Laura Glesby photos
Board of Ed members Ed Joyner and Darnell Goldson on Monday.
A team-building exercise prompted formerly-dueling Board of Education members Darnell Goldson and Ed Joyner to cheer each other on — in derailing that team-building exercise.
Minutes after nearly walking out of a special meeting on Monday night, Joyner issued a plea for collegiality — and Goldson erupted into applause.
This exchange may surprise those who remember the board members’ relationship six years ago, when the two were quite literally on the brink of a duel as the board’s interpersonal dysfunction reached an all-time low.
The Board of Education convened for a special meeting on Monday night at Barack Obama Magnet University School on Farnham Avenue. Consultant Judy Sclair-Stein had planned a leadership retreat of sorts for the board members as part of the board’s contract with McPherson & Jacobson, the firm that oversaw the process of hiring newly-appointed Superintendent Madeline Negrón last year.
Sclair-Stein designed the workshop to build up to a closed-to-the-public discussion about how the board will evaluate Negrón’s performance as New Haven Public Schools’ chief manager.
She asked each board member to fill out a personality quiz about their leadership styles.
The Board members discovered, for instance, that Matthew Wilcox is a logical and organized “analyst”; Darnell Goldson is a decisive and confident “taskmaster”; Justin Elicker is a mix of those two; and Yesenia Rivera is an empathetic and listening-oriented “mainstay.”
Ed Joyner said he quibbled with the principle of categorizing people into leadership styles on the basis that a person’s mode of leadership should depend on the circumstances.
Sclair-Stein outlined the typical responsibilities of a Board of Education as compared to a superintendent, prompted reflection on each board member’s leadership style, and stressed the importance of working together as a unit — a skill that the Board of Education hasn’t always excelled at demonstrating.
“This particular board would benefit from developing norms,” Sclair-Stein said as she projected comportment guidelines compiled by a Missouri school district, which included “actively participate” and “be courteous and respectful to everyone.’
Despite her efforts to reserve comments and questions until the end of the workshop, Goldson and Joyner interrupted with their own perspectives on why they and their colleagues have had a challenging time working with one another.
Consultant Judy Sclair-Stein urges board members to read a book on governance.
When Sclair-Stein urged the board to communicate information to the public through chair Yesenia Rivera and Superintendent Negrón, Goldson interjected.
“For a board that trusts each other, that’s easy to do,” Goldson said — but a sense of trust hasn’t always been a part of the board’s culture, he said, referencing previous quarrels he’s had with board members and past superintendents.
At that, Joyner’s arm shot up. When Goldson finished, Joyner asked Sclair-Stein if he could speak — and when Sclair-Stein initially sought to move on, reiterating her request that the board members save their remarks until the end, Joyner stood up and threatened to leave the meeting.
“I’d like to hear what Mr. Joyner has to say,” Goldson insisted.
Sclair-Stein relented, and Joyner stood up.
“We can’t leave this retreat and return to a harmonious board,” Joyner said — but in a small speech, he urged his colleagues to focus on their work of improving public schools and “not let anyone drive a wedge between us.”
These words prompted Goldson to clap and exclaim “Bravo!”
Though the exchange was in some ways a disruption of Sclair-Stein’s agenda, it proved a point she had made earlier in the evening.
She’d observed that, one year prior, the board’s dynamic had been far more tense. “You weren’t laughing. You weren’t sharing with each other. You weren’t relaxed,” she said. “You’ve come a long way, baby.”