Saturday, August 15, 2009

Letter From Board President Jim Gardner

Below you will find a recent letter by Board President Jim Gardner where he attempts to respond to the public outcry and outratge regarding the closing of Lakeview Learning Center. Read the letter for yourslef. I have posted some of my questions as comments and encourage you to do the same. ALSO NOTE: Come Monday when the letter is to be realeased it will be nearly ONE WEEK since the parents were notified and we posted our first letter to the board. To this day, I have not been contacted by the board, nor have any parents.

Do not miss the Forsythe letter to President Gardner posted here

A letter from President Gardner
The HOA and Board operate within a framework of rules and regulations that require that we function in a specified manner, in terms of meetings, notifications of meetings, etc. We are not a sole proprietary store or a partnership in which actions can be taken by an individual or even the Board without going through the proper procedures.

As new information about the preschool accumulated in the period between mid July and early August, the earliest possible time for a meeting was the regularly scheduled executive meeting on August 6th. So there was no earlier time that a meeting could be held. The decision by the Board on August 6th was communicated by the GM to the preschool director on August 7th. In addition to notifying the director, the GM was asked to prepare a letter to the parents and a letter to our members detailing the reasons for the closure. Such a letter had to be drafted, reviewed, sent to all the Board members, re-drafted, reviewed again and sent to PCM HR department as well as our legal counsel, etc. A cumbersome process, but under the circumstances, this is the process that we followed to insure that everyone rights were protected.

Right now it appears that the letter will be ready by Monday and people should be able to read it on the website by Monday afternoon. Given that the preschool operates for the benefit of less than 1% of the association, I don't think the time taken to go through the proper procedure disadvantages our association. For those people who were immediately impacted, the preschool director was informed on the 7th, and the letter to the parents and the return of the checks happened on the 11th.


3 comments:

  1. New information about the preschool accumulated? What information? We were not told any of the facts, just forced to find a new quality, accredited preschool for our kids in under 3 weeks.

    The letter you asked the GM to write is taking so long to draft yet the details in the letter were enough to force the immediate closure? Also, there was NO letter mentioned until AFTER the parents started this blog. If you knew it would take so long, why couldnt you have started the letter on the 7th, had it ready for the parents on the 12th?

    The comment about the preschool serving 1% of the association could be the root of the issue as you seem to have included that in several recent emails to others. If you look at the number of families who are utilizing the preschool, your numbers are accurate. But having just walked the community, after receiving the countless phone call, emails and tweets from association members showing their support of the preschool, it is clear that this amenity has a far wider reach and appreciation then you perceive it to have. A point worth noting indeed. By your math, it seems to me that the dog waste bags you have around the lake is a complete waste as well. Even though I as an association member never walk my dog near them, I see their value to others in my community. I think you see my point.

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  2. If you look at a calendar the preschool was informed on a Friday (August 7)... The preschool director's Monday (August 10)was probably a scramble to inform her staff, compose a letter and account for deposits for the fall session. A letter went to families that have children in school on Tuesdays (August 11). Our family received the letter on Wednesday (August 12) because our granddaughter attends the school on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. If the school is to be closed on August 28th... that is 12 working days notice! Not fair... not fair at all!

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  3. I am not clear how the board would just now come to realize member utilization of the preschool is so low. So the question for you Mr. Gardner is this: WHY WOULD YOU PROMISE RENOVATION TO A FACILITY USED BY 1% OF YOUR MEMBERS?

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