent’s conduct through appro-
priate channels.”
The complaint was offi cial dropped on Friday.
In the district’s recommendation letter of Par-
ent, it states that she was “instrumental” in pass-
ing a $27 million bond in 2010 to build the new
high school, a $36 million bond in 2016 to fund
a new elementary school as well as update the
community pool and technology throughout the
district and that she “systematically led” the aca-
demic turn around at Cottage Grove High School.
“Three years ago, CGHS had the top high school
for graduation rate in the state and has been in
the top 10 for the past two years. In the late ‘90s,
CGHS had years of double-digit drop-out rates,
now it’s at one percent or lower.”
The letter also cites Parent's awards including
her 2007 recognition as National Superintendent
of the Year.
“This award brought recognition to the work
she had doing to serve the students of South Lane
for many years,” the letter reads. “South Lane
School District is in a better place as a result of
her leadership.”
After Parent’s retirement was announced on
Jan. 16, Parent went on the record with the Sen-
tinel stating in part, “First and foremost I want to
apologize for the distraction that my personal de-
cisions have made for the district. The work of the
district is important and challenging and the re-
peated attacks on me and my personal life and the
events of the last nine months have been extreme-
ly stressful. I have spent 33 years (the majority of
Suspect shot in car theft attempt
Cottage Grove Police assist county law enforcement
On Jan. 15, the Lane County
Sheriff’s Offi ce received a re-
port of a stolen vehicle (white,
Honda Accord) at the 500 block
of Clairmont Drive in the River
Road area of Eugene. A Lane
County Sheriff’s Deputy re-
sponded to the area at approx-
imately 4:51 pm and observed
two occupants in the vehicle.
As the deputy approached the
vehicle the male driver exited
the car and was uncooperative
with the deputy. The driver,
who was in possession of a
fi rearm, was shot by the depu-
ty and subsequently transported
to the hospital for medical at-
tention. The male, who is not
being identifi ed pending next of
kin notifi cation, was later pro-
nounced deceased. None of the
responding deputies or offi cers
reported any injuries in connec-
tion with this incident.
The second occupant of the
vehicle is a male who has been
identifi ed by Lane County Inter-
agency Deadly Force Investiga-
tion Team (IDFIT) investigators
and has been contacted by law
enforcement.
The details of this incident
are being investigated by ID-
FIT, which is comprised of law
enforcement offi cers from mul-
tiple agencies who are tasked
with investigating deadly force
events in Lane County.
my life) in South Lane School District to make
this the best district anywhere. I hope my body
of work over more than three decades speaks for
itself. I have walked the talk daily of making Kids
Come First!
It is clear from the events of the last week that
my personal decisions and the repeated attacks
have eroded the staff’s faith in my leadership. The
attacks have been calculated, and as soon as the
board and I defend one attack, there is another
attack waiting to be launched. I have repeatedly
shared the harassment that I have received with
the board.
I do not wish to hurt the district, nor the good
people in the district, therefore I am foregoing the
remaining two years on my contract and retiring
from South Lane School District effective July 1,
2018. I will be working with the board to deter-
mine the projects I work on over the next several
months…
I wish the South Lane School District the best
always and I am proud of what we have accom-
plished together.”
Assistant superintendent Kyle Tucker will act
as interim superintendent while the board search-
es for Parent’s replacement.
Measure 101 results
set for Tuesday
The special election to determine whether or not to implement a
0.7 percent provider tax on hospitals and a 1.5 percent tax on health
insurance providers took place yesterday, Jan. 23. Results were ex-
pected Tuesday night.
The vote would determine whether House Bill 2391 would stand
and fund a Medicaid expansion. A 'no' vote would repeal sections
of the bill and approximately 300,000 Oregonians may lose their
health coverage.
CORRECTION: Melissa Raade was misidentifi ed as Dacia Marsh in the above photo that ran in the Jan. 17 edition
of The Sentinel. Both women volunteer their time at Bohemia Elementary School, helping children learn to read.
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