
From:
[HBrunner]
Sent: Saturday, 09 September, 2006 7:14 AM
To: [Gigi Bocanegra]; Aquino, Bea; De Jesus, Luz
Subject: Fw: letter of resignation
Attachments: hpb resign.doc (33KB)
7
September 2006
ISM
Board Trustees
Dear
Mrs. Bocanegra,
With
this letter, I hereby resign from the ISM Board of Trustees. This is a
very difficult action for me to take, but now is I believe the best time
for me to take this step, in the interest both of ISM and of my family.
To
serve the school as Trustee in the months since the last AGM in May 2006,
was a personal choice which turned out to become a great sacrifice for
myself and for my family. The scurrilous politics of personal destruction
have been waged on an unprecedented scale, and have been waged right from
June 2006 against myself and my family in the press and other public venues.
A series of newspaper articles was simply full of malicious attacks. I
would also like to refute again a very baseless accusation that has constantly
been made against me as Trustee ever since the election (and even during
the election campaign): that I have acted on the Board to pursue "vested
interests". Nothing could be further from the truth. I have always acted
as part of the Board in the wider interest, and in the best interest of
ISM.
I
believe the Board should have given parents an earlier and more detailed
explanation on why the Board took the action with respect to Mr. Toze
as it did. In apologize to those who elected me and who were led down
by the Board in this way.
I
believe that the Board's action with respect to Mr. Toze was correct in
all aspects. Had I seen a better way forward, I would have chosen that
path. The Board, as Board, acted with the best interests of the school
and our children at heart. The same cannot be said of some of the ISM
community and some faculty and staff, who engaged in the dissemination
of partial information and incorrect statements, and who undertook a most
unproductive and destructive course of action for ISM. As a result, the
governance of the school is damaged, and now for several days children
are not at school.
It
has already been said in the public domain that the Board had lost confidence
in Mr. Toze as an effective superintendent for several reasons. For instance,
Mr. Toze acted in ways detrimental to ISM without failing to seek authority
where necessary prior to acting. Another reason for the loss of confidence
is with respect to the state of the school's accounting practices. With
respect to his relations to the Board, Mr. Toze stated "I am not batting
for the Board." He showed he had no intention of working with the duly
elected Board. He had no intention to serve as bridge between the Board
and the administrators and faculty, and this required function is set
out in Board policy. The clearest indication of these facts is in his
AGM speech in May 06.
I
thank my fellow Trustees for their support during my months as Trustee.
I reserve my deepest appreciation to the member of the faculty and staff
who act with unparalleled professionalism and dedication to ISM. I particularly
appreciate the dedication of Bea Aquino and Luz de Jesus, who supported
the Board in the face of undeserved pressure on them.
Sincerely
yours
Hans-Peter
Brunner
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