Oyster River School Board chair resigns citing 'backroom deals' By Aaron Sanborn
asanborn@fosters.com
DURHAM — For the second time in less than a year, the person serving as the chair of the Oyster River School Board has resigned.
Mark Townsend submitted his letter of resignation to the board Monday morning after serving on the board for just over a year
Townsend, of Madbury, didn't elaborate on his reasons for resigning, only saying that the board not following procedures along with "backroom deals" contributed to his decision.
"Participation on this board has always been challenging, and for the better part of my first year the challenge was also rewarding," Townsend said in his letter of resignation. "This year the environment has been increasingly toxic. We moved from a board equally balanced on experience to a very inexperienced board. This has not helped."
Townsend went on to call the board "divided" and questioned whether or not the board is working together as a board of seven or a smaller number.
"Accountability starts at the board," his letter said. "Many ran on the platform of accountability, yet still have not accounted for their inexperience or mistakes."
Townsend was at the center of an uncomfortable moment at the board's last meeting on June 2, where he was accused of writing disparaging e-mails about the board and a board member's family.
He said those e-mails had nothing to do with his resignation but said what happened at that meeting helped to finalize his decision.
According to video from the meeting, Townsend was discussing e-mails between him and the district's attorneys regarding an opinion he was seeking. During that discussion, Board Member Ann Wright expressed concern about a comment Townsend wrote in the e-mail about her family, along with other allegations he made against the board.
"I don't appreciate you mentioning my family in an e-mail to an attorney and disparaging me to an attorney," Wright told Townsend during the meeting. "I found it hurtful. We have a board goal of unity ... and I find it's going to be very very difficult right now to achieve that after reading your e-mails, your accusations in there."
Townsend commented during the meeting that he didn't know which e-mails Wright was referring to.
Townsend declined to discuss the nature of the e-mails with Foster's on Monday, calling them "privileged information."
Wright didn't return a call Monday seeking comment.
Amid growing public concerns about transparency on the board, much of the board's recent discussion have centered around the creation of a budget advisory committee and an audit committee, issues that have divided the board at time.
Townsend briefly acknowledged those two issues in his resignation letter.
"I see focus on two financial pieces, yet for all the focus on money where is the focus on education?" he said. "This board will face many challenges this year, but I sincerely hope that it does not forget its first charge — to ensure the education of our children."
Townsend said he plans on going back to being a regular citizen with "a bad taste in his mouth of public service."
Finding new board members is nothing new to the School Board.
In December, former board chair Kimberly Clark resigned citing a "lack of trust and mutual respect" on the board.
Shirley Thompson, a former board member, resigned a year earlier.
Does anyone else see Mark Townsend as being like a power-hungry right-wing tea-partier?
ReplyDeleteCome on everyone - this isn't because of backroom deals and bitter politics. This is because he sent an email to the district's lawyer. He wrote horrible comments about current board members and their family members. What a moron. Everyone knows you don't put in an email what you wouldn't want the whole world to see.
Townsend is a stupid politician who got what he deserved. Now he pooh-poohing and trying to drag as many other people with him.
Nice try Mark. Try being a man sometime and own up to your actions. Your integrity depends on it.
Now watch Mark try to blame this on Howard Colter. The board chair dug his own hole on this one. Now it is time to pay the piper.
ReplyDeleteMark buried himself on this one. But Colter should leave also. Colter is supposed to lead our district & he does nothing to try & work cooperatively with the Board. Through his actions he encourages the division of the Board. We need a new superintendent rather than continually replacing Board members.
ReplyDeleteit's not the superintendent's job to baby sit a bunch of incoherent, stubborn blowhards.
ReplyDeleteDon't blame the sup't - it's the board members who are at fault.
Well...what if the superintendent is causing this strife and conflict. I have seen first hand how he can yell at the board members and be very coercive. Yes....he does yell at them! He then sprouts lies about Shirley saying non-public info in public. If anyone stopped to talk to people close to Shirley, you would know that she is a stickler for procedure!
ReplyDeleteAlso, my money is on Howard trying to get Henry off the board and push for that stupid agenda topic last week. Mark was just too arrogant/pompous to realize that he was a pawn in his agenda.
The bottom line since Howard has been here, the board is not working well, there is some thick wall of protection around him by those board members who hired him, and 3 members have resigned. Nice track record for a superintendent!!!
In any case, I hope that the bloggers here post that entire email string when it gets released. It should tell some more insight into why Mark resigned (coward IMO).
I think Mark Townsend did the right thing by resigning. He did something very dishonorable when he wrote the letter to the board's attorney, and he did something very stupid when he copied it to the whole board. Based on his actions (and attitudes), he could no longer be an effective board member.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the conflicts between Ann Wright and Mark Townsend, and Henry Brackett and JoAnn Portalupi & Jennifer Rief: In my mind, the former conflict is significantly different from the latter. The former involved personal attacks on a member and her family, while the latter involves (1) a disagreement about whether the minutes for the Lee Selectpersons' meeting were accurate and (2) Mr. Brackett's opinion about "board transparency." I'm glad Mr. Townsend resigned. The latter conflict should have been addressed outside the meeting by the people who took offense.
I hope the school board can spend some time getting through what is hopefully a phase so they can begin working on the issues that matter most to the community. I'm willing to be patient, but I also expect school board members to behave respectfully toward one another. I believe the board members are competent, able people, and if they can sort out their styles, they should be able to accomplish very good things. (This blog, unfortunately, often treats school board members and administrators very disrespectfully.)
Finally, I oppose the budget committee. I believe in accountability, and I want the budget to be more understandable, but I don't believe that another elected committee will be any more successful in gaining accountability/transparency than organized citizens are currently being. The main purpose of budget committees is to choke off school district finances.
Peter:
ReplyDeleteI agree with much of what you say; however, I believe you are misinformed about the purpose and scope of authority of the type of budget committee being proposed, and in doing so you unwittingly perpetuate a couple of harmful myths.
First, what is being proposed here is an advisory (not a statutory) budget committee. As proposed, it would have no authority to cut the budget, increase the budget, or do anything other than to make recommendations regarding the budget to the school board. It would not have any ability to “choke off” the District’s finances. It would, however, free up the School Board to focus more on “education” (broadly defined) during meetings and less on the business side of things.
Second, the budget committee would not be another elected body; rather, it would be made up of persons appointed by various stakeholders (the three towns and the School Board).
Lastly, while I agree that citizen participation can be credited with some progress toward accountability and transparency in our District, as one of the participants in some of that activity I can tell you that a major bar to progress has been the lack of cooperation from the administration.
To give just one example: when several folks (including two current SB members) conducted a citizens’ audit of the District’s bidding and purchasing back in the summer of 2008, administrators essentially hemmed and hawed for a month and then handed over twelve files (several of which were incomplete)— twelve out of approximately 160 vendors. State law (RSA 91-A, known as the “Right-To-Know” law) stipulates that all such records as we requested be made available to the public to the public within five days of the request, so our administrators violated state law by a) not making the files available and b) taking far too long to do it.
Given my experiences, one reason I believe an audit committee would help is that (presumably) administrators would not be able to play these sorts of games with appointed representatives, as they have (and continue to do) with requests from ordinary citizens.
Given the serious audit findings within the Oyster River School District, members of our community have made a reasonable request; to establish an audit committee, to promote organizational growth and a balanced budget. Howard Colter has been unable to adequately explain these serious deficiencies. He is suffering from "paralysis by analysis." Instead of leading the board in a proactive manner, he has created a climate that keeps the board from making any decisions. Mark Townsend is just the latest fall out. Stay tuned!
ReplyDeleteYou know. I appreciate Peter's comment. However why are all budget committees bad? It can be a positive thing to have one and Hanover does it successfully. We arrant charting a new course here and should use the best practices and leverage the districts that make it work.
ReplyDeleteI personally don't see the harm and why is it labeled as cut cut cut? It doesn't need to be. Perhaps there are examples on both sides of this but I would want to copy the better examples.
Plus if we keep dropping enrollment there will be a time when we will need to reduce staffing. It is just the way it is. Sucks when it happens but you cannot expect the taxpayers to keep footing the bill for an overstaffed school.
Jay Gooze stated at the recent Durham town council meeting that there used to be a budget committee.
ReplyDeleteI get the impression that Howard and all of the SAU staff are paralyzed by all the Freedom of Information Act requests. They therefore cannot get done the job they were hired to do.
ReplyDeleteI get the impression that the SAU staff is paralyzed because of Howard.
ReplyDeletePrevious poster:
ReplyDeleteYou are probably the reason. Perhaps you are setting Howard and some board members up for failure. From a staff perspective, he is incredibly imaginative and offers a great vision of education.
Everyone asks us to focus on the children and their education, well, he is trying but the posters on this blog refuse to let him do his job.
Do you actually work in the SAU office? If not, you really shouldn't be answering for the people who do.
ReplyDeleteWell, you are certainly not doing a good job of speaking for them. I think working in the district offers me some knowledge of how good of a superintendent he is. I have worked for many over my career and OR has had its share of good ones - Carroll & Colter do measure up (though they are totally different types of administrators)
ReplyDeleteThat is an understatement (i.e., that they are totally different types of administrators)!! Carroll was a team builder.
ReplyDelete“A great superintendent is flexible. He or she needs to be able to manage the politics of the job - to adapt to new board members, changes in state funding and changes in the school community while not sacrificing the district's vision. A great superintendent takes a collaborative rather than a confrontational approach.” (See quote reference below)
ReplyDeleteDid anyone notice, in today's Foster's, that Colter was whining about the inexperience of the board. It sounded like he was casting blame and clearly not "adapting," to the changes on the school board.
quote reference:(http://www.greatschools.org/improvement/quality-teaching/what-makes-a-great-superintendent.gs?content=94)
Colter does not understand the concept of collaboration. He is all about division.
ReplyDeleteWhat did Colter say wrong in that article? The board IS INEXPERIENCED!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely nothing he said was a lie.
I am assuming the blogger meant to point out that a great superintendent is supposed to adapt to new board members, not serve as a cancer.
ReplyDeleteUntil Colter goes, things will not settle down. Colter needs to go. Unfortunately, thanks to Portalupi, he has another two years on his contract (another questionably handled negotiation). How much would a buy out cost??? I would throw a couple of bucks into that collection plate!
ReplyDeleteIf you think getting rid of a superintendent will solve the problems of this district, then you need to lay off the marijuana.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly would be a start.
ReplyDeleteAverting eyes, stalking the periphery
ReplyDeleteNose in the air like an uninterested spectator
A vexing grin, imperial mustache and “dickie bow”
Disguised from public view
A “hog in armor”
It stinks that we are stuck with him for two more years. Weren't there questions about the way his contract was handled?
ReplyDeleteYes. Board Chair Portalupi signed the Superintendent contract on December 9, 2008 WITHOUT Board approval. The Board did discuss finalizing the contracts at the previous November Board meeting, but did not concur on contract terms and approve, as a Board, to sign the contracts.
ReplyDeleteI raised this issue directly to Ms. Portalupi at the subsequent March 2009 deliberative session. Ms. Portalupi stated that "her recollection was different" than mine. Nevertheless, the Board then went back and voted on the contracts (Business Manager's was also handled improperly) as a formality (because they were already signed).
The terms of the superintendent contract include an AUTOMATIC RENEWAL clause which goes into effect if Mr. Colter is not notified of contract non-renewal by January 1, 2012. There are also terms providing for annual salary increases between 2.75% and 4%.
Had the superintendent and business manager ever received 3 year contracts before this?
ReplyDeleteAnd how did Portolupi justify salary increases of 2.75% - 4% in last year's economy? Didn't the teachers (who deserved a larger percentage increase than the superintendent) get less than a 2.75% increase at that time? Wasn't there talk that Colter hadn't received his performance evaluation before Portolupi signed the contract in December. What teacher gets their next contract without a performance evaluation? Many people think that Portolupi was just trying to give Colter job security at a time when people were becoming more and more dissatisfied with his job performance. The whole thing was sneaky. Howard Colter's salary is the biggest waste of money in the ORCSD budget.
I think it was unprecedented for the business manager to have a three year contract. I do think a three year superintendent contract may be customary. However, I really do not know the ORCSD history related to contract durations.
ReplyDeleteThe Stache
ReplyDeleteBy: Ano
Long, over his lips
Does he even have lips there?
Handlebar mustache
"The ’stache is part of the uniform for ranchers, laborers, roughnecks and cowboys of all manner of industry — men with skin as tough as their boots and whiskers as stiff as a grill brush."
Hog in armor "awkward or clumsy person in ill-fitting attire" is from 1650s.