It was quite something to witness Vicksburg Warren School District Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Swinford usurp the power of the school board, openly defy them and see a majority of the board quietly acquiesce to her demands at their July board meeting.

After her second recommendation for an assistant superintendent to the board was rejected, she announced she would not make any further recommendations to fill the position in direct defiance of what the board had directed her to do. She then promoted both rejected candidates to the position of administrative assistant along with accompanying salary raises.

A majority of the board went along with this, essentially giving her carte blanche authority to run the school district. If that’s the case, why do we even need a school board?

It is these types of actions by our board that is causing us to quietly blow through a $9 million surplus within the next year. Our district ran a $1.5 million deficit for the year that just ended and plans to run a $7 million deficit this current year. This will put us dangerously close to the state mandated 7 percent reserve we must have by law.

After that, we will either have to borrow money or the residents will be asked/told to pay more taxes.

I understand Ms. Swinford inherited this school system and its problems. Some progress has been made, but our elected school board needs to do its job and direct our superintendent, not the other way around.

Gary Cheslek

Vicksburg