They sat in the front row, side by side, an alliance of three offering some common sense.
To them, recent events and decisions within the Concord School District were disturbing. A popular elementary teacher at Broken Ground School had been fired two months ago for her treatment of an angry, panicked child. The rules governing restraint for special needs kids seemed vague, opaque, ambiguous.
So Adrienne Evans, Penny Duffy and Jennifer Pineo went to a school board meeting Wednesday, at the old brick building once called Dewey School.
Now it houses the superintendent’s office. Now it’s the place people go with questions, and perhaps get answers about how the district handles special needs students when they lose emotional control.
The trio of parents have disabled children. They think people like them should join the dialogue when it comes to setting policy for these unpredictable children. Not solely school administrators. Certainly not just lawmakers at the state house.
“There have been a few things that have come up over the last couple of months,” said Evans, whose 11 -year-old son, Jack, has a chromosome disorder and is a special needs student at Broken Ground. “We realize that not everyone is an expert on special education and that you may not have all the information we have. We have connections with lots of families throughout the district and feel that our experience is relevant and we can potentially offer some support.”
Evans is firmly in the mix, an outspoken parent who’s come to the defense of Lori Fosdick, the teacher who got fired in February. Fosdick is the one who was written up twice in less than two years for the methods she used to calm two out-of-control students.
She’s the one who’s fighting for her career, waiting to see if the state’s labor board will grant her an arbitration hearing, something Superintendent Terri Forsten is fighting against. She’s the one who was backed by supporters at her closed-door hearing, when faculty and parents testified that she was a magician when it came to defusing tense, potentially dangerous scenarios.
“There is a lot of fear about how the staff might handle a situation,” Evans told board members. “A lot of our staff is afraid that they’re going to be fired for handling a situation inappropriately, so we felt like the best way to get a concrete answer was to come to the policy committee and see if you could clear it up for us.”
They couldn’t. Not on the agenda, even though it’s on everyone’s mind. A meeting on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Mill Brook School, this one called specifically after the Monitor chronicled Fosdick’s story last Sunday, will address these concerns.
Meanwhile, Evans knew she wouldn’t get much on Wednesday. Once a specific name is brought up in these circumstances, Evans knew, administrators close like a venus fly trap, saying that personnel matters are off limits.
So, while Evans told me before the meeting that her goal was to “go around the Lori issue to see if we can get the answer,” her role, along with her two colleagues, was to dip her toe in the water, get a feel for how cold things would be, and introduce a concept based on simple logic.
“We want to partner with you,” Pineo told the board. “We may be able to help. We’re not just coming in where there is something happening. We’re really involved through the whole process. . . and (want to) be an asset to you and help figure these things out.”
The board and superintendent would be wise to listen to Pineo. She has two children with autism, one at Christa McAuliffe School, the other at Rundlett Middle School.
She works for New Hampshire Family Voices, an organization that provides free services to families and professionals who care for children with disabilities. She worked on a three-year plan connected to autism, presenting forums for families and professionals, assessing needs, leading the charge as the state secured a grant.
She has as much at stake here as anyone. “My daughter is a bolter,” Pineo said after the meeting, “and they have to take her hand so she doesn’t run away. She runs a 10-minute mile.”
I chuckled over that line while munching on chips and salsa at a downtown Mexican restaurant, but this was no joke.
Around November, two weeks after the second of two incidents involving Fosdick, the same boy whom Fosdick had tried to control, the one whose mother had supported Fosdick’s response 100 percent, ran into the Broken Ground parking lot and was allowed to remain there until he chose to return.
Another time, according to the boy’s mother, she was called to the school because her son had run outside to the playground, near the althletic fields, in the pouring rain. He stayed there for at least 20 minutes. His mother, who did not want to be named, finally reached him and draped her coat around his shoulders.
Sure sounds like there’s a problem here. Sure sounds like faculty members are the ones who are restrained, fearful to intervene. Sure sounds like restraint, which is barred in the school district’s policy but allowed under extreme circumstances in state guidelines, is not a black and white issue.
It’s gray like, I assume, the really big elephant in the room during the meeting the other day. Fosdick’s name wasn’t mentioned. Not once.
Instead, nervous laughter trickled out as the three women told Forsten and other committee members that a change in direction was needed, a newly formed entity with input from people who knew what they were talking about. People with experience. People who have dedicated their lives to this, from early in the morning to very late at night.
Evans, we know, thinks the superintendent got it wrong when she recommended firing Fosdick. Forsten, in fact, is trying to block Fosdick’s pursuit of an arbitration hearing, filing an unfair labor practice complaint to force the Concord Education Association “to withdraw the grievance.”
Pineo and Duffy, while seemingly sympathetic toward Fosdick, want nothing more than a safe environment for their children, and smart, clear rules that treat everyone fairly.
“Collectively, we’ve got all these committees, policies that pertain to special education,” Evans pointed out at the meeting.
“Not to be evasive,” said board member Tom Croteau, “but tonight is the night we will listen and certainly take into consideration what you said. I began to talk to Terri (Forsten) about this before we started and we never got finished up.
“We’re always open to listening to folks.”
(Ray Duckler can be reached at 369-3304 or rduckler@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @rayduckler.)