This coming July 2014 Holy Rosary Catholic School will have a new principal. Since his appointment many parents and staff have discussed the conflict of interest their relationship poses and the viability of our school and its future require all involved in its parish and school committees have an open mind with no fear of retaliation and no one party have a majority stake in any one vote or recommendation. Our pastor has been advised and our concerns have been placed aside, nobody has been given any answers concerning how this matter is going to be resolved. Here is the definition of "conflict of interest": Family interests, in which a spouse, child, or other close relative is employed (or applies for employment) or where goods or services are purchased from such a relative or a firm controlled by a relative. For this reason, many employment applications ask if one is related to a current employee. If this is the case, the relative could then recuse from any hiring decisions. Abuse of this type of conflict of interest is called nepotism. It is alleged she was one of the key individuals whom advocated for a change in principal as she is considered to be part of the pastoral "inner circle". In addition many say this is why our pastor appointed our new principal instead of opening up the hiring committee to fill the position. It is alleged our Pastoral Associate repeatedly walks out meetings when questioned about different matters and has spoken to groups of parents in a negative way about our pastor and priests. There have been several concerns brought up over the past several months about transparency and the lack of information being communicated to the parents. She is supposed to collaborate closely with the pastor, under his supervision, and with other members of the parish staff but unfortunately the perception is she works with no supervision and doesn’t answer to anybody but herself. How will this affect our school when our pastor openly admitted he doesn’t get very involved with the school? This petition is to remove our current Pastoral Associate and allow our new principal an opportunity to come in and pave his own way with his own ideas and have the leadership our pastor said was lacking. This can only be done if our current Pastoral Associate is removed from her current role and authority. Help build a stronger and more viable future for our children, parish and our school. It’s time our voices are heard because many of us heard our pastor say 1 voice can’t make a difference, you have to come together as a group. Thank you.