SPOILER ALERT: This week the Morris School District board adopted two changes to its bylaws. One bans board members from running parent associations. The other lets them serve on educational foundations, as long as they don’t vote on board matters pertaining to those foundations.
Okay, now you know the ending. Why bother watching 30 minutes of video?
These two clips are for anyone –parent, student, taxpayer–who ever wondered exactly what is the role of a board member serving the Morris School District.
Board veterans spelled it out for newcomer Meredith Davidson on Jan. 22, 2018. It’s a rare window into how the board views itself.
Background: In November, Davidson won the District’s first contested race in recent memory, campaigning to improve transparency and board communication with parents.
She wants to continue serving as co-president of a parents group, the Alexander Hamilton Home School Association. She reached out to the state School Ethics Commission for an opinion, and asked the board to postpone changing its bylaws until the commission responds.
That’s not how we operate, board members told Davidson. A majority determined that her dual roles could unsettle principals and teachers, undermining trust.
They did not see a similar conflict with board member Ann Rhines doubling as grants chairperson for the Morris Educational Foundation. Although the foundation awards money to District programs, the nonprofit is an independent entity, the majority concluded.
Video Clip One Highlights:
- Davidson asks to table the matter.
- Nancy Bangiola relates a conflict of interest from early in her board career, underscoring pitfalls of wearing multiple hats.
- Board members don’t run schools; they oversee the running of schools–a “sacrosanct” line that cannot be crossed, Bangiola says.
- Only the board president can speak for the board, Bangiola says.
- Peter Gallerstein says the policy should be more restrictive–serving on the MEF is a “very, very, very slippery slope” for board members.
- Leonard Posey says the board is on solid legal ground; members may serve on parent organizations, just not in an executive capacity.
- The board votes on tabling the matter.
Video Clip Two Highlights:
- Davidson reiterates: An earlier state opinion found situations like hers are compatible; why not wait for the update?
- Posey recounts parent grumbling when he served on a band booster club.
- Exasperated, board President Lisa Pollak credits Districts success partly to a “high functioning board” that values trust, transparency and consensus.
- State ethics policies are moving towards more restrictions, Pollak says.
- The new board policy does not target Davidson, although her election signaled changes should be made “sooner rather than later,” Pollak says.
- These “small potatoes” are distracting the board from weightier matters, Pollak says.
- Members must support majority decisions even when they vehemently disagree, Pollak says.
- Board Vice President Jennifer van Frank says the new policy affects her, too: She has stepped down as secretary of the Hillcrest HSA.
- The board votes.
