- Moses Lake, WA
A petition that is calling for Moses Lake school board president Elliot Goodrich to resign is gaining momentum.
The petition, which was started by Moses Lake resident Matt Paluch, calls for Goodrich to resign from the school board due to comments he made during Thursday’s regularly scheduled Moses Lake school board meeting.
During Thursday’s school board meeting, Goodrich proposed the idea of a pay cut that would affect all staff in the school district.
“I know that this will be controversial but I want to say it anyway is I have a bit of a problem, not a bit, I have a real problem with the fact that we’ve got millions of people in this country that are losing their job,” Goodrich said. “We have probably millions of business owners that have had to shut their doors and don’t know how they’re going to pay their rent or meet their obligations. We’re in a financial calamity, the likes of which nobody quite understands yet and is not defined. And I find it to be troublesome, and I say this as somebody whose wife is a teacher, that our entire staff continues to be paid and employed at the same level they were when things were going normally.”
Moses Lake School District Superintendent Dr. Joshua Meek responded by saying that while teachers are not teaching their students in classrooms, educators are still working hard during this time.
“I want to re-emphasize that while work looks different, there are still a lot of people working very hard,” Superintendent Josh Meek stated. “Work looks differently today than it did two weeks ago,” Dr. Meek said.
“Elliott Goodrich has called for all Moses Lake School District Staff to receive a 20% pay cut across the board. His statement comes at a time when so many in our community are suffering due to the Covid-19 epidemic. When the community is suffering, Mr. Goodrich wants more families to experience hardship - the very families that his elected position is responsible for protecting,” campaign organizer Matt Paluch stated.
“The school district staff just accomplished an extraordinary feat switching from primarily in-person instruction to 100% online instruction in 1 week. Their hard work has ensured that the students of Moses Lake continue to receive a quality education during a national emergency. They deserve every penny (and more) for the tremendous job they have done,” he added.
Paluch ended his statement with,
“Elliott's statement makes it impossible for him to lead the district moving forward. The right thing for him to do is resign.”
As of press time, 590 people have signed the change.org petition, which has a 1,000 goal. You can find the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/moses-lake-school-district-elliott-goodrich-should-resign-from-the-moses-lake-school-board?recruiter=696027173&recruited_by_id=aef85100-09fb-11e7-b475-154bb39c593b&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=petition_dashboard
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