Once More, With Feeling
Regardless of when the official minutes of Wednesday's School Board meeting arrive, and we do hope they arrive soon, we can guarantee that they won't reflect what actually happened at the meeting.
To be sure, the formal actions of the Board will be recorded. Votes will be tallied, attendees will be named, forthcoming meetings will be noted. What won't exist in black and white is the "flavor" of the meeting. As well, who said what will never be shown in the official account.
If a Board member changed her mind during the discussion, or another, for a moment, played devil's advocate, or if a community member spoke passionately about important questions, you wouldn't get it in the minutes. In fact, these sorts of things happen all the time. But how would you know?
One thing we're trying to do here is to give a sense of the discussion, when there is one, and a look at what citizens say in public participation, as well as an account of the Board committee reports. None of these items are being reported now. The discussion between Board members, or the lack of it, should tell you a lot about your representatives. And what do they do in those committees? Wouldn't you like to know? We'll try to let you know. We'll also note some of the particulars: who wavered, who conceded a point reluctantly, maybe even who rolled his eyes!
What follows is more of what happened on Wednesday.
The citizen from Garland who related a conversation he'd had with Hod McKenny (see here) had other fascinating items to relate.
He told an interesting story of allocation and mis-allocation of school athletic facilities. Recently, rather than following procedure and precedent in deciding use of a gym, an administrator, in the judgment of this citizen, served his own personal interests instead. Further, in this same sequence of events, a School Board member, perhaps relying on a "back channel," seemed to have presumed that he had use of a gym that actually was already committed, apparently having failed to go through proper channels. The implication was that the Board member acted as though school resources were at his command. I won't give all the details here, but if you see the Garland citizen, be sure to ask about it!
This same citizen pointed out the abundance of former athletic directors (ADs) in the leadership of our District, with both the Superintendent and the Chair of the School Board being former ADs. He, the citizen, noting that the Board was about to decide on a new principal, suggested that there is a connection between this abundance, an excess of competitiveness, and a "lack of skills" in cooperating with people. He concluded: "We don't need an emphasis on athletics. We need leadership and educational credentials."
Citizens speaking from the floor before the School Board, however much they may seem to be ignored at the time, can have a powerful effect on subsequent events. Of course there's no substitute for experiencing the real thing -- the actual meeting. Please consider attending these meetings and participating.
To be sure, the formal actions of the Board will be recorded. Votes will be tallied, attendees will be named, forthcoming meetings will be noted. What won't exist in black and white is the "flavor" of the meeting. As well, who said what will never be shown in the official account.
If a Board member changed her mind during the discussion, or another, for a moment, played devil's advocate, or if a community member spoke passionately about important questions, you wouldn't get it in the minutes. In fact, these sorts of things happen all the time. But how would you know?
One thing we're trying to do here is to give a sense of the discussion, when there is one, and a look at what citizens say in public participation, as well as an account of the Board committee reports. None of these items are being reported now. The discussion between Board members, or the lack of it, should tell you a lot about your representatives. And what do they do in those committees? Wouldn't you like to know? We'll try to let you know. We'll also note some of the particulars: who wavered, who conceded a point reluctantly, maybe even who rolled his eyes!
What follows is more of what happened on Wednesday.
The citizen from Garland who related a conversation he'd had with Hod McKenny (see here) had other fascinating items to relate.
He told an interesting story of allocation and mis-allocation of school athletic facilities. Recently, rather than following procedure and precedent in deciding use of a gym, an administrator, in the judgment of this citizen, served his own personal interests instead. Further, in this same sequence of events, a School Board member, perhaps relying on a "back channel," seemed to have presumed that he had use of a gym that actually was already committed, apparently having failed to go through proper channels. The implication was that the Board member acted as though school resources were at his command. I won't give all the details here, but if you see the Garland citizen, be sure to ask about it!
This same citizen pointed out the abundance of former athletic directors (ADs) in the leadership of our District, with both the Superintendent and the Chair of the School Board being former ADs. He, the citizen, noting that the Board was about to decide on a new principal, suggested that there is a connection between this abundance, an excess of competitiveness, and a "lack of skills" in cooperating with people. He concluded: "We don't need an emphasis on athletics. We need leadership and educational credentials."
Citizens speaking from the floor before the School Board, however much they may seem to be ignored at the time, can have a powerful effect on subsequent events. Of course there's no substitute for experiencing the real thing -- the actual meeting. Please consider attending these meetings and participating.
posted by PP | 5/06/2006 02:49:00 PM
4 Comments:
Here's link to the minutes of the May, 2004 MSAD 46 Board meeting. They look to be in the same format and as about as informative as more recent minutes.
[url]http://www.msad46.org/download/MinutesMay-4-05.pdf[/url]
They're from 2005, actually. The District makes about a year's worth of minutes online (at http://www.msad46.org/Meetings%20and%20Minutes.htm)
Agreed. What you state is true, indisputable. But the official minutes can hardly be anything other than what they are, a dry accounting of the "facts."
My point: this forum can do something different. It has a kind of responsiveness unavailable to a larger organization. We can add another dimension.
Why is this important? Because people are estranged from the process; they feel excluded. There are very few opportunities for citizens to have their say. How long have I known this? A long time. Thay's why I got involved back in the mid-90s and then got on the Board. I thought I could help create a change. And some progress was made, and maybe I played a role in it.
All that's gone now, in my opinion. Maybe sometime I'll tell all, in a post entitled "Confessions of a Former School Board Chair."
But surely you agree that there could be a greater flow of information. You'd agree, wouldn't you, that more citizen involvement is desirable? How about some public hearings?
From personal experience on both sides of the "meeting table" I can attest to the difference the presence of citizens makes, both to the tone of the conversation and the outcome.
I remember a particular meeting (March 2, 2005) when the Site Selection Subcommittee (which was composed of one School Board member(me) and seven dedicated community members) presented its Interim Report on the site for a proposed new primary/middle school complex, relative to consideration of the current Abbott Hill site along with other Board identified sites.
After minimal discussion, a motion was made to table the report,(that is a refusal to vote on the merits of the report at that time) and the majority of the Board voted in favor of the tabling motion.
However, later in the same meeting a concerned citizen began a passionate discussion of why the Board should at least vote on the report after all the work that we on the subcommittee had done.
A motion to reconsider the report was made and after some further discussion the Interim Report was overwhelmingly adopted.
Reversals of votes such as this rarely happen without the presence of ordinary citizens like you and me.
I would like to reply to the, “ citizen’s comment,” that we now have an abundance of former athletic directors in leadership positions in SAD 46 and “we don’t need an emphasis on athletics. We need leadership and educational credentials.”
You only have to look at the past 100 year history of Dexter’s coaches and athletes to be aware of the excellent, competent leadership qualities of many of our athletes in education.
School athletes many times make better administrators. The leadership qualities developed from athletic competition is well documented in education literature. Being an athlete, training and competing, learning to win, accepting losing with a determination to succeed next time, and coming right back to compete after a defeat gives an athlete an edge to be a success later on in life. Athletes tend to have better social and mental skills derived from their athletic experience.
Here’s a list of former Dexter athletes and coaches who into went into administration and became competent leaders as principals, superintendents, or athletic directors: Nate Bucknam, Jim Stonier, Phil Mealey, Don Holsapple, Ray Poulin, Eric Haley, Rusty Clukey, Keith Lancaster, Tim Wilson.
Coaches usually make better teachers. We have many Dexter athletes and coaches who excelled as educators: Dick Barstow, Dick Goulette, Bob Mealey, Bill Haskell, Roger Brawn, Dr. Eric Holsapple, Steve Bishop, John Parola, Karen Goulette, Bob Clukey, Bill Grant, Steve Spaulding, Charlie Wing, Bobbie Clukey, Margaret Clark, Gary Williams, Mandy King, Ed Guiski, Ted Clark, Dean Shea, Brent Day, Mike Haines, Steve Bell, Kathy Richards, Dave Bolduc, Dave Gudroe, Rick Whitney, and Harold Pratt to name just a few that I recall. There are many more.
John Parola, present School Director Chairman, has been a dedicated educator in physical education, athletics, and athletic director for over 30 years in Dexter. He was innovative in his field, incorporating the lake and natural resources on Abbott Hill into his physical education program, which developed into one of the premier middle school physical education programs in the state.
We can also boast of 2 former Dexter athletes in the present state legislature: Dean Clukey and Rod Carr.
fspook May 15, 2006
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