Irene Sikorski's Letter in The Hour

http://www.thehour.com/opinion/letters/move-forward-to-enrich-the-greatness-of-the-norwalk-schools/article_54ab9558-ba97-5201-af9e-541145481857.html I have taken the liberty of cutting and pasting the letter from The Hour. What you are missing are the comments, especially from Mike Barbis. You can find the comments online in The Hour, Letters to the Editor.....Here is the letter....... After reading the headlines and letters to the editor, I feel compelled to speak out. I am angry and frustrated at the antics of Sue Haynie in her efforts to undermine any and all endeavors of the members of the Norwalk Board of Education. She is an obstructionist whose mission is always to cause upset. She is at the center of creating the "so-called dysfunctionality" of the board. On a daily basis, she is on a rant about every aspect of the board's work. This would be commendable if she was engaging the members of the board in productive debate; however, her venue is the press or behind closed doors. She has taken issue with the reading and math programs, the superintendent search, special education, the budget, the retreat, and especially anything having to do with Tony Daddona. In her smear campaigns, she uses half truths and innuendos. She claims that recent contracts that were negotiated for Mr. Daddona were done without transparency; however, the details of such negotiations are in the board packet. Furthermore, it is interesting to note, that Mr. Daddona's salary is NOT more than Susan Marks'. She was paid $200,000.00 plus an annuity of $30,000.00. What was not made public, however, is that Marks walked away with a severance of $90,000.00 after only a two-year term. Why didn't Haynie take issue with this outrageous sum of money? Why shouldn't Mr. Daddona receive the same salary as Mrs. Marks? Isn't he the interim superintendent? The previous interim superintendents received comparable salaries for whom they were replacing. Wouldn't it be much more productive if Mrs.Haynie worked with her fellow board members and Central Office personnel, instead of always being the naysayer and instigator of derision? These destructive witch hunts must stop. I think she has forgotten why she was elected. Remember her election slogan: Parents Not Politicians. What are her credentials to make informed decisions about the district's curriculum? For the record, she should be serving the Norwalk Family, not her own personal agenda or that of the Red Apples of which she is a founding member. Contrary to what Mrs. Haynie purports, Mr. Daddona's leadership style embraces an atmosphere of focused, calm determination, which has established accountability, transparency, and collegiality, which has not been the case in the prior administrations of Rosenstein, Herbert, Corda, or Marks. It has been a long time since Dr. Sloan's administration when just about everything was right. I move that we unite our efforts to defeat the negativity and move forward to enrich the greatness of the Norwalk Public Schools. The students, parents, teachers, administrators, support staff, and community deserve nothing less. Irene Sikorski