What do we want from our School Committee?
I have been trying to puzzle out who I will vote for School Committee for weeks now. I certainly take it more seriously because many of my friends that do not have time to pay such close attention have asked me for my opinion. I try to do my homework and have an educated well-considered opinion, but this round, I too am at a loss.
When I think of what will be needed from this School Committee in the coming few years, it will be both a time of opportunity and a time of challenges. With new Superintendent, Dr. John Buckey coming in, a man of forward and outside-the-box thinking, ingenuity, creativity, straightforward communication, a magnetic presence, and a wonderful sense of humor, I do believe he is the one to lead our school district into the future. We are ready for inclusion, and along with our new Director of Student Services, Eric Oxford, we are ready for an overhaul of our special education program. We will also be bringing an awesome new school online, eliminating our overcrowding issues and making the town more academically cohesive.
With a history of making very frugal choices, even when it comes to education, Marblehead is coming to the point where we need a new vision for what we are trying to fund. We have held off on facilities maintenance, curriculum development, hiring, and embracing new initiatives for too long, waiting for accountability and a clear vision to resonate with taxpayers. The interim Superintendent, William McAlduff, along with our interim and hired business managers, have done an amazing job drilling into the budget to get a real and accurate picture, so much so that we were able to come in under budget this year even before a significant Covid related overall savings amount. We are poised for new brave and forward-thinking decisions and a more needs-based budget, however, we are also now in a place of economic recession. Our town budget is in the red, layoffs are occurring, and raises are being denied. Families are seeing layoffs, unemployment, reduction of income, and economic uncertainty. This puts our education system, along with all other towns and states, in a precarious place. Add in the complexities of re-opening schools in the Fall (regarding which I have been participating in complicated conversations online all day today,) academic and special education-related regression, social-emotional issues, missed curriculum, and additional budgetary stressors, and the School Committee will have their hands full.
So, with all of this in mind, what do I wish for in the perfect School Committee members? After following the School Committee closely since the Maryann Perry mishandling of finances issue at the beginning of 2019, and attending as many meetings as I could around town, from Board of Selectmen, Finance Committee, Building Committee, SEPAC, and School Committee and sub-committee meetings, I have come to appreciate how complicated every issue is. There are so many moving parts, from union laws, education laws, human resources, legal counsel, interdepartmental town relationships, privacy laws, contractual obligations, Robert’s Rules that govern committees, public opinion, public relations, and even including personalities and personal feelings. We have some current members that take immediate decisive action in some cases but become polarizing and/or not representing the committee consensus, some that weigh the options so carefully and thoughtfully that they border on inaction, and some that are so super confident with public speaking that they have a tendency to take over the meetings, some that easily weigh every word but avoid difficult topics, others who speak passionately from the heart but with little measuring, some that have the institutional knowledge but perhaps lack outside the box thinking, others that are still learning and therefore don’t speak up as often...now try to figure out which is most effective and should stay, as well as what traits would make up a possible new addition. Do I want someone who is not afraid to give their well-researched opinion but perhaps can’t work as collaboratively, or would I rather have someone with a softer touch but who perhaps doesn’t see the complexities enough to appreciate the grey area? Would I like a more collaborative player knowing that perhaps they too easily go along with the consensus because they really aren’t comfortable fighting? Do I value someone with a wonderful perspective more than I value timely action? Do I value someone that can change as they learn and grow or am I unable to look past actions I have disagreed with in the past?
I don’t know what qualities make up the perfect committee. If there is anything I have seen over this past year, it is that being on the School Committee is an unforgiving, relentless, and overworked thankless and unpaid job. The amount of behind-the-scenes work that each member is required to do...from sub-committees to fielding resumes to being on state-level boards and organizations. This is not a once-a-month enjoyable volunteer opportunity. There is rarely a definitive clear right answer. They must also analyze and understand SO much data. They must endure personal attacks and their children often feel the backlash of their parent’s position on issues. For all of these reasons, I agree with Xhazzie Kindle when she says that our School Committee is not big enough. I want all the current members and the additional candidates to be on the committee. I want the workload to be more dispersed. I want the members to have more bandwidth so that when I show up at meeting after meeting pointing out that the current “bullying policy and curriculum” are not working and request that the issue be reexamined under the wellness subcommittee with the subheading of social-emotional curriculum development, they get excited about the opportunity instead of looking like they could really just use a well-deserved break. So that when I push for a subcommittee to look at all the dimensions of re-opening school in the Fall in order to take the most sensible informed and uniquely Marblehead approach, it happens right away, knowing we have no time to spare.
With the current structure, I am forced to choose between all volunteer candidates that deserve to be there. They all are good people, willing to work hard for the district, passionate, motivated, and all completely different. I don’t know what personality type would fit best with the remaining members. I don’t know which speaking and leadership style will guarantee success with all the challenges we face. I do know that I respect each of them for stepping up and appreciate that almost every one of them has taken time with me, listening to and considering my opinion, more than once, over the past year. I also know that every time you hear something bad about a committee member, when it seems so obvious what they actually should have done, question that opinion. Nothing I have seen has been an obvious right/wrong. It has been a group of passionate well-meaning people trying to do the best that they can for our kids and putting their actions where we only have put our words. Seeing as we are forced to choose, take your time to listen personally to their interviews and make an informed decision. Please don’t let the number of signs, number of friends, or digital presence decide for you. Not all the candidates are as comfortable as I am on the digital and social media platforms. This is not a popularity contest. It is an important job that not only protects the most vulnerable of our population but the value of our biggest financial asset as well.
If you read this whole thing and are disappointed, as my husband is, that I didn't state who I am voting for, it is because I still don't know.