Two articles and then a question:
Vermont school boards try to keep their united front policy (Burlington Free Press, 05/23/10) discusses what is a common practice in Vermont regarding school board cohesiveness on board decisions.
Third school vote set in Williamstown (Barre/Montpelier Times Argus, 05/22/10) discusses a Williamstown school budget vote and quotes me as a board member at odds with the board majority.
The question: was I caught in the act of possibly violating a tenet that I in principal wholly accept?
My initial response is no, and that is one of the reasons I (a non-chair member of the board) talked with the reporter regarding the upcoming budget vote.
Why did I do so? In my opinion Williamstown needs a robust and public debate of our local school budget that encompasses all the aspects. I don’t see this as a question only about the numbers and programs, but I also see this as about responding to the community in a way that builds trust and respect between those who run the system and those who the system is meant to serve the interests of.
Too I have been publicly vocal regards my feelings on the subject of how much we need and the desirability of yet one more vote on a voted budget. If someone from town were to walk up to me and ask my views on this new vote I would be saying things that include what I was quoted as saying in the above TA article, and I most certainly would not be saying “you should talk to the board chair”.
I view the Times Argus as another means of communicating with the very same people who might approach me on the street or in a store with questions. A query regarding the school budget is a question that deserves to be answered in an open and honest manner.
To be sure I support the school board’s right to bring a money question before the town, and while I disagree with the decision to do so one more time I applaud the board as a whole for taking a fiscally sound approach … if it’s wanted it has to be paid for.
That is my initial rationalization … I’m interested in other folks’ views specifically on whether I overstepped a boundary and more generally on the whole “support the outcome of the board vote” concept.