[Oe List ...] getting real

[David Dunn]

On Wednesday, 1/23/07, Larry Philbrook  wrote:

> I realize that the ex- staff members are required not to voice any opinion
> contrary to ICA USA Board or they would be refused the severance allowance and
> suffer other consequences but others who have knowledge even the board itself
> might have shared some information - All I have heard is rumors implying that
> they kept the buildings worth various amounts of money and fired all the staff
> except those involved in specific programs.  Those fired were then asked to
> sign a paper that they would never work with the ICA again nor speak ill of it
> or the board. Parts of this requirement were later withdrawn.

Here are several important CORRECTIONS.

Those of us who signed off on our severance agreement have our severance
checks banked long since--2 weeks, 3 weeks or 4 weeks pay depending on
length of employment. That's all a done deal.

We are not obliged by our severance agreement to withhold our opinions. We
are obliged not to put the ICA in a bad light.

Staff members were not fired, they were laid off. Employees laid off as the
result of a 'reduction in force' are eligible for unemployment compensation.

We signed off on not having a right to future employment, not that we would
never work with the ICA again.

Larry also wrote:

> However it also occurred to me that legally the board has the power to do that
> which they will with the ICA resources (if there are any) and no one else
> really has any say in it at this point.  Until they make clear their need for
> support or input and specifically request it - everyone else is simply talking
> to the air. Once the request is specifically made then individuals and groups
> will have to decide whether they are moved to be a part of that new reality.

This reality to which Larry points brings us right to the PREMISE behind my
third talking paper, "Context, Collegiality and the Future," that is posted
in the 'Reflective Writings' section of The Repository website
(www.wedgeblade.net), namely:

The ICA is the creation of an intentional community and movement with
several foundational values, two of which are inclusive participation and
profound respect. To the extent that the ICA board remains isolated from
this movement it will progressively lose the support and good will of a
potentially key asset for the reinvention of the ICA.

In addition, the movement, including former staff, is now the principal
holder of the institutional memory that is essential to ICA's future if it
is to remain in any real sense the leader of a 'spirit movement.'

To the best of my knowledge, that intention is at present neither clear nor
assured.

David

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David Dunn
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720-221-4661
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icadunn at igc.org