To the Editor:

As a Brunswick resident, I have two questions for the Brunswick School Board regarding the Art Abelmann situation described in today’s Times Record (“Abelmann quits,” May 23, Page A1).

Let me say that I’m a proschool, vote-for-every-bondrequest, college-educated Democrat. I have no children or grandchildren in the public schools — they all live far away — but I do believe strongly in education.

Here are my questions:

1. How on earth could Art Abelmann have been hired if he had “resigned immediately” at his most recent post in Colorado? Even if the circumstances weren’t known, the “resigned immediately” phrase should have been not just a yellow flag but a red flag. Period.

2. Why on earth — whether the circumstances were honorable or not (The Times Record article implies not) — would one cent of severance be paid? Mr. Abelmann signed a twoyear contract and resigned immediately. Fair enough. Goodbye. End of story.

But why should taxpayers beforced to pay anything to a man who shouldn’t have been hired in the first place, apparently, and who left under a cloud?

I await specific answers. A bland “this is a personnel matter” won’t do.

Mr. Abelmann was a public employee. Citizens paid his salary. Even if Mr. Abelmann hasn’t been upfront, the school board should be and must be.

David Treadwell
Brunswick