When Eric Nakajima was appointed last week as the newest member of the Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee, he got it right by saying it is time to end “the tumult” that has engulfed the board in recent months.

It is past time for the members of the committee to stop the public feuding and find common ground to focus on education and a critical decision in hiring a new superintendent.

The board has not met in more than a month since a retreat designed to cool tensions instead spiraled into more heated discussions. Chairwoman Laura Kent of Amherst announced her resignation the next day, citing the toll on her health.

The acrimony and personal attacks have cost the board its leadership and damaged its credibility. While inevitably there will be differing views among members of any school committee about issues affecting education, this board has been unable to resolve its differences to the point of being dysfunctional.

The latest firestorm occurred last week when Amherst member Vira Doungmany Cage shared on social media a critical letter sent by a resident, as well as her response.  The letter-writer, Karen S. Dunn, an Amherst native and real estate agent with Jones Group Realtors, expressed her view that “the infighting amongst members and the negative press our public schools are receiving” color the view of people considering a move to town. Dunn specifically blamed two members, Cage and Trevor Baptiste, one of two Pelham representatives, “for the demise of school committee credibility,” adding that they “should be ashamed of themselves!”

Cage took offense at being made what she termed a “scapegoat” and defended her position on a number of divisive issues, including voting against a $309, 238 settlement with former superintendent Maria Geryk, questioning why Geryk issued a stay-away order to the mother of a Pelham student who is black, and opposing a plan to consolidate the elementary schools in Amherst. Cage concluded her response by writing, “I am not understanding your basis for your public condemnation.”

Cage then posted on Facebook Dunn’s letter, which was addressed to the entire school committee, and her response. 

Criticism of officials is common, but the tone of the back-and-forth between Cage and Dunn was particularly vitriolic and its public airing was counterproductive for a board and community in need of healing.

That was clear during the summer when five members of the committee wrote a letter to Mitchell D. Chester, commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education seeking help “with a crisis in our community. Our School Committee has become dysfunctional and non-responsive to a significant portion of the community. Certain members have incited members of the public so that meetings of the School Committee have deteriorated in shouting matches where certain people are threatened because of their race.”

The state declined to provide assistance, saying that while “the circumstances described in your letter certainly appear to be, at best, counterproductive … they are not within the jurisdiction of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.”

The Aug. 22 letter was sent less than two weeks after the regional board voted 4-3 – following a month of contentious negotiations – to settle with Geryk, who had threatened a lawsuit over what she claimed were a hostile work environment, contract violations and challenges to her decision-making authority. 

Amid that, Vice Chairwoman, Sarah Dolven of Leverett, and Kent resigned. Kent, who is pregnant, sent an email  Sept. 14 to her colleagues, announcing that she was resigning immediately because “the physical effects have manifested in a way that I can not to continue to jeopardize mine and my family’s well-being or health.” 

The board’s next opportunity to move forward with the healing process is Tuesday when it meets to select new leadership and discuss the process of naming an interim superintendent while a search is conducted for Geryk’s permanent successor.

We hope all members of the committee heed Nakajima’s call for ending “the tumult,” and if they can’t do it themselves, seek help from a professional mediator.