Jennifer Shiao's School Committee Blog

Happy Monday! Let’s get right to it.

First of all, the August 22 meeting has to be postponed one day to August 23. As of this writing, the meeting has not been changed on Boarddocs (the online platform for School Committee meetings and info), but it should be changed/posted today.

The reason the meeting had to be pushed one day is due to Open Meeting Law requirements when posting meetings. Because this is a meeting of the Union 26 Committee, in addition to the Regional School Committee, it has to be posted on the town websites of Amherst and Pelham (Union 26) 48 hours prior to the meeting date (not counting weekends). Unfortunately, due to human error it was not posted in time, so it needs to be pushed one day so that it can be posted today and have the required 48 hours’ notice.

It will be a virtual meeting. Check the Boarddocs website to confirm the start time (probably 5:30) and get the meeting link (click on the Video button).

Secondly, Ben Herrington has announced that he is resigning from his position on the Amherst School Committee (and thus also from the Regional School Committee*) as of today, Monday August 21. In an email to the School Committees sent this morning, he said:

“Recently, it has occurred to me that I no longer have the passion I once did for the work we do on the school committee. Impact on learning has been less of a focus than political rancor and that is not something I find to be fulfilling at all. There are other ways that I have found to be impactful in the lives of young folks and so I have chosen to explore other avenues and leave this work to you all.”

What happens next?

First, the Regional School Committee will need to elect a new RSC chair, which presumably will happen at the August 23 meeting (the agenda includes “RSC reorganization,” which is what it’s called when roles are determined.) The committee elects a chair by majority vote of members.

Second, the town of Amherst will need to vill the vacancy on the School Committee. The Amherst home rule charter states that when there is a vacancy on the School Committee, the position will be filled by vote of the Town Council and the remaining members of the School Committee. The last time this process was used, when Heather Lord was appointed in 2020, the process was something like this:

• Interested persons are asked to submit a letter of interest.
• Candidates are invited to a joint meeting of the Town Council and the School Committee at which they have the opportunity to speak and answer questions.
• The committees vote, and the winning candidate is the person who receives a majority of the votes on both committees.

Per the Amherst charter, this meeting at which the candidates speak and the Town Council and School Committee votes, must be called within 45 days of the vacancy. So, look for the meeting to take place before October 5. Also, the vacancy must be posted 21 days prior to the meeting, so look for that information by September 11.

This topic is on the agenda of today’s (August 21) Town Council meeting under “Topics Not Reasonably Anticipated by the Chair 48 Hours in Advance of the Meeting.” The Town Council will determine on the process and timeline for filling the vacancy (in accordance with the Amherst charter).

It bears mentioning that there will be an Amherst town election on November 7. The person appointed to fill the vacancy will serve in the role until December 31, 2023, NOT until election day. In Amherst, School Committee terms run for two calendar years. It is also worth mentioning that if the person who is appointed is also on the ballot for the election, they will not be listed as an incumbent, per the Amherst charter.

I’ll plan to post info about the process and timeline once it is determined.

*See my blog post Amherst has two School Committees? for an explanation on the multiple School Committees.

Two quick things:

1. The minutes from the August 17 Executive Session, at which the committees approved the separation agreement for Mike Morris, will be made public. The committees will need to meet in Executive Session to review and approve the minutes. Presumably, this will take place at the August 22 meeting. Once that happens, they will be posted for the public to view. Until then, members are prohibited from talking publicly about what happened during that meeting.
2. The August 22 meeting will begin at 5:30 and will be all virtual. It will include a Pubic Comment section, which is scheduled to take place after the Executive Session.

I was notified by Peter Demling, chair of the Union 26 School Committee, via email on August 15, that there will be a virtual joint meeting of the Union 26* and Regional School Committees on Thursday, August 17, starting at 5:45 PM. He indicated that the meeting would be posted as an Executive session “in accordance with MGL c 30A section 21(a), to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel, Michael Morris, with no intention of returning to open session.”

The email further indicated that more information would be shared with SC members in the Executive Session, and was signed by Demling and Regional School Committee Chair Ben Herrington.

You may be wondering, “What is this all about?” I am wondering the same. I have not been given any other information by Chairs Demling or Herrington about what this last-minute meeting will be about. I was not contacted ahead of time as to whether I am available to attend. In fact, I have gone to considerable lengths to change my weekend travel plans (since March, my daughter and I have had an out-of-state trip planned for which we were supposed to leave Thursday evening; I was supposed to be on an airplane on Thursday evening).

Though the committees will vote on entering Executive Session, the meeting will open publicly, and the public may attend (virtually). You can access the Google Meet link in the meeting posting. (It is not very intuitive, but you click the Video button to enter the Google Meet.)

*See my blog post Amherst has two school committees? for a refresher on what the Union 26 School Committee is.

Here is a brief summary of what’s happening and where things stand right now.

• Despite many emailed requests, and despite my own public and private urging, Regional School Committee (RSC) Chair Ben Herrington has declined to call a RSC meeting to discuss the return of Superintendent Mike Morris.
• That said, the RSC has a scheduled meeting on Tuesday, August 22. This meeting has not been posted yet, but when it is you will be able to view the meeting information (start time, agenda, etc) here: go.boarddocs.com/ma/arps/Board.nsf/Public.
• By state law, public meetings must be posted two business days (48 hours) before the meeting takes place, so at the latest you should see it posted by this Friday evening, August 18.
• You can make public comment at that meeting by voicemail, text, email, or in-person. See my recent blog post about Public Comment Q&A.
• I don’t know what will be on the agenda for that meeting. The committee chair, in addition to being the sole member who can call a meeting, also decides what will be on the agenda. In an agenda planning document that I have access to, it does note “Subcommittee reorganization” as an agenda topic for August 22. (The RSC has various subcommittees that members are on, as well as commitments to have a representative with various external organizations, such as Amherst Media and The Collaborative. Since there are several new members on the RSC now, I assume we will be discussing the make-up of subcommittees and appointments to external orgs.)
• I don’t know if discussion of the superintendent’s status will be on the agenda, or if there is a plan to go into Executive Session. I don’t know if the reports from the Title IX and other investigations will be submitted before then.
• As you can see, there is a lot that I don’t know. What I do know is that I will continue to push for transparency, for listening to community voices, especially those most marginalized, and for accountability.

Around 5:45 pm on Friday, July 28, a caravan of cars with rainbow flags drove past my house in S. Amherst. I didn’t know they were coming until a friend who was participating called to let me know they were about to turn onto my street.

I ran outside just in time to wave as the dozen or so cars drove past!
I waved and thanked the folks for participating in this show of support for our LGBTQIA+ community, and folks waved back and gave me some friendly honks.

Sadly I didn’t think to take any pictures (the photo above is borrowed from Etsy). It was an inspiring, heart-warming, short and sweet event. I was glad to be a small part of it!

Superintendent Mike Morris returned from medical leave to his job on Thursday, July 13. As far as I have been able to piece together, here is a brief timeline of his return:

July 12 

– The Regional School Committee (RSC) held a meeting at which we voted to approve the APEA (Amherst-Pelham Educators Association) contract. The meeting ended around 6:30PM.

– At 8:01PM I received an email from Debbie Westmoreland (ARPS director of communications and operations) informing me that Mike intended to announce his immediate return the following morning, along with the text of the email that would be sent to families. I was bcc’ed on this email, and I don’t know who else received it. In the email, I was asked to keep this information confidential until it was released publicly the following day.

July 13

– At 4:59AM, the Daily Hampshire Gazette published an article about Mike’s return, quoting the email announcement.

– At 8:00AM ARPS families received Mike’s email announcement about his return to work that day.

We have heard from many members of the community who are deeply hurt and disappointed in Mike. We have also heard from community members who unequivocally support Mike. Below are some excerpts from emails that the Regional School Committee has received (all emails sent to the RSC are public documents and subject-able to a public records request, with proper redaction of confidential or private information).

• “I urge you to convene a meeting of the committee to take a vote to place Superintendent Morris on administrative leave until the conclusion of the current investigations into the grievous harm done to our LGBTQIA middle school students and their families. It is your job to hire and supervise the Superintendent. It is the Superintendent’s job, above all, to keep our children safe. Children have not been kept safe. The Superintendent is significantly implicated in the harm done to students over a period of many months – by either knowing and not taking action – or inexplicably, not knowing that children were being so grievously harmed.”
• “I am writing to ask that you schedule an emergency RSC meeting immediately, with the sole purpose of voting to place Mike Morris on administrative leave. Once again, I need to remind you that the APEA union, which some members of the RSC seem to scorn or diminish, voted No Confidence in Morris.  A vote of no confidence is not taken to be lightly – it is a serious, enormous undertaking, and to ignore it is to dismiss the most valuable folks in the schools – the staff and faculty. By allowing Morris to return of his own accord, you are explicitly holding him to a different standard than Ms. Cunningham, a woman of color. You are also explicitly ignoring the multiple complaints of discrimination, transphobia, bullying, and harm done to students – all of which had been regularly ignored by Morris.”
• “I am writing to ask that you schedule an emergency RSC meeting, with the sole purpose of holding a vote to place Mike Morris on administrative leave immediately. That Morris is able to waltz back into work is egregious. The double standard in treatment for Morris and Cunningham is egregious and blatantly racist.” 
• “The public’s trust in Mr. Morris is at an all time low, and an overwhelming majority of APEA members voted that they have no confidence in his leadership. He simply cannot return to the leadership role unscathed and without consequences.”
• “I know Mike Morris, having had the distinct pleasure of working with him in a variety of capacities while I was a district administrator in the regional school district. I have had some opportunities to collaborate with him since my retirement, due to my volunteer work in the community … Surely Dr. Morris’s distinguished work and dedication to the education, health and welfare of all students should be considered before any decision is made about his status. Indeed, I firmly believe that the students of our community would be best served if Dr. Morris continued as our district leader.”
• “I remain convinced that any decisions regarding these issues made by Dr. Morris in his role as Superintendent were made with the best of intentions…He is a man who has repeatedly demonstrated his dedication to our district over a career of service. I ask you to remain committed to supporting and guiding him through the serious issues he now faces both in his personal and professional life. To do anything less would go against all that we profess to support in the Amherst Regional Public School System.”

There are a lot of strong feelings and opinions on all sides right now. That is why the Regional School Committee needs to meet, as soon as possible, long before our next scheduled meeting of August 22. We need to talk to each other about our superintendent. 

As an elected public body, the RSC only meets when called to a meeting by the chair. I have clearly stated to RSC Chair Ben Herrington that I feel strongly that the RSC should meet, as soon as possible, to discuss the superintendent.

At the May 30 meeting of the Regional School Committee, the committee unanimously approved the following statement.

The Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee believes that every student is entitled to a safe, welcoming, and nurturing school environment where they can be their full and authentic selves, including all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning, intersex, asexual (LGBTQIA+) students. We know that our LGBTQIA+ students face unique challenges, particularly if they also identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, or people of color). We believe that everyone deserves to live their life authentically and without fear of discrimination or harm.

In addition, we recognize that our LGBTQIA+ students are essential members of our diverse and vibrant school community. We value the contributions of LGBTQIA+ students to our community and appreciate the unique perspectives and experiences that they bring. 

State and federal laws make it clear that Massachusetts schools are prohibited from discriminating against LGBTQIA+ students. And we believe that regardless of such laws, providing unconditional support for our LGBTQIA+ students is simply and obviously the right thing to do and is the expectation that we have of all members of our school community. Despite recent anti-trans allegations, we remain unwavering in our commitment to embrace, support, and celebrate LGBTQIA+ students.

We are deeply sorry for the pain and harm some individuals, families, and other members of our community have experienced recently, and we know that our words alone are not enough. That is why we are committed to taking the concrete actions available within our purview to ensure that such harm does not continue and is never repeated.

Our diversity is what makes our school community great. Our LGBTQIA+ students and staff are integral members of that community, and we unequivocally support all individuals in being their full and authentic selves.

***

There have been some questions about Public Comment at School Committee meetings recently, so here is a Q&A on this topic.

Q: What is Public Comment?
A: Public Comment is an umbrella term covering comments and statements made by members of the public at a public meeting. If you wish to address the School Committee, and you wish to have your comments be heard or read by the general public, you could do so during the Public Comment period.

Q: How do I make or submit a Public Comment?
A: There are multiple ways to make or submit a Public Comment at School Committee meetings. 

• Send an email to SCPublicComment@arps.org before 3:00 pm on the day of the meeting. Your email will be displayed on the screen during the Public Comment period, and it will be posted as an attachment in the Public Comment agenda item for that meeting on the School Committee’s Boarddocs site.
• Send a text to 413-362-1891 before 3:00 pm on the day of the meeting. Your text will be displayed on the screen during the Public Comment period, and it will be posted as an attachment in the Public Comment agenda item for that meeting on the School Committee’s Boarddocs site.
• Leave a voicemail at 413-362-1891 before 3:00 pm on the day of the meeting. Your voicemail will be played during the Public Comment period.
• Attend the meeting in person and make your comment in person during the Public Comment period. There is usually no sign-up for in-person Public Comment.

Whenever there is Public Comment at a meeting, the instructions for how to make or submit public comment can be found in the Public Comment item on the agenda. (Here is an example.)

Q: I sent an email to the School Committee. Why was it not shown during the Public Comment period?
A: There are a few reasons why emails may not be shown.

• If you sent the email to a different email address (such as AmherstSchoolCommittee@aprs.org or RegionalSchoolCommittee@arps.org), it would not be considered Public Comment. Some people want to contact the School Committee and do not want their email displayed for the public. In order to be certain that an email is intended for Public Comment, individuals are asked to send it to the specific email address for Public Comment (SCPublicComment@arps.org).
• If the email was not received before 3:00 pm on the day of the meeting it may not be shown. There has to be time allowed for the chair to compile all emails received into one document, so we ask that comments be sent before 3:00 pm.

Q: Is Public Comment required at School Committee meetings?
A: No, Public Comment is not required by law. But the School Committee’s practice is to have a Public Comment period at each meeting. This is at the discretion of the chair.

Q: Is it super confusing, or is it just me?
A: It’s not just you; it is super confusing! Different public bodies have their own policies and practices about Public Comment. For example, the Amherst Town Council does not accept Public Comments via voicemail. They also do not display email or text Public Comments at their meetings, but they do make them available for viewing by the public on their website.

The best way to get the most up-to-date info on how to make or submit Public Comment for a School Committee meeting is to look at the Public Comment agenda item for that meeting. (Here is another example.)

At the joint meeting of the Regional School Committee (RSC) and the Union 26 Committee* on Thursday, May 18, ARPS Finance Director Douglas Slaughter was appointed acting superintendent to fill in for Michael Morris while Mike is on medical leave.

The Regional School Committee voted 7-1-1 and the Union 26 Committee voted 5-0 to appoint Slaughter acting superintendent until September 20, 2023, or until Morris returns, or until the committees decide otherwise by majority vote. Doug’s additional compensation (on top of his existing salary) will be $700 per week.

Doug was present at the meeting and accepted the appointment. The RSC and Union 26 chairs (Ben Herrington and Peter Demling, respectively) will finalize the details of Doug’s contract.

Votes:
Regional School Committee:
Herrington YES
Shiao YES
Demling YES
McDonald YES
Sullivan ABSTAIN
Wolf NO
Stancer YES
Rhodes YES
Kenney YES

Union 26 Committee
Demling YES
McDonald YES
Rhodes YES
Stancer YES
Hall YES

Watch the video recording of the meeting on Amherst Media: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUd3mNDIRuU

* The Regional School Committee and the Union 26 Committee (made up of three representatives from Amherst and three from Pelham) make decisions about the superintendent role.

At last night’s joint meeting of the Regional School Committee (RSC) and the Union 26 Committee* the bodies jointly decided the following:

We identified eight people as potential candidates for the acting superintendent position. The person in this position will fill in as superintendent while Dr. Morris is on medical leave. These eight people each had at least one committee member “nominate” them for the position:

• Trevor Baptiste
• Faye Brady
• Mary Custard
• Mikki Gromacki
• Marta Guevara
• Susan Hollins
• Doreen Reid
• Douglas Slaughter

Today, Wednesday May 17, each of these folks was contacted by the RSC and Union 26 chairs and asked to confirm their interest in the role (or not), and provide a CV and a written statement of interest, with a deadline of 5:00 PM today.

After 5:00 PM today (possibly Thursday morning), the list of candidates who have expressed interest will be published, along with their CV and statement. Members of the public will be asked to send input and feedback via email.

If you are an ARPS family, keep an eye on your email for this message from the chairs. I will do my best to post here when the list is published.

THEN on Thursday, May 18 at 7:30 PM there will be another joint meeting open to the public to discuss the remaining candidates and vote to appoint one as acting superintendent. It is the intention of the committees to vote on Thursday, and not delay this any further.

TO SUM UP: The final list of candidates for the acting superintendent role will be published by Thursday morning. On Thursday evening the school committees plan to appoint one individual to the role.

* The Regional School Committee and the Union 26 Committee (made up of three representatives from Amherst and three from Pelham) make decisions about the superintendent role.