This column is dedicated to all those residents, students, parents, teachers, administrators and ex-employees who suffered during the tyrannical reign of Oxford Superintendent William Skilling. Free at last.

After nearly eight years, the long, dark night is over.
Last week, William Skilling’s tenure as superintendent of Oxford Schools came to an end.
I’ll miss him like I would a festering canker sore.
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
If that sounds harsh, that’s because it is and I make no apologies for it.
I take the damage Skilling has done to Oxford, and a lot of good people I know, very personally and I’m still mad as hell.
My hope in writing this is to finally gain some closure ? tie it to a balloon and let it go, as my wife is fond of saying. I hope it will provide a catharsis for others as well.
I love Oxford and plan to die here. It’s not just a stop in my life or a line on my resume, it’s my home and Skilling was an intruder.
Skilling ruled the school district like a petty dictator.
His power went unchecked and his authority was unquestioned.
Based my own experiences with him, observations and the many, many off-the-record conversations I’ve had with his victims over the years, Skilling’s leadership style was to manipulate, abuse, intimidate, bully and silence those around him to keep them in line and under his thumb.
If you didn’t know your place on Skilling’s bus, you’d soon find yourself under its wheels. In Skilling’s world, everyone is expendable and he makes damn sure they know it. ‘You can be replaced? is his mantra.
Skilling’s rule was aided and protected by the creepy cult of personality that sprang up around him. Whenever their Leader was criticized, they quickly closed ranks and defended him like a pack of rabid dogs. To them, he was infallible and omnipotent, and woe to anyone who didn’t agree that he was going to lead Oxford to the Mountaintop.
Skilling helped create his cult by constantly telling everyone how ethical, how honest, how humble, how benevolent, how selfless and how full of . . . integrity he is even though, to me, he’s shown himself to be the antithesis of all those things. If you look closely, that supersized halo he’s always polishing has ‘Made in China? written on it.
All those gullible saps who built and prayed in the Church of Skilling ate up everything he told them and spewed forth the Gospel According to Bill like the brainwashed followers of a false god. To them, Skilling hung the moon, walks on water and defecates truffles.
But Skilling’s congregation shrank significantly over the years. There were those who lost faith. There were those who were excommunicated. There were those who were betrayed. And there were those who simply outlived their usefulness.
But make no mistake, there are still Skilling worshippers out there, no doubt praying for a Second Coming. I’m sure there will be shouts of ‘Heresy!? and cries of ‘Blasphemy!? when they read this column.
Far from being a genuine person, Skilling works very hard at carefully cultivating just the right public image of himself.
People are only shown what he wants them to see. It’s like a reverse Wizard of Oz with the kindly old man shouting, ‘Pay no attention to that menacing, giant flaming head behind the curtain!?
The image he presents is by no means the real Skilling.
To me, the real Skilling never cared one iota about Oxford. He never cared about his employees. He never cared about the students, the parents or the taxpayers.
He only ever really cared about one thing ? William Skilling. Oxford was simply a means to an end for him. A lump of clay to be molded in his holier-than-thou image. A place to enrich, advance and glorify himself.
Oxford was only special to Skilling in the sense that he had finally found a place willing to blindly follow him and implement his self-serving vision.
I’ve long believed Skilling doesn’t see people as people.
He views everyone around him as pawns in his game. He immediately sizes you up, analyzes what role you can play in advancing his agenda and tries to get you on his team.
If you can be of use to him, you will be rewarded. If you can’t or won’t help him, you don’t exist. If you outright oppose him, you’ll be dealt with.
Skilling has no tolerance for anyone or anything that is beyond his control. He spent nearly eight years using, abusing and alienating his way through Oxford. The deep wounds he inflicted will take a while to heal.
Far from being a bastion of openness, transparency and communication, the school district is now viewed by many as a place full of secrets, lies and backroom deals.
There is no trust anymore because Skilling and his willing accomplices spent nearly eight years killing it.
I can only hope that Tim Throne, the new superintendent, will right these wrongs, rebuild public confidence and help heal this fractured community.
Throne and the district must step out of Skilling’s shadow and into the light. Much like the former Soviet Union underwent a process of political reform known as de-Stalinization in the 1950s, following the death of longtime dictator Joseph Stalin, so Oxford must engage in de-Skillingization.
Based on what I’ve seen so far and the conversations he’s had with my reporter, it appears Throne has already begun this much-needed process. I’m willing to keep an open mind and sincerely wish Throne the best.