What you said about Mt. Vernon Principal Terry Eisenbarth

I've been getting a lot of feedback to Wednesday's column about the resignation of Washington Elementary Principal Terry Eisenbarth in the wake of incompetence and misconduct allegations.

I heard from a number of Eisenbarth supporters wondering why, as one reader put it, I was  "making him sound like a villain."

"Didn't you ever get a real (gentle fun) whack for your birthday when you were little," this grandma wrote. "I did and it was fun and special not BAD."

To a person, Eisenbarth supporters told me the former principal loved kids, and they loved him.

I can understand the rush to defend a beloved principal, and I know tensions are running high in Mount Vernon, but these readers missed the point.

A couple weeks ago, I wrote that birthday spankings were the tip of the iceberg in Mount Vernon -- that the real issue as I saw it was that teachers had been expressing concerns about Eisenbarth's behavior and competence at least since last November.

It wasn't until teachers gave the school board a letter of no confidence that the district started to investigate these complaints -- that's problem number one, which is made sort of moot by Eisenbarth's resignation.

But that resignation effectively closes that 11th hour investigation -- leading us to problem number two, which I wrote about on Wednesday:

"If it's true that Eisenbarth showed a pattern of misconduct, professional licensers should have the chance to review the facts and determine whether or not any sanctions are in order.If allegations are unfounded, Eisenbarth deserves to have his name cleared - not to have to leave Mount Vernon under a cloud of suspicion.Leaving the question unanswered shouldn't be an option."

If allegations are unfounded, Eisenbarth deserves to have his name cleared - not to have to leave Mount Vernon under a cloud of suspicion.

Leaving the question unanswered shouldn't be an option."

An investigator's findings wouldn't automatically heal the rift this situation has created in Mount Vernon -- there likely always will be Eisenbarth supporters and detractors, no matter what the facts show -- but leaving the question hanging is like refusing to dress an open wound.

If Eisenbarth didn't do anything wrong, an investigation would show that. And if he really is as incompetent and abusive as he's accused of being, he's got no business holding a professional license to work in a school. It's problem we see in school districts across the state. Again, I'll quote myself here:

"There are no winners if school boards, so relieved to be rid of a problematic educator,use resignations as excuses to drop misconduct investigations like a student drops textbooks in June.Even if their intent isn't to shuffle incompetent or unethical educators along to other school districts, boards should know that's what they're making possible when they sweep dirt under the rug.How many times do we have to learn this lesson: Until Iowa law changes to require districts to report serious allegations of misconduct to state licensers, there always will be school boards happy to close their eyes to their role in the problem."

making him sound like a villainmaking him sound like a villain.

Even if their intent isn't to shuffle incompetent or unethical educators along to other school districts, boards should know that's what they're making possible when they sweep dirt under the rug.

How many times do we have to learn this lesson: Until Iowa law changes to require districts to report serious allegations of misconduct to state licensers, there always will be school boards happy to close their eyes to their role in the problem."