Sunday, May 3, 2015

THE LIBRARY: Fallout from the Board members' resignations

Elsewhere in this week's Kennett Paper you can read the full text of the resignation letter that three Bayard Taylor Memorial Library trustees (Jim Nelson, Jerry Brown, and Carol Starzmann) wrote on April 27 to support their colleague Barbara Cairns, the Kennett Square representative on the board, who they said resigned from her position because of her treatment at the hands of the board president, Susan Mackey-Kallis of Pennsbury Township and the vice president, Geoff Birkett of Kennett Township.
The letter is long but it's worth reading. If you love the library like I do (I served on the board for 10 years, in addition to being an employee, donor and volunteer), the situation will appall and sadden you.
I posted the letter on my blog on April 28, and the Kennett Paper posted a link on its Facebook page, and it was read by hundreds of people. This week I talked to many former library trustees, employees and volunteers, in person, on the phone and via social media, and the response to the situation seems to be universal dismay.
On April 30 Ms. Mackey-Kallis, who is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Villanova University, issued a press release decrying the "inaccurate information" being reported and declaring that the remaining board is in fact "much stronger than before" (you can read her press release elsewhere in this week's paper, too).
The question that many are asking is this: How will this controversy, coming on the heels of the board's decision to change the library's name, affect the library's chances of raising the millions of dollars it will take to construct a new building?

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