School Board President Sue Fox told the Cottage Grove PTO and the district buildings that MGSD.community literature was not allowed in any future fliers sent home with kids or on their website.

The Herald Independent also asked where was Superintendent Craig Gerlach during this mess and Fox basically said he was behind the lawyers skirts. She did say it was probably a ‘good idea’ to send home some message in her newsletter disassociating the district from the group. We do agree with the author that Gerlach showed surprisingly weak leadership skills during this episode. He should have come out right away and said that this group did not represent the district, that the CG PTO could not include their information on any of their materials, that the PTO couldn’t pass out literature for them, and that he would make sure it wouldn’t happen again. He could have also said what he couldn’t do – shut them down, prosecute them, etc. But a simple statement washing the district of them, and a promise that it wouldn’t happen in the future, was all he needed to do.

People still roll their eyes in disbelief at the fact that no one on the Cottage Grove PTO claims to know who is behind this group. Yet they manage to get their email put on all their literature. Sure.