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The latest full Board of Education meeting.
School board members ended a meeting early after a heated disagreement over how best to move forward with the search for a new superintendent turned personal, amid fears of repeating the mistakes of a previous “unethical” search.
That discord was on full display during the latest full Board of Education meeting, which was held online Monday evening via Zoom.
Tensions flared towards the end of the three-and-a-half-hour meeting as some school board members took umbrage with fellow board member Darnell Goldson’s suggestion that the board’s first meeting with the search firm McPherson and Jacobson be open to the public. That’s the firm that the Board of Education has hired to help find a replacement for New Haven Public Schools Supt. Iline Tracey, who plans to retire at the end of the current academic year in June.
Some board members also bristled at Goldson’s complaint Monday night that the ed board is starting the search process “in the dark” by keeping its first meeting with the search firm behind closed doors.
The search process is taking place against the backdrop of deep concerns about chronic absenteeism, low reading and math scores, and a district-wide teacher shortage.
That disagreement, which ultimately led to a majority of board members voting to end Monday’s meeting early before the completion of the scheduled agenda, shed light on concerns among board members about not repeating the same mistakes made several years ago that led to the hiring and early resignation of former NHPS Supt. Carol Birks.
Monday’s ed board public disagreement came after four community members expressed during the public comment portion of the meeting that the superintendent search committee should include more than just the seven Board of Education members. Monday’s meeting also came less than a week after a recent Board of Alders Education Committee meeting where teachers, parents, and community members pleaded that the ed board expand its search committee to include stakeholders like educators, school staff, parents, and education experts from the community.
At that Board of Alders meeting, Board of Education Vice President Matt Wilcox said that the ed board had not yet decided if it would bring more members onto the search committee or not.
On Monday, Board of Education president Yesenia Rivera provided an update on the next expected steps in the superintendent search process. Specifically, she said the board plans to meet with the firm it has hired to help out with that search.
“There were some things to talk about as we move forward with the search, such as times to meet with the search firm,” Rivera said. “Another was the stakeholder groups and what we’re thinking we want that to look like.”
She said the group will also discuss examples of job descriptions and possible salary options to include with the superintendent job application.
Following Rivera’s report, Board of Ed member Goldson asked for clarity on whether the upcoming meeting with the search firm would be open to the public or held in private.
Rivera said that the meeting will not be hosted publicly.
“Why would we not want that to be an open and transparent meeting?” Goldson asked. “We’re not talking about individual candidates; we’re talking about a process that everybody in the city is interested in knowing about.”
Rivera replied: “It’s not so much that we want to keep it private or non-public. It’s just I thought it was part of the personal search committee meetings, and we were told we can do it that way until we get started.” During his presentation last week to the aldermanic committee, Wilcox said that the search process will include at least one public hearing during the search process for the search committee to get input from New Haven residents.
Goldson suggested on Monday the board make the initial meeting with the search firm along with as many other meetings as possible open to the public to show the board is listening to public input. “We don’t want to start this process off by hiding stuff. I mean, there’s nothing to hide,” he said.
Rivera responded that “it’s not about hiding. It’s about, this is our first meeting with the firm and this is pretty much to kind of talk about how we’re going to set it up going forward.”
“By keeping it open at the very beginning, we bring good will from the community to this process,” Goldson replied.
Other board members disagreed with Goldson and said they believe it’s best to host the initial meeting with the search firm in a private “executive session” format.
“I think it’s perfectly appropriate for this group to meet for an initial meeting with the search firm to talk about what this process will be. This body, we need to have a conversation,” Wilcox said. “The community, various parts of the community, union representation has expressed their desire for this process to be widened. I think we need to be able to have a careful, candid conversation about how to widen it.”
Wilcox continued that all board members are on the same page in wanting the superintendent search process to go “extremely well, extremely openly” to make a good superintendent choice.
He then alluded to the previous superintendent search that ended with the hiring of Carol Birks.
“I know that based on the previous search that I’m not gonna take advice right now from people involved in the previous search,” Wilcox said. “I want to hear from the people involved in hundreds of other searches.”
Goldson called a point of order during Wilcox’s statement to ask that the board president take note of the “insult” Wilcox had made against him, as Goldson had been on the Board of Ed when it picked Birks to be superintendent.
“If the shoe fits,” Rivera responded to Goldson’s point of order. “Your point of order is not well taken, Mr. Goldson.”
Wilcox continued that he felt offended by Goldson’s “insinuation that the rest of the board is wanting to move forward without transparency.”
“What failed in the previous search was a divided board making a decision going against the community,” Wilcox said about the search that ended with Birks.
Wilcox concluded that Goldson’s comments were “trying to poison the process.”
Goldson responded that his suggestion to open the process was not an attempt to “poison” the search process.
Board Secretary Edward Joyner added that the previous search, which took place while he was president of the board, had many non-public meetings to “get the process right,” but ultimately failed.
“We don’t want this process to be like the last process. The last process was unethical, it was corrupt, and we should never go down that road again,” Joyner said about the search process that ended with Carol Birks. “The process that we’re using is the same process that good boards all over the United States of America use to first set up the process and then protect the integrity, job of people that apply. This community will not stand for a search like the last one.”
“I didn’t lead this board during that last process,” Goldson said. “For someone to suggest that I was the problem in that process is a little shaky. Considering the fact that we did have a company that we all agreed on, that the president at the time decided he wasn’t comfortable with and he changed to a different company, that then became the problem.”
“I was one of four board members that made a decision that at the end of the day didn’t work out,” Goldson added.
Also during Monday’s meeting, Board member Abie Benitez said she is tired of constantly being attacked as a board member by Goldson. “It is time for us to be united because if this is how we are going to act during this process we’ll never get to hire a good candidate,” she said.
“I am seriously doubting that I can be a part of something where there is a member who is constantly accusing me of being dishonest when I have made my life in New Haven an honest life,” Benitez said. “I am tired of being discredited publicly.”
“We need to meet with that firm, not to go do any dark thing, it’s to do business and work hard at making sure we do the right thing for this community. Not to be in the dark,” Benitez said.
“I talked about having a meeting in public, so if this gets you guys so excited in the process, Jesus, I’m afraid of what really going to happen when we get down to the nitty gritty,” Goldson said. “If you don’t want to have the meeting in public then fine, vote not to have it or agree not to have it but don’t insult me because I brought it up in the first place.”
Mayor Justin Elicker then suggested the board move on to its final five agenda items. He added that the private upcoming meeting was advised by the board’s attorney, Thomas Mooney, to “ensure that we, in many ways, get the best outcome here.”
However, due to the high tensions of the disagreement, Joyner moved for the board to adjourn the Monday meeting. Goldson seconded that motion. The motion was approved in a 5 – 2 vote with board members Elicker and OrLando Yarborough voting no to end to the meeting early.