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