Vote of No Confidence in Central Office

President Russell, Vice Presiden Wilson, Mr. Ferrell, Mrs. Milfeld, Mr. Noble, Mr. Sanders, and Rev. Moses:

 We, the undersigned Parents of children who are attending or have attended De Soto Schools, have composed this letter to express our dissatisfaction with the current leadership of Dr. Josh Isaacson and Dr. Clint Freeman.

 This letter is an expression of our “Vote of No Confidence” in Dr. Isaacson and Dr. Freeman and their ability to run our schools.  We understand the severity of this decision and hope that you do as well.    

 De Soto has always been a district to be proud of, one of where decisions were made on a collaborative basis with the best interest of our students in mind.  De Soto has always been a district that was lead with great vision from our leaders, teachers were given the respect and support to achieve, and children knew that they were cared about regardless of what their personal story may have been.  De Soto was a place people wanted to work.

 In the past couple school years rumblings started about concerns over central administration's leadership specifically regarding trust, collaboration, decision making, vision, lack of respect for parents, staff, communication, and district policy.  Rumblings have turned into complete outrage, and we believe that Dr. Isaacson and Dr. Freeman have failed to abide by De Soto's mission  "to ensure learning, growth, and success for all students in a safe environment" as well as the district mantras of “Students First" and "Dragon Pride".  

 Every student is the responsibility of all members of our community, and we the community are concerned that the leaders of Central Office, specifically Dr. Isaacson and Dr. Freeman, have created a hostile working environment through disrgard of district policies and by leading through fear.  Thus directly impacting the administration and teachers at each of the schools ultimately creating an adverse environment for our children to learn.

 They, together, have created a toxic environment for both students and staff.  Without the recognition of mistakes, complete disregard and lack of respect for parents, teachers, staff and administration there is no hope for learning or improvement and thus no way forward.

 We feel they have inconsistently applied rules and policies, are manipulative of parents, staff, and of you the board.  They have an ongoing lack of respect toward all the before mentioned.  A district cannot be run successfully through fear and manipulation.  Communication is delayed, incomplete, or nonexistant. There's a greater feeling that we are all losing our school. We need a different, more solid, more collaborative, and more real leadership. The moral is too low and feel it is time for a change.

 For these reasons stated, we the undersigned are voting “No Confidence” in Dr. Isaacson and Dr. Freeman and hope and believe that you as a leader and role model will make the right decision and choose what is in the best interest for the children.