From Jean Findley, Ontario
To the Editor:
Four Rivers Cultural Center continues to function following the firing of Executive Director Lynelle Christiani, thanks to the excellent professional team she had put together prior to being fired by the Board of Directors in April, and due to Mike Iseri, dedicated board member.
Six of the 11 directors voted for firing, presumably based on an executive evaluation consisting of 20 statements regarding performance. These were not measurable and almost entirely subjective.
Most of these board members never or infrequently volunteer at FRCC activities; many do not attend most board meetings; they did not talk to the employees who worked for and with Lynelle and did not talk to volunteer coordinator or volunteers. In fact, some do not even have a membership at FRCC. They were not remotely qualified to respond to the 20 performance statements.
I have seen both the evaluation and the scores. Those scores were all over the place, with no clear consensus on all but one item. She was fired because six board members did not want her there, for spurious reason I have learned about, but which were not covered in the evaluation. A gross injustice was done to a competent, energetic, organized, effective, and generous director by six members of an uninformed, arrogant Board of Directors.
We will not be renewing our membership at FRCC, which has been at the $300 level the last few years. We saw the visibility and excellence of the Center continue to move upward under Lynelle’s enthusiastic leadership. While we still support the mission of the Center, until she is reinstated and/or the board changes, we will sit on the sidelines.
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