[B]URLINGTON — School Board members are not rushing to address the tumultuous final minutes of this week’s special budget meeting that saw the chairman accuse a fellow member of racial bias and then announce he would not seek re-election.
Reading from a prepared statement Tuesday night, Chairman Mark Porter described a visit last summer to the home of Commissioner Jeff Wick, where Wick had invited him to discuss school district matters. “While we were talking on the front lawn, Commissioner Wick said to me, ‘I understand we need to have more teachers of color, but have we gone too far in hiring district leadership of color,’”
Porter went on to say that Wick’s record of having voted against renewing the contract of Superintendent Yaw Obeng and his 19 annual goals was also evidence of bias.
At the conclusion of Porter’s remarks, Wick responded: “I think I have a right to speak to the score-settling, which is completely inaccurate and I’ll leave it at that right now.” But he continued, “I’m shocked at the way you have distorted our conversation and taken a personal attack at me.”
When Porter asked if anyone else wanted to speak, no other commissioner responded.
However, Ward 5 candidate Nicole Twohig, who was in the audience, shouted out to Porter, “Your behavior is abhorrent. You are a disgrace to our community and you should remove yourself.”
Porter then interrupted her to say, “You believe the same things (Wick) does. Shame on you.” To which she quickly fired back: “No, shame on you!”
The chairman then abruptly called for a motion to adjourn and gavelled the meeting to a close after the motion was adopted.
Phone calls and emails to five other board members seeking comment about the meeting were not returned. However, Kathy Olwell did send out an email backing Wick.
Olwell said she didn’t support the proposed pay raise for Obeng since she was aware of the projected dismal financial news coming from Montpelier.
“I have had many discussions with Jeff Wick on the work of the school board and I have never heard him utter anything even close to what Mark Porter has accused him of,” Olwell said. She also praised Wick’s work on the board’s Diversity and Equity Committee.
Olwell and Commissioner David Kirk voted along with Wick not to renew Obeng’s contract, according to minutes of the Dec. 11, 2017, Burlington School Board meeting. Kirk would not address Porter’s remarks and said he “didn’t recall how the (contract) vote happened.” Olwell said she voted against the contract renewal because Obeng is the highest paid superintendent Burlington has ever employed.
Wick followed up on his brief comments at the meeting with an email to a VTDigger reporter, calling Porter’s statement a “calculated attempt to undermine me and the challengers to the eight school board seats up for election in March. His remarks were score-settling, gratuitous, false and slanderous, and an inappropriate use of the position of board chair. I am saddened by his personal attack.”
Wick’s email also pointed out that he is “fully supportive” of Burlington’s efforts to hire more teachers and administrators of color and of the district’s diversity and equity goals.
Wick would not say whether he would attend future school board meetings where Porter would be serving as chairman.
Communications Specialist Russ Elek said the district had no comment regarding Porter’s remarks. The board released a statement Wednesday through Vice Chairwoman Stephanie Seguino, saying the board was not in a position to assess what was or wasn’t said by Wick in his meeting with Porter.
“That was a private conversation we are not in a position to resolve,” the board said. “Our focus as a board is to be clear for the public about: 1) our fundamental principles, and 2) as a matter of protocol, how we conduct ourselves in the future as Board members. To that end, the Board has requested advice on protocol for a Board response and a legal opinion on the appropriateness of the delivery of Chair Porter’s personal statement to the Board (last night) under chair’s prerogatives and Robert’s Rules of Order.”
What, if any, action the board could take against Porter remains unclear. Nicole Mace, executive director of the Vermont School Boards Association, did not respond to a request for comment. Spokeswoman Haley Jones of the Vermont Agency of Education said the Burlington board has not asked for assistance with the matter.
Porter did not respond to attempts to contact him in the days following his public criticism of Wick. Immediately following the racial bias charge made at the meeting, Porter said that “with sadness in my heart” he had decided not to seek another term as Ward 1’s representative on the board. Porter cited personal business and his recent marriage as chief factors in the decision.
The Burlington city clerk’s office said that Eric Gorman submitted a petition to Queen City officials to run for the seat currently held by Porter. Petitions are due by Monday, said Assistant City Clerk Amy Bovee.
At the special meeting, the board approved a budget recommendation that increased education spending to $15,111.81 per equalized pupil, a jump of less than 1 percent over the last fiscal year.
