"the board and admin team's lack of integrity"
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If it smells bad it is time to flush the toilet and get new board members...

JoyM Gossip ruins your relationship with God. Isn't that enough? Why does the school board has to step in? Can't we handle anything as adults without calling in the authorities anymore? Isn't that why teachers insist that they are professionals that should be trusted to handle case by case situations? People should be able to handle things like this with common sense instead of ridiculously overblown no-tolerance policies.

Picture or no picture, what was not appropriate was for the superintendent and another district employee to be discussing a third employee's love life or lack thereof. That third employee would also have a reason to make a complaint. However, I think the Board certainly jumped the gun and, if they thought he should be off the job while they investigated, they should have given him a one or two week paid leave AND should have told him that day what was alleged. It should have been done on the QT and expedited. Then it might have been easily and far less expensively managed.

I feel horrible for Garrow and his family. Sounds like the poor guy is guilty of thinking he was in a relaxed office setting amongst friends during the laid back months of summer. Why didn't the people who were so offended just tell him directly, "Oh, i don't really want to see that thanks." and move on? It sounds like a really horrible place to work, like a snake den where you always have to have your guard up. Many school districts have Facebook pages, so there are no clear boundaries about accessing Facebook. Female students wear bikini's at many of the school related car wash fundraisers. This is clearly exploitative, right? Where are the clear boundaries that he crossed? The whole incident is shameful for Milton. Garrow never should have signed papers promising not to sue that was a mistake.

It seems to me that Milton has some serious reflecting to do. This whole thing appeared to be a huge juicy scandal that turned out to be about exactly nothing. Fire a guy over looking up a picture on facebook of a woman who might have been in a bikini and pay out his contract plus an extra $35k? Scandalous!!! Stop the presses! A fraternization complaint that was meritless? Sounds to me like there is more here than meets the eye. Somebody wanted this man out and instead of just waiting for his contract to be up or finding a legitimate way to get rid of him, they cost the taxpayers a bundle & ruined this man's reputation. Shame on the Milton School Board & whoever made the initial complaints. When looking for your next super Milton be prepared to bump up that lousy salary you pay (yes it is quite low compared to what others make) because whose going to want to come to Milton after what you've put Garrow through?

I get the feeling that everybody is disappointed because there was no juicy scandal to report.

In my opinion as a taxpayer in and resident in Milton I am angry with the school board for the way this was handled and angry with Mr Garrow for not using better judgement in the work place. The problem with the school board in Milton was they were not forthcoming with the investigation which created many of the rumors and innuendos in the first place. That whole situation could have been avoided by saying OK this is what were looking and investigation. If they had done that that situation could have been avoided. Mr Garrow's choice to use a school computer to show employee's a face book photo to other employee's was wrong because a school's computer is not to be used for anything other than the intended use and Mr Garrow knew that and he did it anyway and that was what got him in trouble in the first place. Now as far as paying him yes he should get his severance pay but nothing else. Why you ask is because we could have used that money to compensate the new intern. Now the question becomes what is next? The board will need to search for Mr Garrow's replacement which will cost the taxpayers money to do find some one to fill the position for the 2013 school year. Because if I am not mistake it was my understanding that the intern was planning to retire at the end of the 2012 school year. Now as far as my opinions go on this I was basing them on that facts available at the time each article came out on this. It made it hard because there was little evidence to go by. Now should the Gazette have ran as many article as it did no why because each article that came out no more evidence than the previous article did and that was why it created many of the rumors and innuendos. The Gazette should have waited till the request for records was received and that should have appeared in an article so the people could see it and judge for themselves bu that was not done till 12-14 of this year. I just hope the next Superintendent we hire for Milton uses better judgement then what Mr Garrow did. Then next time something like this comes up again I hope the school board will do a better job than it did this time around.

I would like to know what the conditions were for his return that he rejected and that were not made public to us. Do we need the Gazette to go through another open records request? I can't imagine how those employment and/or behavior conditions could fall under the statute about not releasing information that could be detrimental to his private life. I do wonder why, when the Board hand-delivered the letter that said he was on leave, they could not simply state in the letter that there were allegations of impropriety on the job instead of telling him, go home, stay home, and we will get back to you. I am one of his most vocal critics, I know, but I have been critical about things he did in the performance of job as administrator which is why I would like to know what conditions were to be imposed on him...such as no personal use of the school's computers at all, perhaps? Or more likely and more restrictive, being told not to socialize publicly or with other district employees? That could be construed as impacting his personal life, and I guess I could see why he would not agree to something like that. Again, we are left not really knowing everything we need to know, except that the Board probably went overboard in its handling of this situation.

In reading what has been released, I ask: is Garrow's main flaw that he is not Dr. Platts? Just because he acts differently than he acted, does it make him a bad superintendent (yes, there could be more, but this just suggests leadership STYLE differences). Milton has a hard time keeping people in leadership positions who didn't grow up in or teach in Milton a long time. Is this a chance to look in the mirror and ask: what's wrong?

I smelled a rat, Garrow acted wrong and came out smelling like a rose.

I'm not totally sure who handled this situation worse, the board or the gossip folks in Milton. This looks, feels, and smells like there was another agenda on the table. It seems like the Community wanted Garrow out at all costs. Unfortunately, those costs included Garrow's professional reputation and private business (his family).
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An unwarranted investigation turned up nothing that even resembled an act that could be deemed detrimental to the district or even close to unbecoming of a district administrator.
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So, what is the real reason for wanting Garrow out of town so bad that people felt the need to ruin this man's reputation?

Aside from the fact that I was told this was none of my buisness because I was not a milton taxpayer, it was suggested that I attend school board meetings to learn the reason why Garrow was not a fit person for the job. It appears that some taxpayers in the community did not like Garrow and the school board was probably pressured to figure out a way to get rid of him (i.e. witchhunt?). Since Garrow was never placed on administrative leave for misconduct, the board should have just let him come back to work after being off to grieve his fathers death instead of attaching "conditions" to his return. If he truly was a screw up, given more time I'm sure that they could have eventually found a valid reason to convince him to leave before the end of his contract where it would not have cost them so much.

In response to your questions, Mr. Peck, I believe Mr. Garrow does deserve the "nightmare" he is in because his arrogance created it. And the Board is responsible because they didn't act sooner and handled it poorly. It would appear that there is more to the story, but the upshot is that he is gone and Milton will pay.

The facts point to a Board who thought they had a way to get rid of a super they didn't want, and proceeded to 'jump the gun.' Then, they got caught with their pants down, and 'settled'. Milton should be expecting/demanding a number of Board resignations.

How about releasing school board records on how members voted on this process and the final outcome? Are all members equally to blame? Were there some opposed to this "settlement"?

A power hungry board....who is holding them accountable for this? Do we all really think that looking at a CLOTHED person on facebook is an offense where someone should be investigated? Not to mention the improper fraternization. So all it takes is the word of someone, and that sends the board into full panic mode? If I didn't like somoene, I guess that is all you need to do to possibly get rid of them because they seem not to care about Garrow's side, just went straight to an investigator. And according to Garrow, the board didn't even talk to him about the alligations, and while he was on leave for his father's death, they decided to investigate. As for Redder's comments, I am sure Garrow did not want to OUT the board for their terrible actions in this, or it could be part of a confidentiality clause. I don't consider what he said to the press a lie. It is the board that probably wanted to prevent this story from getting into the public because it will reflect on them in such a poor light, as it hopefully has. Milton School Board should have some serious explaining to do....but will only happen if the residents of Milton and/or the Gazette puts pressure on them. I would like the Garrow family to know that as a parent of 2 kids in Milton, I am ashamed of the board, and ashamed of the district. I hope he finds employment where he will be treated with the respect that he and his family deserve.

It's looking like the rest of the school board is at fault here and Garrow is only guilty of poor judgement at the most. The taxpayers are paying a VERY steep price for this witch hunt and the rest of the school board will have to pay their share next election. Hopefuly, someone will remind us of this when those elections come up.

I was first very critical of Garrow, after release of the records, it's very apparent the blame falls on the school board for overreacting then offering an outrageous paid leave and severance package. Shame on you, school board.