Armstrong Acted 'Egregious and Disgraceful,' Should Resign: Letter to the Editor

Editor's note: This at the Sept. 10 meeting. 

I sent this letter to the Stow Sentry but it wasn’t published.

Also, please understand that this is solely my opinion and I am speaking on my own behalf without influence from anyone, I simply feel the need to express my thoughts and feelings.

After reviewing tapes of district board meetings and attending some of them, it is my opinion that Mr. Armstrong has acted in an egregious and disgraceful manner as a member of the Stow-Munroe Falls City School Board of Education and should resign.

When business professionals have addressed the Board, Mr. Armstrong has insulted and berated them, and treated administrators and other board members in the same way. It is embarrassing to the Stow community that he conducts himself in this manner.

Instead of being a conscientious leader and discussing with his colleagues how the situation with the former high school principal should be handled, he chose to use the circumstances as an opportunity to, yet again, grandstand to the Stow community in an egotistical way to gain attention while putting the district in a bad light.

As an employee housed in the central office, I was privy to a confrontation Mr. Armstrong displayed after his first board meeting,when he came into and very loudly, angrily and aggressively demanded certain records.
In my opinion his actions were unprofessional and threatening as he tried to bully central office personnel.

Mr. Armstrong was elected to his current position, not through a mandate, but because so many others were also running for the same seat. How unlucky for Stow that the cards fell as they did and he garnered a few more votes than his running mates. This does not make him qualified in any way to serve. It just gives him the title.

Before he was elected he and the other “records request” people have inundated the treasurer’s office with time-consuming requests for information. Is it his motive to task the office so much that they cannot do the jobs they are charged to do? How much is that costing the taxpayers?

Having been an employee of three school districts for a total of 27 years, and as such, had, perhaps, up to 25 different board members as my “employer,” never have I been so embarrassed by the behaviors of any of them, as I am with Mr. Armstrongs’.

His motives and actions speak for themselves and I encourage him to resign.

Signed,

Mary E. Haas (aka Beth)

Have a letter to the editor to submit? Email it to Editor Amanda Harnocz.