Lessons from Plainfield's dueling school meetings

What did Plainfielders get from last night's dueling school district meetings?

Mother Nature interfered (coming down with something?) and I crashed without making EITHER meeting. Spoke with Bernice and she was planning on going to the Superintendent Search Forum at the High School. Looking forward to her report on the Plaintalker.

Yesterday's post about the failure to get the forum communication to the community in an effective manner generated both heat and light.

First, the LIGHT: Turns out the consultant DID tell the District to invite the entire community. The slip-up came in the execution by staff. Not only was a FULL mailing to the community NOT ORDERED, it went out without the Leadership Profile form referenced in the letter.

The idea that the form could be picked up in any school building may seem natural enough to a parent, but to the vast majority of residents -- who have no children in the school system -- it must seem an odd way to go about getting information. While the blogs and the press have made note of the process and the District does have the form on its website, all of this fine outreach misses those who either do not read the newspapers (about 95% of residents) or do not use the Internet. That's still a considerable chunk.

So, my apologies to the consultant -- Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates (for a list of their nineteen New Jersey clients, see here) -- for suggesting they dropped the ball.

Now, for the HEAT.

Yesterday's story generated some concerned phone calls to Board of Ed members, enough so that some Board members reached out to me to share the feedback they were getting and their own reactions to my post. (That is how I learned of the staff gaffe.)

The Board of Ed certainly has its hands full, what with the fallout from the QSAC review (of which more, later); left-over feelings from an overlong contract renewal process; being thrust precipitously into a leadership search; and having powerful people prowling about trying to make trouble. It is a daunting list, but each item can be dealt with.

I hope the Board understands that most people in the community would rally around their leadership if called upon.

This means viewing the community as an ally and proactively seeking their input, their partnership, and their energies. This is the kind of stuff that Larry Leverett found as natural as breathing, and the Boards during his tenure. It is not easy for everyone, but success demands the skill be learned.

For instance: last night's double bill.

I can understand wanting the consultant to be able to interact with the community without attendees feeling like the Board was looking over everyone's shoulder if they were present.

I can also understand that the Board had work to do of its own -- and that the State's 'monitors' were coming to review the governance portion of the QSAC report. Might seem reasonable enough to hold both meetings separately on the same night.

Except that that leaves out the public. Instead of being encouraged to participate in both meetings, the public was forced to choose between them. Not a good thing when building a team.

A reader with past Board experience and expertise attended the work/study session in which the QSAC governance section was addressed. I'll be sharing some thoughts from their reactions in another post, but for now, let's just say:

We -- the School District AND the community -- have a fight on our hands, and it's bigger than we may have thought.

(I have been told the consultant will still be able to make use of your profile forms if you get them in in the next few days. Download a form here -- Plainfield Public Schools | Plainfield Today
-- and take or send it to the Board of Education, 504 Madison Avenue, Plainfield, NJ 07060.)

-- Dan Damon

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