Recriminations, apologies, tears, emotional outbursts and complaints about the community characterized the Olympic School District Board of Directors’ summer retreat on Saturday, Aug. 10.
The public meeting was held at the North Mason School District Administrative Building Boardroom in Belfair. (See yesterday’s article for more about the meeting.)
The meeting – which School Board Vice President Scott Clifthorne led – began with the board discussing and agreeing upon ground rules, which ended up as follows.
The agenda for the meeting included the following items. Not all came up for discussion, including the Superintendent’s evaluation.
With the exception of a presentation from Executive Director of Secondary Education James Whitehead about the "Dare to Lead" training program for district leadership, the board devoted the remainder of the first four hours of the meeting to Rose-Bud-Thorn reflection and interaction exercises.
The first addressed their personal lives and board generalities, particularly from the past week. The second was structured on the framework of Washington State School Directors’ Association (WSSDA) standards, and much of it centered on a debriefing of the internal and external conflict surrounding the proposed closure of two elementary schools during the past school year.
Rose-Bud-Thorn is a framework in which participants share positives (roses), emergent or developing aspects (buds), and negatives, things not working, or areas that must change (thorns). The Directors took time to brainstorm and write ideas.
The Board members’ discussions of their personal lives ranged from their gardens and trips abroad to menopause, family issues, campaigning for a friend running for Congress, “not feeling safe in my professional work,” and personal life struggles.
In introducing the second Rose-Bud-Thorn activity about professional standards, Clifthorne referred to the debate over possible school closures from this past spring.
“I think that we all own the fact that we've had this very challenging, contentious year,” he stated. “Much of that originated with our divided vote on school consolidation. It's exceedingly uncommon for school boards to have split votes on almost anything, let alone extraordinarily contentious heart issues.”
Board members wrote rose-bud-thorn reflections on “the benchmarking indicators for board performance, for values and ethical behavior, for leadership, communication, professional development, accountability and a commitment to educational equity,” as Clifthorne instructed.
The activity opened the door for the board members to address personal comments to each other. “This is part of the value of the retreat, because the whole point of Robert's Rules is that we address comments to the Chair and about the business in front of us. We don't make it personal. This is personal,” Clifthorne declared. “So if there is feedback of a rose, bud, or thorn variety that you want to share about an individual director, that's okay, as long as you also share something about yourself in that same vector.”
Frequently mentioned in the ensuing discussion was the statement that the board members are committed to student achievement, followed by evaluations of how well or poorly they believe they adhered to that commitment.
Board President Hilary Seidel addressed this issue. “I don't really feel like we had a deep commitment to student needs. I think we committed to feedback last year. That's what we listened to,” she posited.
“We did not do the work we should have done to think about what it was that students needed and what they deserved in their buildings to have those needs met. We were overwhelmed by feedback about the district on the services that students needed to be successful in the outcomes,” Seidel continued.
Comments fluctuated between criticisms and apologies. The president remarked, “there's some hard stuff here, and so I want to pause and apologize in advance if anything I say is hurtful.”
Some of the comments addressed the board as a whole, while others focused on individuals. “Maria [Flores] feels that some decisions have not been made with board consensus regarding meeting procedures,” Seidel stated.
“And there is some collective feeling, Maria, from multiple board members that you aren't able to fully engage in all aspects and participate in all aspects of board work, and that you face some unique challenges because you are a board member and you're also a cabinet member in the state's executive Educational Agency, which is the rulemaking authority and the funding like funding report agency for school districts.”
Flores responded that it was a difficult year for her personally and professionally. She also said that she sometimes feels ostracized by the board and feels that her professional experience is held against her.
Raw emotions were on full display at times. Seidel observed, “Scott [Clifthorne] has shared that he was so angry about what happened last year and the failed efforts to help our district become sustainable that it's really making it hard for him to show up and fully engage in leadership right now.”
Clifthorne expressed his anger. “I just don't think, in my own personal experience, that I've ever been a part of a process where I had greater political and personal and emotional regrets about how it's been a year of my life, because it's been this, this derailed conversation where we now again... What a colossal waste of my time and our community's time, energy and so it makes me angry. It makes me not want to do this, and it makes me even angrier.”
Clifthorne also admitted that he fears walking around town and having people yelling at him. “Now I go downtown and I'm like, looking over my shoulder about, like, who's going to tell me today about what an asshole I am for causing their child to be suicidal because I’m talking about closing their school?”
Board member Jess Tourtellotte-Palumbo expressed bitterness about taking unpaid leave from work to visit schools, emphasizing that she had made a commitment to the school board. She criticized Flores for not being in the schools enough.
Clifthorne emphasized that part of this exercise meant being vulnerable: “we’re in this together; we’re asking ourselves to lean in and do better. I understand this might not feel safe.”
Board member Darcy Huffman blamed the community. “This has been a difficult time for us, and emotions are high, you know? We are having a difficult time kind of overcoming the vitriol that we've heard from our community, right? And so to be able to create relationships with community members who have called you everything from racist to homophobic, right? – is pretty hard.”
Seidel replied that “we can’t be responsible for anything but what we do. We have a collective responsibility for leadership in communication. It’s okay to be frustrated about how the community has communicated with us.”
Throughout the lengthy conversation, there were tears, expletives, and anger. At the end of the session, which stretched well past its allotted time, the board members agreed that “lack of resolution is okay.”
Clifthorne stated that he had planned this exercise for three months, but he hadn’t realized that it would be so difficult to resolve.
7 comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here
JoanneMc
From the sound of it, this meeting devolved into a 'blame game' which would imply that resolution was not possible. In my personal experience working through difficult issues as a group can sometimes benefit from the presence of an outside, neutral facilitator. This method then can lower the temperature and create a safer environment for the group to work through conflict.
Wednesday, August 14 Report this
GinnyAnn
The Board should focus on the Board's goals and commitments to the school district rather than discuss personal feelings and personal relationships. Those discussions belong elsewhere, not at a Board Meeting. The Board needs a strong leader who will keep the discussion focused on topic.
Wednesday, August 14 Report this
OlyBlues
It's very unfortunate to hear about all of these strong personal feelings Board members have, many involving personal issues they have with one another. Knowing this, it seems like it would have been prudent to have a pre-retteat facilitated by trained mediators from the Dispute Resolution Center where the actually do try and seek resolutions. This could have set the foundation for an effective retreat where communication was improved and they could have restored some public confidence. It's not too late for DRC to be involved and I would highly recommend this before the school year starts. The levels of dysfunction on full display does not bode well for accomplishing goals for the next school year. That said, these tough conversations were a good start and I applaud them for at least having them in a public forum. The more info that comes out from this meeting it does seem very circumspect to have held this retreat far away from Olympia so it was difficult for district families to attend. Clearly this was by design.
Wednesday, August 14 Report this
MrCommonSense
Hopefully the board can move past the personal and focus on student needs, which, unfortunately, may include changes that not everyone in the community agrees with. The world does not operate on consensus. Not everyone always gets what they want. The board is charged with making decisions that provide the most benefit for the district as a whole. And maybe some parents need to accept some changes for the overall benefit of the district.
Wednesday, August 14 Report this
Truthplease
The voices of outsiders weighing in has been unfortunate on the school closures topic. Many of the loudest voices in favor of keeping Madison Elementary open do not actually know the complete chaos in that building and how it is run. Less harm would have resulted for both the students and their families and those working in that building if Madison had been closed. Madison staying open under the same leadership is the true and most acute detriment. Those loudest voices would be ashamed of their very public outcry and board member attacks if they knew the truth of lived experiences for children and adults inside that building on a daily basis.
Thursday, August 15 Report this
Hendo1
Is this satire? It looks like an Onion article.
Friday, August 16 Report this
swiftwind
This school board is a mess. The blame game and bullying toward Flores is so absurd. The rest of them look so petty when they act like her professional experience and community connections are a weakness instead of a strength. That’s why we elected her! She knows things! They need a mediator immediately. And probably some therapy, honestly. This is not demure or mindful.
Friday, August 16 Report this