Letter: Sunnyside school superintendent should be fired immediately

The Sunnyside School Board has a duty to its patrons and the public, however unpalatable, to fire Rick Cole for cause immediately.

Superintendent Cole, through his gross negligence, exposed the school district to an unforgivable level of liability by operating a school district vehicle while dead drunk, and it is only by dumb luck that no one was killed or injured.

This is apparently Cole’s second DUI arrest in less than a year, and it is beyond comprehension that this individual would get to keep his job one more day, let alone through the end of the school year. The lack of appropriate action and enforcement of accountability at the top level of district leadership is staggering.

My guess is once the district’s insurance carrier catches wind of the fact the school board left this liability on the payroll, and that he had not revealed his earlier arrest, some pretty frank discussion about risk management and good judgment will ensue.

The public should not be paying Cole’s salary one more day. Compassion and accountability in this case are mutually exclusive.

This story was originally published February 2, 2016 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Letter: Sunnyside school superintendent should be fired immediately."