School Committee Coup D'etat?

Trevor Baptiste (right), Superintendent Maria Geryk (left)

The first half hour of last week's Regional School Committee meeting was taken up by an attempt to "reorganize" the Committee i.e. vote in a new chair, coincidentally enough to replace one who is on Maria Geryk's enemies list.

During Public Comment at the RSC April 12 meeting Mr. Baptiste allowed friends, supporters and fellow ARHS grads to read a letter decrying Aisha Hiza's ban from all Regional school grounds for advocating on behalf of her bullied child.

Some members and school officials thought it was out of order since the incident originated at Pelham Elementary School which is not part of the Region and therefor beyond the purview of the Regional Committee.

Geryk started the meeting as Chair and immediately wished for them to "reorganize."   Chair Trevor Baptiste was having none of it and the bickering began.

Geryk was relying on a previous tradition where the Region would reorganize after local town elections as well as state law that says committees must do so within ten days of said elections, which happened more than a month ago.

But Baptiste pointed out that law does not apply because the Regional Committee is not elected they are appointed by the local school committees and his town, Pelham, has yet to appoint one of their members to the Region.

Amherst School Committee Chair (and automatic member of the Region) Katherine Appy pressed for the reorganization although she told Mr. Baptiste it was nothing personal.  

Interestingly at yesterday's Joint Capital Planning Committee meeting, composed of two members each from the Finance Committee, Select Board, Library and School Committee, one School Committee member was MIA.

 Joint Capital Planning Committee yesterday (minus one School Committee member)

Ms. Appy told the JCPC that Rick Hood had not run for reelection in the March 29 election and the School Committee (which has met twice since then) has not yet appointed one of their own to replace him on the JCPC.

With neither side seeming to budge a compromise motion was made and approved to have the Regional School Committee reorganization take place at their June 14th meeting, and by then Pelham would have appointed a member to the Region.

I'll be bringing popcorn to that meeting (and a fire extinguisher).

"Narcissistic and Self-aggrandizing"?

Regional School Committee Chair Trevor Baptiste (rt) Maria Geryk (left)

The past 25 years of requesting Public Documents has illuminated some interesting written exchanges, but none quite compare to this one, which takes the cake -- icing, candles and all.

Did Superintendent Maria Geryk overreact by banning single-mom Aisha Hiza from all Regional School property back in March for advocating for her bullied elementary school aged child?   Well, yes.

Is it wise to threaten the Regional School Committee Chair for allowing public comment to take place during the "public comment" period?  Probably not.

As my Chinese friends would say with a tinge of snark:  "May you live in interesting times."

   Legal Threat to RSC Chair

Another School Committee Fiasco?

Joint School Committees in open session

Joint School Committees in closed session

After a contentious ten minutes in open session where member Trevor Baptiste lamented "I've had my full of threats, and would prefer any threats happen in open session," the joint meeting of the Regional, Amherst and Pelham School Committees retreated into Executive Session for what we were told would be about "an hour."

Almost THREE HOURS later they came out of Executive Session and the open session continued for only another twenty minutes before adjournment.

 Attorney Tom Columb (who replaced retired Ginny Tate) attended both open and closed sessions

Regional School Committee Chair Laura Kent (the head honcho chair of the three committee chairs present) specifically said they were NOT discussing School Superintendent Maria Geryk's evaluation and that would be done in open session as required by state Open Meeting Law.

So what the Hell did they discuss for almost three hours with their attorney Tom Columb present?

Maria Geryk's current contract has another two full years left on it (with an automatic extension of one addition year), so obviously they were not simply talking about a routine contract renewal.

   Maria Geryk ARPS Superintendent contract by Larry Kelley on Scribd

And, it would have been a gross violation of Open Meeting Law if they did discuss the recent controversy of the "stay away" order Ms. Geryk arbitrarily issued against parent Aisha Hiza back in March, which has caused an avalanche of bad press.

Either way the combined School Committees meet again on Monday for a "retreat" but will discuss in open session the twice delayed evaluation of Superintendent Maria Geryk.  Providing of course she shows up for that meeting.

Former School Committee member Amilcar Shabazz waited 3 hours to comment

Since Ms. Geryk has to be present for such a discussion and she was notably absent last night, the School Committees could not have discussed her evaluation anyway even if they had come out of Executive Session much earlier.

But hey, at least I discovered art while wandering the halls of the High School: