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New survey slams E.P. school leader Group aims to remove Adams as superintendent By VICKI GUARINO A second, albeit smaller, survey of community attitudes toward Eagle Point schools superintendent Ted Adams has a decidedly negative cast. Bottom line, say a majority of participants in a community group survey, is Adams should not be permitted to lead the district after his contract expires June 30. According to the survey by the Partnership Focus Group, 127 people voted against contract renewal while 32 voted for renewal. In a dozen survey questions, participants voiced their disapproval of Adams and procedures followed under his administration. Focus group chairman Kim Smith said Monday that the survey was done in response to an earlier survey written by Adams. That survey came out roughly two-thirds in favor of Adams and changes in the district under his administration. Some critics of the first survey said questions were intentionally phrased to favor the superintendent. Smith said a high priority of the focus group and the survey project is obtaining new leadership for the district. Many who participate in the focus group say the changes needed in the district can't be accomplished with Adams at the helm. Smith himself, however, stopped short of weighing in on the contract issue. "If the board and the superintendent would listen to the community more, maybe we could work through this," Smith said. Among the most charged issues for the focus group are the removal of lockers at the high school more than a year ago and the lack of campus security. The focus group, open to all, meets on the third Tuesday of each month. The next meeting will be in the Eagle Point High School large-group room. The survey now is in the hands of the school board, which is expected to review it Nov. 11, along with the much larger district survey conducted several weeks ago. Both surveys have come at a time when some in the community have argued against district management and changes that have put much responsibility for policy and decision-making on individual schools, school staff, parents and students. And the surveys come as the district begins considering renewal of Adams' contract. The board is expected to decide Nov. 11 whether it will pursue contract negotiations with Adams or let him go at the end of the term. So far, both Adams and school board chairwoman Cheryl Stout say conditions favor a new contract with Adams. Neither Adams nor Stout was surprised that results of the focus group survey were negative. "It is clear," Adams said, "there is a group of people who participated in that survey who struggle with my leadership. This is sincerely some people who are hurting ... and believe that hurt could be relieved by a new superintendent." Beyond the surveys, Stout said she senses broad support for the changes instituted under Adams and the direction he has taken the district in the past five years. Before Adams arrived at Eagle Point, the community had agreed that the schools needed change and drastic improvement. Work still needs to be done, Stout said, "but I'm still behind the direction this district is going." "There are always going to be people for whom change comes hard," she said. "But right now I'm seeing that as a minority." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA