Tensions rise on school board: Acrimony among committee members may land them at a retreat

By Mary Carey
Staff Writer

Published on September 05, 2008

The Amherst Regional School Committee is in need of a retreat, in the judgement of most of its members, but they disagree on the qualifications of a consultant to lead the retreat and whether it should be a private getaway or open to the public.

The committee "desperately" needs to work on team-building, Elaine Brighty said at Tuesday's meeting.

"Right now, we're starting to hit some brick walls, and some people feel the board is adversarial against them, when it isn't. I hope the intensity will come down several notches," she said.

Several committee members said negativity is the biggest problem.

"I have been feeling completely uncomfortable with some of the discussions. Negative brings negative," said member Sonia Correa-Pope. "I'm worried about the morale of our teachers, our students, us. ... I think that morale has been hurt."

Member Marianne Jorgensen said, "It's very important how we conduct ourselves, the image that we create. You don't effect change by being negative constantly."

"We've got to be able to work with each other or nothing gets done," said Chairman Michael Hussin.

Discord on the board

Committee members have had sharp exchanges in recent months, as Catherine Sanderson, the newest member and highest vote-getter in April's elections, has pressed for more data-driven analysis of how the district is doing and more benchmarking with other high performing districts.

Member Kathleen Anderson, meanwhile, often reminds committee members about the need for awareness that white people have the privilege of belonging to the dominant culture, which people of color do not.

In response to Sanderson, some members have urged her to be patient.

"You're not coming up with new ideas," Jorgensen said to Sanderson on Tuesday. "New members come on the School Committee all the time. ...Unfortunately, we've all had to learn that you don't get what you want so quickly."

While the majority agrees that the nine-member committee needs to improve its group dynamics, Sanderson and Anderson have strong reservations about holding a retreat.

If there is one, it should take place in the public eye, Sanderson said. "A retreat strikes me as having a goal of let's have everybody get in line with what you all have been doing.'" In fact, Sanderson said parents have been telling her they have no confidence in the committee.

Sanderson, who is chairwoman of the Psychology Department at Amherst College, is president of the Fort River Elementary School parents committee and co-founder of the group Amherst Committee for Excellence, whose members frequently attend School Committee meetings.

"I feel like when I say something, it's written down and ignored," Sanderson said. "It's my perception that my priorities are not shared by the rest of the members of the board. It feels very unwelcome to new members."

Retreat issues raised

Anderson seconded Sanderson's assertion and said she will not attend a retreat if it is run by a white, male consultant with no proof other than his own self-assessment that he is aware of the role white privilege plays in society, and if the consultant has no expertise in "cross-cultural mediation."

"I'm sorry, but I can't accept a white male's self-assessment of his competency in this regard," Anderson said. "I've heard too many self-assessed people who don't have a clue."

Hussin, however, has talked informally to two consultants, and both rejected the idea of open the retreat to the public, he said, adding that neither is a person of color.

Under Massachusetts General Law, a gathering involving a majority of members of an elected board must be open to the public with nine specific exceptions that do not include holding a retreat.

But a member of the public has only attended once and the press have agreed not to cover past retreats, since they are about team-building and not policy-making, Brighty said.

Committee members agreed to revisit the idea of a retreat in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Interim Co-superintendent Alton Sprague offered them a set of guidelines that he said he and co-superintendent Helen Vivian have culled from many years of working with boards and committees in several states.

Among other points, they include, "Disagreeing without being disagreeable is always worth the extra effort," and "Polarizing each other weakens us all. Acknowledging other points of view will help."

He also called their attention to a handout he and Vivian have produced with the district's major goals on one side and a motivational axiom on the other.

It reads, in part, "I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you ... we are in charge of our attitudes."

Mary Carey can be reached at mary.carey@att.net.