BOARD, SUPERINTENDENT NEED TO AGREE ON ISSUES, MEMBER SAYS

The Journal Sentinel staff

A Milwaukee School Board member said Friday he believes that Superintendent Howard Fuller will resign if Fuller and the board can't agree on basic issues.

David DeBruin said he believes Fuller sees his job as being the head of a district with a board that has a compatible view of reforming education to achieve higher student achievement.

"If the perception is that the board wants to go in a different direction, personally, I think he would resign," DeBruin said. "I don't think it's a threat to resign. It's an integrity issue."

Fuller wouldn't comment on his long-term plans, but said he had written to School Board President Mary Bills, asking her to call a closed-session meeting of the board before April 14. Because of scheduling conflicts, he said, he thinks the meeting will be held April 18.

"Until I speak directly to the people I work for, I do not think it's appropriate for me to make any other comments," Fuller said.

Fuller's tenure with the district has been an issue since members of the business community predicted he'd step down if the five School Board candidates backed by the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association were elected to the nine-member School Board.

Incumbents Sandra Small of District 2, Leon Todd of District 3 and Christine Sinicki of District 8, along with newcomer Joseph Fisher in District 1, were the union-backed candidates elected Tuesday.

Citywide candidate Rose Daitsman, also backed by the teachers union, was defeated by John Gardner, who had the support of many members of the business community and of Mayor John O. Norquist.

DeBruin said that, as a board member, he wants a superintendent who is comfortable carrying out the board's wishes. You don't want someone who doesn't fundamentally agree, he said.

DeBruin also said that weeks before Tuesday's election, individual board members discussed holding a meeting shortly after the election to discuss the issues.

The purpose of the meeting would be "to make sure there is a comfort level," DeBruin said. "I think that makes sense."

Meanwhile, Todd said he has been asked to run for School Board president at the end of the month. He has not given it any thought, he said. But Todd frequently has differed with aspects of Fuller's school reform initiatives.

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