Follow-Up Letter From Kim...

Subject: I know I don't have the bully pulpit but...

A decision that is not in the norm is one that will be questioned.

I know many are asking “why walk away?”

I think my letter outlined the primary reasons, but it is a mere chapter in the book. For those that question my “leadership” or “commitment”, I truly am sorry I have disappointed you.

It wasn’t until after I was elected to the Board when I began to understand the limits under which the work can be done. To quote Steven Covey “management works in the system, leadership works on the system.” Ironically, I discovered a seat on the Board doesn’t translate to an unfiltered voice at the table. Protocol, agendas, and policies have been implemented that create considerable constraints on what you can say and do as a member of the Board. Private Citizen’s, however, are not, although it is clear those who are respectful and informed are also better heard.

From my perspective the Board serves at the will of the voters, and the Superintendent at the will of the Board. If the citizens of our district want change, it is the job of the Board to deliver it. If citizens like things the way they are, it is the job of the Board to maintain. It is the voice of the community that should create the direction that our School Board follows, and as private citizens, we should all be keeping up with what is going on, and challenging it if we are not satisfied.

This public discourse must be able to take place without the fear of retribution. I have spoken to many citizens and parents of students who don’t want to speak up for fear of affecting the way their children are treated at school. I urge us to overcome this fear, stop being afraid, trust our teachers to do what is right, and to speak up if you have a concern. This fear of retribution only continues a cycle that must end … now.

I urge us all to stop the attacks and pursue solutions. It is time to look forward, and for us all to work together to focus making our district what we want it to be. We all want to believe the people we elected have our best interests at heart, (which I believe is the case even today). Whether you personally believe our school’s are great today depends on what your expectations are as a parent, citizen and taxpayer.

I decided to get involved because I believe we should always be striving to improve. I am also confident our teachers believe this too, and strive to achieve improvements each and every day, but no matter what you may personally believe in, it is hard for us to even know what our schools have set out to accomplish without an articulated long term vision backed up with a comprehensive Strategic Plan. This is the primary job of the leaders of our district, and I firmly believe we need to all let our Superintendent know we think his top priority should be to support and actively participate in the creation of a strong shared community vision that the majority of our community can get behind and be proud of.

I believe the one thing great school districts have in common is great leaders. Leadership is critical and our leaders need to work well together and be responsive to the priorities of the community. Next up is who will be the new chair from now until March. The six sitting at the table on Wednesday night will decide. Each year after an election I thought the public would weigh in on this. I thought for sure people would weigh in on who they believed should carry on this important task. Each year no one has, but after the fact there has been an outcry by many as to who the chair had become.

Wouldn’t it be great if people spoke up and said who they wanted the leader of the board to be before the vote? Please take this opportunity to state that yes you voted in these six, but here is who you would like to see be the leader. This power does exist, and it is up to you to exercise it.

This is your board, they work for you. Pay attention, participate and let them know what you think. I can assure you your comments can influence the people sitting around that table. During public comments at the start of each 7pm meeting you have your bully pulpit, use it, take part, and speak up for the kids.

Just so you all know, I will be cheering Jennifer Wednesday night as my co-chair and hope that the right thing will be done and she will simply become the chair. No matter what you believe, please show your support of the Board in continuing the important work of the district, and respect that they are all there for the kids, in different ways, and that is what makes a true democracy work.

Show your support by allowing people to speak up and listening to their point of view. Question and challenge ideas … not people. Let’s make our kids proud, support our teachers, and work together as a community.

Thank you,

Kim

ORCSD Board Chair Resigns

Please see the note from our board chair below. We thank her for her service and dedication to our school district. Hopefully, the board will seek the correct path in the future and avoid situations like this.

December 10, 2009

Oyster River School Board

Coe Drive

Durham, NH 03824

Dear Board members and residents,

Over the last few weeks I have spent many long days reflecting on why I decided to run for a seat on the Oyster River School Board in the first place.Frankly, my motives were selfish. I had, and still have two daughters enrolled in the district, and I wanted to ensure they would receive the highest quality of education possible by working towards continued improvement in our schools.

When I first decided to dedicate time to this effort, it was to put my experience as an educator to use, as well as my twenty years in this community and experience as a PTO organizer. As a former high school teacher and counselor, and after two years of volunteering with the PTO, I knew first hand our district had many strengths, but there were also many opportunities for growth and improvement I was excited to pursue.

In particular, the last few Board meetings have been very frustrating for many of us. Since I became the Board Chair in March, I have experienced increased frustration regarding the lack of progress towards open communication and working together to engage all learners. In particular, my sense is that some members of the Board seem to value process and policy, often at the expense of progress. The most recent incident occurred when Mark recently indicated a Board member called him at home regarding the approval of names to the strategic working group volunteer list. David then requested that the full Board discuss this “violation of right to know law” at a future meeting.

The fact is; no violation of the Right to Know Law occurs when one board member calls another board member to discuss Board business. Board business can be discussed by two Board members outside of a regularly scheduled meeting as stated in the State of NH right to know law, RSA 91-A:2.As far as I am concerned the Board can choose to continue this conversation if it thinks it is a good use of time, but it is important to know this specific incident was not a violation of the law.

So once again, accusations were made in the middle of a meeting that turn out to be false, disrupting the flow of the meeting, distracting us from the important work at hand, and unfortunately this has occurred numerous times in my tenure as a Board member. Worse, I have discovered it is often the headline that is heard and remembered, not the correction five days later buried on page 10. Dropping these unfounded bombshells on the laps of the Board, in my estimation is the equivalent of conducting a witch hunt, and a waste of our children’s time.

These efforts seem to be an attempt to put into question the integrity and process of specific Board members, our committees and the work we are trying to accomplish. They undermine the efforts of hard working and well meaning volunteers such as the strategic planning group. When accusations and opinions are presented as fact, citizens are left to wonder what is right, who is right and why is it this board seems to be more focused on process than progress.

I question why we seem to have Board members who intentionally impede progress, and wonder what is it that we are afraid of? Why are we questioning the intentions of citizens who want to volunteer their time and efforts? Why are we not saying thank you to citizens who want to volunteer their time? If someone is not supportive of a citizen volunteer applicant they have the right to vote no, but to question the intention of a citizen who wants to volunteer is not anything I am willing to be associated with.

The Strategic Plan is important to our district. To continue to work without a plan deprives us of a shared vision that we can rally around, communicate to our citizens and enable us all to know what it is we are striving to achieve. I am sure this is the most significant work facing our School Board right now, and believe those who do not wholeheartedly support this effort are not thinking enough about the best interests of our students, staff or taxpayers. I applaud all who are involved in this important work and hope in the future that better efforts will be made to show support and appreciation for this work.

I believe many of our administrators are able to accomplish extraordinary work under increasingly difficult circumstances. During this budget season in particular they were asked to complete the very difficult work of preparing a budget during extremely tough economic times, and I appreciate their efforts.However, as a parent and citizen I can no longer support the process and direction set for this budget season. On the eve of the Board being required to approve next year’s budget, once again we are working without the benefit of a sustainable long range budget plan or even a target for next year. It is clear that without a target the budget process lacks purpose and direction.Without a long range plan it is all but impossible to support long term continuous improvement. It is this broken budget process, lack of a long range budget plan, and up until now a lack of a strategic plan, that has created a rudderless ship that has resulted in unsustainable spending as well as an unpredictable roller coaster ride of investments and cuts, in our staff, programming and facilities, that disrupts efficient long term progress against high level needs.

For writing this I know I will be attacked. The smokescreens that have been put up to cut down anyone who questions, are just that, a smokescreen to cover up the fact that over the last few years this district has lacked vision, leadership, the willingness to be open to change, and to trust the citizens who want to be a part of this process. As Board Chair I look to the Superintendent, Howard for guidance and support, and I looked to senior Board members for guidance and support. Instead I have been met with a lack of support and trust, and worse an effort to undermine my leadership of this Board. Again I have to ask, what is it that people are afraid of? Why do so many seem to fight against improvements? If there are ideas that are better than what has currently been proposed, then these need to be brought forward for all to consider.

This lack of trust and mutual respect is appalling. To conclude that anyone who questions the status quo is a troublemaker, leaves little wonder why many people in our communities have stopped participating, or worse, have stopped trying altogether to help our district work towards what should be a common goal … doing what is best for our kids. In our Board Code of Ethics it states, that we will remember first and foremost to support the education of children. I struggle to reconcile this with the current direction of yet another unsustainable budget season and the continued lack of overall vision.

At this point it has been made clear to me that I do not have the trust of Howard or senior members of this Board. I have painfully come to a similar conclusion, and realized I too, do not have confidence in the direction they are leading us. It is clear that without mutual respect and trust I will not be able to effectively lead this Board over the remaining three months of my term. Therefore, I can no longer justify committing time to this endeavor given the time it takes away from my family. As a result, I will be stepping down from the Oyster River School Board, effective immediately.

Thank you to all of my family, friends and supporters for your encouragement and support over the last three years.

Sincerely,

Kimberly Clark