Nutshell: 4-3. Settlement accepted. What remains to be seen is how the best interests of our students are being served by taking the settlement. Once the language is made public, we’ll get a good idea of what each board member believes is in the best interest of our kids.
Detail: At 6:01pm Wednesday evening the Christina School District Board of Education November 30 meeting was gaveled to order. At 6:01:05 pm the Christina School District Board of Education motioned to go into executive session “in the absence of public comment”. At 6:01:10pm, the Christina School District Board of Education adjourned to executive session.
Last evening was no exception to the general rule that each board meeting begins by going into executive session to discuss (but not vote on) agenda items that cannot be discussed openly in public. Things like personnel decisions and legal matters. The latter of those two was on the agenda last night.
A proposed settlement agreement between all parties involved in the lawsuit alleging misappropriation of student funding by the State and Christina School District was presented to the Board of Education for their approval or rejection. For just over an hour last evening, the Board, legal counsel, and senior district administration discussed the settlement agreement.
Around 7:25pm, the Board was gaveled back into public session. Board Member George Evans made a motion to accept the terms of settlement with the stipulation that the language of the settlement not be made public until all parties involved have agreed. Board President Elizabeth Paige put it on the floor and asked for discussion.
Like so many other votes, Board Member John Young offered his opinion on the item at hand. Paraphrasing: this is a rushed decision on an arbitrary timeline, almost like we are being bullied, we have no idea what the long term effects of this will be and have no idea if this is the best thing for all of our students simply because we have had no time to study the settlement language (for that matter, no one in the public has even SEEN the settlement language), and that this is a true disservice to taxpayers in the district and that this will see the “untethering of millions of dollars” from the District over the next several years. (in quotes is verbatim from Mr. Young.)
Board Member Polaski offered rebuttal along the lines of questioning whether this is the right time or venue to take a stand against funding issues in the State and District for our students.
Board President Paige shot back: it’s always the right time to fight for our students.
Board Member George Evans called for the vote.
Board Member Shirley Saffer echoed Mr. Young’s comments.
Like so many other votes, it was 4-3 in favor. Like so many other votes you knew who the 3 dissenters were even before the vote was called: Saffer, Young, Paige.
Settlement accepted.
Here’s what irritates the shit out of me. From what I am told, the language of the settlement was presented to district counsel at 4:00pm yesterday. With a meeting scheduled for 6pm to vote on it. The Board had to reach a decision on this prior to December 1 I am also told. That doesn’t exactly leave a lot of time to discuss the language of the settlement let alone the potential long term implications for the school districts, and the precedent it will set.
No one save for counsel and parties involved have any idea what’s in the settlement language or what it will do other than bring about the ‘untethering of millions of dollars from the District” as Mr. Young alluded to (thank you for that, by the way). We also won’t know anything until the other parties agree to the settlement. I suppose that is typical in settlements.
The largest party to the suit, the taxpaying general public, is forced to place its trust in the 7 elected Board of Education Members and remain completely blind on this matter. And while that may be “just the way it works”, you’ll have to excuse me if I, as a parent, taxpayer, public education and district advocate, vehemently disagree with being kept in the dark on this entirely.
As I said above, no public comment was offered last night. And it seems no public was even aware of the meeting last night, judging by the attendance. Even if there were a packed house and dozens of people ready to give comment, what exactly could they be commenting on? They’d be relegated to “Take the settlement” or “Don’t take the settlement” or the boilerplate “School funding is broken and we need to fix it!” because we KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THE SETTLEMENT.
Megan Pauly from Delaware Public Media asked me how I felt after the vote and I told her the point blank truth: I don’t know how I feel because I have no idea what 4 elected officials just agreed to on behalf of ~21,000 children, their parents and every single property taxpayer in the district. Yes, 21,000. District + all resident children in Charter or choice schools.
Further irritating me is the fact that no matter what this District does, it gets negative press. I’m aware of the irony in me saying that and posting this article. You and I know the connotation “settlement” brings when it’s mentioned in the legal world, but dammit how in the hell do you spin this to something positive? At best it’s neutral.
After adjournment last night, John Young said something that I’m keeping fresh in my mind until I can get my mitts on the settlement language: he said he felt that each board member voted the way they did because they truly believed their vote was in the best interest of all students in the district.
John and I don’t agree on a lot but in this instance, I do agree with him. I also agree with the opinion he shared prior to voting. I agree even less often with Board Member Saffer, but last night I agreed with her too.