After much thought and consideration I felt compelled to write this letter. I can no longer sit idly by and not speak out on this matter.

I attended the regular meeting of the Concordia Parish School Board on Sept. 13, and I heard all this talk of integrity and ethics. I heard members speak of being elected to the board because of their integrity.

What I have seen and heard since that meeting speaks of everything but integrity and ethics. As a matter of fact it is totally unethical. It seems that a certain majority of the board members do not know the meaning of the words ethics and integrity.

When you try to circumvent the system to fulfill your own selfish desires and wishes, that is the farthest thing from integrity that I can think of.

Five board members voted to suspend the retire/rehire policy in order to keep a certain individual doing a certain job. The game plan seemed to be, first, suspend the policy, second, rehire individual in question, and thirdly, reinstate the retire/rehire policy.

If that is not totally unethical and void of integrity, then pray tell me what in the name of God is. It smacks of cronyism in the third degree.

Certain ones of these five board members I walked the streets to help elect, thinking that they would demonstrate integrity and maintain a high standard of ethics in their position. Boy was I wrong. But there will be another election in time and I promise I will work just as hard to unseat these board members.

James Cockerham

Vidalia resident