Joyner, Goldson clashing at Monday’s meeting.
“Dueling” Board of Education members Ed Joyner and Darnell Goldson issued public apologies Wednesday for their conduct at Monday night’s fractious meeting, where a new superintendent of schools was chosen.
The two hurled accusations and threats at each other at the meeting, ending with Joyner challenging Goldson to a “duel” in Bowen Field, followed by an abrupt adjournment and the escorting of Joyner from the scene by schools security chief Thaddeus Reddish.
Public figures called for the pair to issue apologies Tuesday and called their conduct a dangerous signal to students about how to handle conflict. Click here to read a story about that. The two elected board members, former allies, have been feuding publicly in recent months and regularly attacking each other.
Joyner issued a full written apology and promsied not to repeat his behavior. He said he doesn’t deserve to remain as a board member if he fails in that quest.
Goldson apologized for losing his temper and engaging in shouting insults with members of the public during the meeting. He also defended his vote and at length characterized himself as a victim of mistreatment and the attacks on incoming Superintendent Carol Birks as a “public lynching of this extremely accomplished professional African American woman.”
The full text of their statements — issued simultaneously — follow.
Ed Joyner’s Statement
The children are the victim when any of us act inappropriately. I accept full responsibility and regret for my actions and do not deserve to be on the board if I repeat them.
When elephants fight, the grass (innocents) suffer. our children are innocent as are the least among us. Our country suffers because of greed and ego. As imperfect as I am, I want to be part of the solution. The community has the duty to hold me and ALL public servants accountable.
If not now, when?
Darnell Goldson’s Statement
I will start with a simple statement, I should not have engaged the audience by returning their shouts of “shame”, I lost my temper and for that I truly apologize, to all of the many people who attended the Board of Education meeting, as well as my fellow BOE members, no matter what side of the debate they supported.
I will not apologize for the way I voted. I tried to explain my reasons for my support of Dr. Birks, but was shouted down by some in the audience and by the President of the board. I will not use this essay to explain that vote, but will make sure to provide a document at our next meeting to insert into the record.
I will not make an apology for being a victim of both physical and verbal attacks. No matter your views of me, whether or not you agree with me, or dislike my character or general being, no one has the right to threaten of harass another person. On more than one occasion during that meeting, another board member physically grabbed my arm, and at one point forced me to lean back to avoid their threats of “dueling” with me, at one point asking me if I was scared. This is not funny, it is not “what I deserved”, and was completely out of bounds. I have sat on many boards and commissions, and have had many disagreements with my colleagues and others. There has never been another time other than this where I felt actual fear for my well-being.
This debate has raised some concerns for me which led to my frustration and outburst. I have no issue that some disagreed with my decisions, and that they voice those disagreements. I have almost never had total agreement with most of my choices throughout life, as a son, husband, father, and elected leader.
My concerns and ultimate frustrations rose from the tone and tenor of the debate. There was and still continues to be a public lynching of Dr. Carol Birks, through false mischaracterizations of her professional career and motivations, as well as her membership to African American women volunteer organizations, by a select few very active internet savvy people. They have taken those misrepresentations and sold them as facts, to a larger audience who for the most part spread those smears without so much as a few minutes research. The lies went viral and threatened Dr. Birks’ career, for political expediency. Interestingly enough, out of the 30 or so speakers who addressed the board at the meeting, only one had the boldness to actual repeat the slurs on the record. Another read the slanderous words of an out of town resident’s Facebook posting to insulate herself from the slurs.
The public lynching of this extremely accomplished professional African American woman, and the attempted harm to the philanthropic organizations to which she was a member, was shameful and immoral. I could not silently stand by and allow it to go unanswered. But, this does not excuse my angry shouts of “shame” to members of the audience.
Worse yet, they used children as props. After the testimony of one adult leader of this group, they led a young man to our table, no older than 6 years old, and had the child hand me a drawing of Dr. Birks leading them into oncoming traffic. How in the world does a six year old envision such a scenario? This was an absolutely disgusting display of politics at its worse.
Now the organizers of this campaign have decided to use the same tactics on members of the BOE. To the organizers I ask, is there no limits to what you will do to win a political point? What lessons did you teach the children by suggesting that when they don’t agree with a decision, they should scream, shout and walkout? These adults are now teaching our young people that character assassination is a fair tool to use when in disagreement. They are now showing students that an effective tool of disagreement is to shout people down. They are now teaching our young people that it’s ok to harass and disrespect the opposition.
The anti Birks organizers hold no high moral ground here. This is not a civil rights movement where children are locked out of equal education. We, as the legal representation of the New Haven Board of Education, were making a decision regarding leadership of our schools, and reasonable people can have reasonable disagreement. Maligning and defaming a job applicant for political convenience is NOT a reasonable response to disagreement. Keeping kids out of schools and away from education is NOT a reasonable response. Physically attacking and threatening BOE members is NOT a reasonable response. When people who hold office do not represent views that you hold, you work through legal and civilized processes to remove those folks. These shortcuts that are being used — character assassinations, threatened school walkouts, threats of physical violence — are third world despot responses and should not have place in New Haven Board of education debates.
Click on the above Facebook Live video to watch Monday night’s board meeting. The ultimate confrontation between Goldson and Joyner occurs in the final minute.