A United Unified School Board

In all the uproar of the and the accompanying battles regarding which of the remaining middle schools the students would be dispersed to, I did my fair share of sending e-mails to former superintendent Jan La Torre-Derby and the seven members of the Board of Trustees. Each e-mail I sent was answered by Dr. Derby. I never heard from any of the board members on that issue individually or as a group on that matter.

There was one exception. Trustee Debbie Butler replied to an e-mail from me when I thanked her for speaking up in a board meeting on Feb. 1. I said, in part, “I was heartened that at least one of you went on the record as acknowledging those of us on the other side of the issue.” She thanked me and said it’s important that we continue to move the district forward and that it was going to take all of us collectively.

But 99 percent of the time, it's silence on the part of the Board of Trustees. Nearly everyone whom I know who were sending missives throughout the months-long process of determining placement of the students never heard from any board member on the issue. No response. Even when e-mails were sent to board members alone, nothing. They were united in their silence.

On Aug. 20, the board had a special meeting to discuss goals for the board and superintendent and to review the governance policies. The cover page of the governance handbook indicates it was last revised on Jan. 5, 2010. It was at that point, as near as I can tell, that the trustees made a revision that precludes anyone but the board president and the superintendent from responding to e-mails or other communications sent to individual board members.

Group think at its worst.

“All e-mails or other written communications received by individual board members about school district business or situations will be handled by the superintendent and/or the board president. The superintendent or board president will follow up with all members of the board so they are aware of the status of the situation.”

I’m not talking about requests for information or comment from the media, here, folks. I’m talking about the public — you and me and that guy over there and, yes, that woman, too. I’m talking about elected officials communicating with the people who elected them as individual candidates.

Why are board members muzzled in that way? What purpose does it serve to have individuals elected if those individuals are either incapable or not allowed to express themselves as individuals?

You want further evidence of group think? When was the last time there was anything but a unanimous vote on a matter before the board? Have we elected a Stepford board? Surely they can’t all agree on every single issue. What is wrong with dissension? What is wrong with respectively agreeing to disagree on a subject? Rationale discourse, individuality, differences of opinion and speaking your own mind are all supposed to come into play.

Frankly, without it, how can we possibly determine whom to credit or whom to blame come election time?

Four school board members — Debbie Butler, Cindi Clinton, Tom Cooper and Ross Millerick — are up for re-election on Nov. 8. Two other Novato residents — Jeffrey Lee Vaillant and Nicole Tedeschi Blok — are vying to unseat two of the four. School Fuel is hosting a candidates debate on Oct. 10 from 6-8 p.m.