Bob Millen has worked as an engineer at Boeing for the past 26 years. He led an engineer team in the design and manufacturing of Space Station sensors. Millen wears button-down shirts, looks people squarely in the eye, and considers himself a conservative kind of guy.

So it was a bit surreal for him as a Federal Way School board director when he repeatedly found himself taking the most liberal, progressive stance on many district issues, because in his view the other current members could be considered as ultra-conservative.

Millen, who unexpectedly resigned at the March 28 board meeting, told the Federal Way News last week this wasn't the only reason for his decision.

"It was the accumulation of a lot of incidents and the lack of consensus building among the members," he said. "This board has [increasingly] spent too much time and energy on non-educational related issues and creates too much controversy."

Not one to point fingers, Millen diplomatically declined to list specifics, instead repeating what he had said in his resignation speech.

"I value my reputation. I want to step away from unnecessary controversy," explained Millen.

"The board has changed significantly since I came, the personalities have changed. I felt we were not discussing crucial issues, such as our Strategic Plan."

Early in the regularly scheduled board meeting on March 28 in the city hall council chambers, after a local coach was honored and a student voiced his opposition to a recent policy, board president Evelyn Castellar asked for board member comments. Millen spoke up and said that since he usually goes first, he would speak last this time.

When it came to Millen's turn, he began with a request that within the district, 35 percent of all graduates complete college-prep pre-calculus, chemistry and physics classes.

"I would have preferred to have presented this goal to the board much sooner, but the Strategic Plan topic never made it to the agenda this past year." Millen told his colleagues and the large public audience in attendance.

Millen went on to question to board's plan to move the district towards K-8 schools. Millen asked, "To which Strategic Plan goal is this in support of? It seems to me that if students are to take high-rigor classes in high school, we need to also get those students into high-rigor classes in middle school - classes that meet or exceed the rigor of the Public Academy.

I am concerned about how these choices and options would be possible in a limited K-8 environment."

Millen then announced he was resigning. After concluding his explanation, he stood up and handed his resignation letter to Superintendent Tom Murphy as the audience sat in stunned silence.

Castellar was the first to speak after the pregnant pause.

"I'm speechless," said Castellar. "But I would like to thank Director Millen for his service," sparking a prolonged applause as Millen left the chambers.

Last week, after finishing work at Boeing, Millen said that he was proud of his time and service, saying that despite the recent problems of agenda deviations, he felt the board had not made one bad or wrong decision on important issues. He is also proud of his year as president of the board.

Millen pointed out that during his tenure on the board, they had cut $6.5 million from the budget, started two new schools, and made the transition from junior highs to middle schools.

Millen was appointed representative of District 5 in 2002, and elected to a four-year term in 2003. His resignation is effective April 25.

Millen did allude to a few frustrating incidents in the past year that contributed to his decision to leave. He felt the naming process of the new Sequoyah Middle School was unnecessarily lengthy and bordered on absurdity.

He was also accused of being a "carpetbagger," in an anonymous email last summer, which was sent to members of the community from a company website owned by Castellar's husband.

Castellar denies sending the email.

A carpetbagger is a non-resident who meddles in local politics. Miller was accused of not residing within his district's boundaries, although he was able to provide proof that between the time his house sold and he and his wife bought another within the district area, Millen stayed at an extended family member's who also resided within the boundary.

Now that Millen is free of his board duties, he says that he has a lot of work to catch up on around his new house.

"I have a lot of honey-dos," referring to project requests from his wife.

"And I'll be playing more guitar and traveling," Millen said with a smile.