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We are truly blessed in Steamboat to have Donna Howell as our superintendent. She is an excellent administrator and wonderful communicator, and she is a passionate advocate for our children and what is best for their education.

She is a fervent supporter of her staff and will always put their needs before her own. She possesses a superior intellect and often seems to be the pursuer of resolutions rather than the perpetuator of problems. She has no discernable political agenda, and time after time, she has demonstrated a level of character and professionalism that is seldom seen in today's world.

Am I missing something? Shouldn't this be someone our School Board should be bending over backward to support? Are the School Board's political blinders on so tight that the constant focus on their own personal agendas will not allow them to see what a huge asset Donna is to our community?

Superintendent Howell and the rest of the administrators offered the board the opportunity to conduct another survey next month. The results would then be made available to the board, as it would have been made clear to the participants, in advance, that the results would be public. The board's dismissal of this simple solution is evidence of how divisive the current culture has become. The members' insistence to put Superintendent Howell in this no-win situation by ordering her to turn over surveys, which she promised would be kept confidential, is disgraceful.

You may read this and think that my view is clouded by my support, as a husband, for my wife, who is one of the staff members whose survey is in question. This is not the case. My frustration is drawn purely from the fact that I get angry when I see great people getting the run-around from a group of elected officials who obviously have no clue as to the current state of the world around them.

John DeVincentis and the rest of the board members who blindly followed his lead in this situation should be ashamed at their treatment of Superintendent Howell. Pat Gleason should be lauded for standing up for what he believes in and for doing what he knows is right. What Mr. DeVincentis and the rest of the board did, and are doing, is wrong. I hope everyone who elected those board members can clearly see what a negative impact their lack of support and these petty power plays have had on our administrators and teachers and the school district as a whole. Steamboat is lucky to have Donna Howell. Steamboat owes it to her to elect a School Board that continually supports, rather than continually undermines, her efforts to give our community the best school system possible. Keep up the great work, Donna, and even though you don't get it from your School Board, you have a lot of support in this community and a lot of parents who recognize and appreciate the superb job you are doing for our kids. Thank you.

Jim Miller

Steamboat Springs