RESEARCH, THOUGHTS & SCHOOL BOARD POLITICS

It took some digging through the SAD63 website to find out when the Board took the action to extend the Interim Superintendent's contract past it's original expiration date of 6/30/09 - as announced by the current Board Chairman, Don Varnum, at the June 4th Public Vote conducted at the Holbrook Middle School. Although Mr. Varnum has made comment that the action took pace this past February (2009) it doesn't show up until the April 2009 minutes. The Motion was made by Board member Sylvia Ellis, rep from Holden, and was Seconded by Karen Clark, rep from Eddington. When questioned, Mrs. Clark said she didn't remember the Motion or having seconded it - but there it is on the website.

Question: With no RSU Committee meetings having been scheduled (much less conducted) since the "NO" vote at the end of 2008, doesn't it seem strange for the Board to have taken such an action at that point? And with Mr. Hart, the Interim Superintendent, so firm in his belief that the statewide voters will affirm the requirement to consolidate, why hasn't the Board or the current Chairman at least started some kind of dialogue with the parents of the current students in our schools and the taxpayers as to what kind of consolidation we would support?

While we're on the topic of research, it was most interesting to discover how many years Mr. Varnum has been Chairman - or how consistent the position has been held by a representative from the town of Holden. I can see one reason for the Chair to be held by a Holden rep - Holden has 4 seats on the Board, Eddington has 3, and Clifton has 1 seat. Since the Chair cannot vote, that leaves an equal number of votes for Holden and Eddington - and then there's Clifton's vote. The Chair cannot vote unless there is a tie vote (and that can't happen if everyone shows up for the meeting and/or no one abstains, such as for reasons for Conflict of Interest).

It certainly wouldn't be equitable to have both the Chair AND Vice-Chair come from the same town. But maybe it would be good to have fresh ideas and opinions rotate through those seats periodically

Don Varnum has been the Chair ever since taking over the position when Pat Sirios resigned her seat on the Board, during which she was the elected Chair. (Pat reportedly resigned from stress associated from the on-going lawsuit. Mr. Varnum was appointed by Holden's Board of Selectmen to fill her position.) Pat was elected Chair when Robert Kiah beat out Don in an election for a seat on the Board - but then the Holden Selectmen sent him right back.

(Several people have told me there were two other candidates who put there names forward for the appointment, both of whom had been Board reps but that Don has close association with members of the Holden Selectmen. But Don had voted against terminating the former Superintendent, the one with whom the Board is now in litigation, so one might have considered the possibility of a possible Conflict of Interest in his selection.)

Prior to Don losing to Rob Kiah, Don was Chairman of the Board during his term. I can't be sure if he was Chair throughout his entire term but the only other name other name I could find, was a Doug Bosse, also a rep from Holden. So I can certainly understand when I hear people in Eddington say that Holden "runs" the school board.

In most organizations, a person sits in a "practice" seat such as a Vice-Chair or Vice-President for a certain period and then moves up. Apparently that doesn't happen in local politics (Selectmen or School Boards).

Maybe some kind of rotation of Board position would be good - healthy. After all, the Chair position is supposed to be one of objectivity, knowledge, an unbiased position. The current Vice Chair, Karen Clark, has been in that position for some time. So maybe some rotation would be good there, too. But who else on the Board has attended as many (or any) of the seminars and conferences on school law the way Karen has. Who else has shown the involvement in school board committees or has the history in union negotiations and consolidation that she has. It takes more than thinking such and such a rule or policy applies and then quoting the wrong one. It takes more than brushing aside employee contacts being changed (at the expense of the taxpayers) and letting them go unchecked by the Board for years at a time. It takes more than having another employee waive aside a School Board member's request for verification that appropriate taxes have been paid out of bonuses given to employees even if the Board didn't know about said bonuses at the time.

Being a leader means being knowledgeable - or at least open-minded enough to reach out and ask - to be inclusive to those who really do know the business and then be willing to do what needs to be done regardless of personal relationships AND in touch with the taxpayers as well as the teachers and families involved in our schools.

Perhaps some kind of criteria should be set for candidates for the position, such as having been the Chair of an ACTIVE committee for at least two years (active = having met at least five times during each of the two qualifying years.). Being Chair of an inactive committee would not qualify (inactive = meeting dates To Be Determined for months on end.) AND having been a committee member of at least one other ACTIVE committee for no less than one year. This would at least ensure that candidates for the Chair position would be knowledgeable about and committed to the workings of the Board in some areas.

Or - absent such criteria, perhaps the Chair should be someone who has no reputation (or public perception) of siding with or against individuals employed by the district or with/against groups (cliques?) on the Board. Perhaps in that way the Board could have a spokesperson who actively solicits input from ALL Board members and citizen advisory groups and thus forms a focused objective that will meet the needs of the district while being accountable to school families as well as the taxpayers (because the taxpayers are the ones who have to pay the bills after all).

If consolidation for SAD63 is to happen there need to be some changes in the current Board politics. As it is right now, there are serious issues that any other district will discover should the subject of consolidation come to the table, the least of which is the current lawsuit. The current Board's leadership knows what they are and has been preventing those issues from being addressed.