By Christine Sullivan
The Harwood Unified Union School District (HUUSD) Board oversees the education of students pre-K through 12 in our six-town district. Many members of this board served on the Act 46 Study Committee as designated representatives of local schools, charged with negotiating merger terms. Last spring, the study committee produced the Articles of Agreement, explaining these terms. The final report states they were written to protect the concerns of local boards and communities “without hampering the work of any future board.” Among other issues, they prevented building closure for four years, explained the transfer of fund balances and made a commitment, with no timeline, to intra-district school choice. Voters in all six towns overwhelmingly approved the articles. Results were certified by local clerks, the secretary of education and the secretary of state. Our board was sworn in on August 31, with an oath to “faithfully execute the office of officer of the Harwood Unified Union School District and ... therein do equal right and justice to all persons. ...”
We are required to run meetings and conduct business according to Robert’s Rules of Order, which address conflicts of interest. I feel a personal responsibility and under these rules an obligation to bring up questions concerning them and ethical conduct. Failing to discuss them could hamper our board’s independence, integrity and decision-making authority. This specifically concerns the letter distributed to the HUUSD Board on December 29 by the Fayston Elementary School Board. This letter was drafted and approved by a quorum of three Fayston School Board members, two of whom also serve on the HUUSD Board.
WWSU Policy B3-R: Conflict of Interest, adopted by each of our schools, states, “A board member will not give the impression that his or her position on any issue can be influenced by anything other than a fair presentation on all sides of the question.” The Fayston Board, concerned that HUUSD Board members had reached a conclusion without considering, among other things, anticipated revenues (scheduled for discussion on January 4), indicated its opposition to teacher cuts and new expenditures. Have Fayston members committed to a position without hearing a full and fair presentation? Will their vote be influenced by the Fayston board’s stance and its commitment to Fayston School district voters to protect the staffing structure in its building?
Per the VSBA code of ethics, a board member’s primary concern must be for the students in his or her district. In addressing cuts proposed at Fayston School, does the letter consider all HUUSD students pre-k through 12? This letter was distributed to Fayston School parents and staff before an HUUSD Board discussion. A link to the letter was posted on the Mad River Valley Front Porch Forum, but it was not distributed throughout all HUUSD towns. It incorrectly calls colleagues inexperienced and is otherwise disrespectful in tone. Its manner of distribution has reinforced false and misleading information, including but not limited to:
• That the HUUSD Board and superintendent are breaking a commitment to maintain the status quo in year one. On the contrary, the Act 46 Study Committee made no promise regarding our first budget. The Final Report explains the new board would work toward solutions that provide equity and quality in educational opportunity, maximize operational efficiencies and promote transparency and accountability at a cost taxpayers value. In “Projected Savings,” it predicted more savings could be found once the parameters of a merger were realized. “Another area in which to explore potential savings is class size. There has been a decrease in student population in most of our schools.” “Class sizes should be brought into alignment with the Vermont Quality Standards. Not only would it save money, but some of the potential savings could be redirected into insuring equity of education for all students, and meeting or exceeding the Quality Standards, while lowering per pupil expenditure. Many times over the past five years there have only been eight to 11 students in several classrooms at different schools throughout the supervisory union. These micro-classrooms tend not to be the rich learning or social environments we seek for our children and drive up per pupil spending.”
• Article 10 – Upon approval the new district would have all authority necessary to prepare for educational operations on July 1, 2017, including writing the FY 2018 budget. Nothing in the articles obligates the HUUSD Board to influence from local district boards or limits its authority.
• That staffing should be tied to preserving capacity. It remains a function of student population. WWSU policy: G-14R Class Size Procedures. Policy is written and approved by boards; administrators implement procedures.
• That we have done no visioning or strategic planning. We have in place a detailed and thorough WWSU action plan. We discussed moving forward with respect to the existing plan, which all the current recommendations have done.
• That Fayston will bring a $91,000 maintenance reserve fund to HUUSD. The FES Board intends to spend this on the school’s new makerspace in the current year.
• That it considers revenues which will no longer be available, such as town rents or one-time contingency funds, when discussing per pupil expenditures on a building-by-building basis. Should we discuss PPE by building, given we are a pre-K through 12 system spanning seven schools? Alone, Fayston would have lost phantom students and its small schools grant, further increasing PPE and making it compare less favorably to that in other buildings.
• Annually, local boards have grappled with these types of cuts as part of the budgeting process. On its own, how would Fayston address this year’s budget? Since the budget will now be spread across the HUUSD, should we preserve positions that boards would otherwise eliminate? Should we leverage one building as an asset at everyone’s expense rather than consider equity?
It is important that our board discuss the potential for conflicts of interest and associated violations of codes of ethics. It will continue to exist as we move forward. We need to realize what it is, how it might be present in our work, and consider how best to avoid it.
Sullivan is the chair of the HUUSD Board. The full text of this abridged piece can be found at wwsu.org along with the other documents she references.
