The Oak Harbor School Board signed a letter entitled “School critics enlighten board” (News-Times, Sept. 4, 2004).

It included statements as: (1) Community input is encouraged and welcomed. (2) Your opinions do matter. (3) It was a good lesson in humility to hear what needs fixing in the OH School District. (4) It was clear that some citizens have been turned off by a perception of arrogance.

Kathy Jones signed that letter, but the tone of her July 28, 2007 letter is quite different. Instead of “welcoming input,” she complained that Mr. Burnett “has been one who always criticizes.” Do opinions from the public have to agree with those of the board? In my view, the community owes a debt to Mr. Burnett and others (notably, Scott Hornung), who offer a valuable service as devil’s advocates and keep the board on its toes. Checking educational progress and budgets and comparing these data with other districts are difficult tasks and are very time consuming. It is important for the public to be aware of alternative approaches to district problems as well as instances when the board misrepresents data or when expenditures are questionable.

Ironically, the Whidbey News-Times, that thrives on investigating, is also misguided about Mr. Burnett’s role in probing the activities of the school district. An editorial (May 10, 2006) listed this reason for voting: “It would be fun to pass the bond just to see constant school district critic Bill Burnett have a bad day on May 16.”

Bernard E. Skud

Oak Harbor