Concord City Councilor Fred Keach raises important questions in his Oct. 30 “My Turn” about the challenges facing the Concord School Board, and he makes some valid points.
In recent months, the conduct of high-level Concord School District administrators has been called into question, based on their certification status and their actions relating to former teacher Howie Leung. The Concord School Board shares these concerns and is committed to ensuring they are addressed.
But as Councilor Keach notes, board members are “essentially volunteers who have been thrust into a most difficult situation.” The board’s role is to set policy, establish a budget and oversee the superintendent. We also hear appeals of personnel actions. We can act only as a board, not as individuals, taking action by majority vote in a properly noticed meeting. It is difficult for us to operate a school district without key administrators.
The public’s frustration is understandable. The board has tried to be transparent in sharing information – yet we also face criticism when new facts come to light. As board members, we must rely on administrators, who conduct the day-to-day operations of the district, for the accuracy of the information we share. None of us has made any statement that we knew to be false or misleading, but the facts have not always been what we believed them to be.
The board commissioned attorney Djuna Perkins’s investigation and report because, given grave concerns raised by the public and shared by this board, we needed detailed, accurate information about the knowledge and actions of district employees, including Superintendent Terri Forsten and CHS Principal Tom Sica, regarding Mr. Leung’s conduct. We received and read the lengthy report on Sept. 23, took action on it in a nonpublic meeting on Sept. 25, and on Sept. 27 placed both Forsten and Sica on leave, prohibiting them from conducting business on behalf of the district.
As these personnel actions progress, the board will act as quickly and openly as permitted by law. We are also committed to ensuring that all district staff meet certification requirements established by the Department of Education.
Councilor Keach urges us to approach the current crisis “not as an isolated incident, but as a systemic failure.” We agree. Attorney Perkins’s report revealed institutional problems that the board must work with the community to correct. We must go beyond drafting new policies and take the next step of developing practices that result in true cultural change.
This work will be intensive, time-consuming and painful. It is also critically important. We need to make the Concord School District a leader once again – a leader in ensuring that all student voices are heard and believed, that all district employees share a bedrock, uncompromising commitment to putting student safety first, and that all members of the broader community have faith that the events associated with Howie Leung will never occur here again.
(Jennifer Patterson is president of the Concord School Board.)