Sullivan East High School

[Guest guest]

No support

Re: the mold in county schools, I heard Jo Mike Akard saying the reason they

first denied the parents' request to have this mold tested was because of

the price of the test. He told us almost a month ago at a meeting at the

school board that they were not required to test. He also said at a PTA open

house over two weeks ago that he was almost positive that these test results

would prove no problems at East and that there would be some people eating

crow.

I did not like that comment then, as I don't now. I'm just glad that parents

aren't the ones eating crow. Some members of the board seem to have the idea

that this is personal. We were never attacking them personally, but after

their conduct and attitude over this matter, we do not trust them as far as

our children are concerned. We will see this issue through to the end, but

it has opened up other issues for us. We lacked the support of the board,

and now we no longer support them. When elections for the board come up

again, they will see how the parents of East High feel.

Kathy Bentley

Bristol, Tenn.

Preventable problem

I was dismayed to read the article detailing the closing of Sullivan East

High School due to the presence of toxic mold. This problem will be very

detrimental to the education of our students and very costly to the

taxpayers. Mostly though, I find myself extremely disappointed because this

problem was very preventable.

The Sullivan County school system and the county taxpayers employ a

full-time director of maintenance, Joe Mike Akard. For his service, we pay

Mr. Akard, approximately $55,000 or more per year. Why was this long-growing

maintenance problem not detected and prevented?

Mr. Akard spent much of this past summer running a third unsuccessful race

for a seat in our state House of Representatives. Prior to his defeat in the

primary election, he held press conferences, had campaign events and spent

much time in County on the campaign trail all during weekdays - time

normally scheduled for work. In his case, time normally scheduled for

maintenance work - correcting and preventing problems in our school.

Mr. Akard would be well advised to work a little harder at the job he holds.

If he cannot do that one sufficiently, why should he ask us to give him

another taxpayer-funded position?

For goodness sake, what would happen to our school facilities if Mr. Akard

spent months in Nashville every year? For our children's sake I am glad we

don't have to find out.

Hodge

Bristol, Tenn.