MAY 24 GMUSD MEETING: REALITY ZOOM

Last night’s special meeting of the Green Mountain Unified School District was a lesson in chaos, bullying, Robert Rules gone awry, and at best some form of “reality zoom.” With only one board member appearing in person, Cavendish rep Steve Parini was continually in a position of having to stand in front of the large monitor in Cavendish Town Elementary School’s (CTES) arts room and wave his arms to be recognized.

With 20 members of the Cavendish community in attendance and 80+ on zoom, it was the complete opposite of the Cavendish Forum which took place the evening before. See The Dish for a report on that meeting.

Without a Zoom option, and not being dictated to by Robert’s Rules of Order, people queued and took turns speaking. The Forum achieved its stated purpose and people left feeling positive about the experience. Last evening, while those in attendance were pleased to see that two of the GMUSD representatives who had resigned, Kate Lamphere (Cavendish) and Kate Murphy (Chester) were able to be re-instated to the board, the process was painful to observe and, as various parents noted, not one they would want their children to observe.

Between the mishmash of Roberts Rules being applied, the board not bothering to attend in person, and the technical challenges of Zoom, including the 21st century equivalent of “the dog ate my homework,” – board chair Deb Brown said she didn’t receive Lamphere’s e-mail-it was a lesson in frustration. It definitely calls into question the use of hybrid meetings when important business needs to be conducted.

What was the warned purpose of the special meeting, a forum to meet the principal candidates for CTES followed by a board vote, was changed several times as one of the candidates dropped out on Tuesday and the replacement candidate on Wednesday morning. While the Principal Forum was cancelled, board chair Brown still wanted to hold the meeting, with the purpose of discussing next steps in filling the position. However, it became quickly apparent, as she proceeded to change the agenda, she was more concerned about the resignations.

 The lone candidate Amanda Tyrell, a Cavendish resident and current 5/6 th grade teacher at Chester Andover Elementary, was told to be there. That purpose was a mystery as they clearly weren’t going to interview her. However, Tyrell did address the GMUSD board stating that she was in the job for the kids and what had transpired to that point was not about them.

As far as next steps for hiring a principal, Tyrrell said she needed to know one way or another by Friday June 2. If they were unable to do so by then, she would have to drop out as well. Assurances were given that there would be a principal’s forum for the public, but the desire was to have two candidates.

The most telling comments of the evening came during the public comment period. CTES’s principal, Amy Bouhren, who has taken a new job with Vermont State University, addressed what she referred to as “the elephant in the living room.” Having attended every GMUSD meeting since she was hired, she noticed that the activities of the board had gone “south” with the change in leadership. She was not the only person that indicated a change in leadership was needed.

While the issue of the Chieftains name being retained by the board was mentioned by several members of the public, Sarah Devereux, a recent GMUHS alum pointed out that the meaning of the mascot wasn’t discussed all that much. However, she did perceive the school as having issues with racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. These were concerning to her and should be to the GMUSD board.

The take home words of the evening for many were delivered by Proctorsville resident, CTES parent and Ludlow Elementary School teacher, Lisa Marks. Speaking with a choked voice, Marks explained how she had just spent the most amazing day with 6th graders at Keewaydin. She had come directly from the camp to CTES for the meeting. “I’ve only been here 15 minutes and you have totally sucked the joy out of my day.” She further elaborated that the kind of behavior demonstrated by the board was also sucking the joy out of teaching. Minutes later, one of the CTES teachers, who was zooming in from Keewaydin, confirmed Marks’ sentiment.