May 12, 2005

By Diane Chiddister

Yellow Springs school board member Bill Firestone urged the Board of Education last week to be more independent of school district administrators to initiate change in the school system.

Noting that after eight years on the school board he does not plan to run for re-election this November, Firestone said he is frustrated by what he views as the board’s passive role and tendency to not adequately question school administrators’ agendas.

“I’m here to say I’m not satisfied with what the school board is doing. I think we’re drifting,” Firestone said. “I feel the board needs to be more assertive, more independent. We’re the only ones who can hold the administration accountable. Over the years we have been far too lax with our administrators.”

Firestone made his comments at a special meeting of the board on Thursday, May 5, in which board members discussed their goals for the school district next year. In addition to Firestone, board president Rick Bullock and Angela Wright were present. Mary Campbell-Zopf and Richard Lapedes were absent due to recent deaths in their families.

First elected in 1997, Firestone said that he came to the school board enthused by possibilities to initiate change in the schools, but, he said, he has lost much of that enthusiasm. Part of the problem, he said, is that while board members come to their positions as independent thinkers, they sometimes lose that independence and become advocates for the school administration.

“You come to the board with lots of energy to make things better but find yourself absorbed by the system,” he said.

He also said he is disappointed with the schools’ quality and structure. “Over the years I’ve tempered my optimism with the school system,” he said. “I think we have a good system but not a great one.”

Bullock defended the district, saying that the relatively high number of Yellow Springs graduates who go on to study in quality higher education institutions speaks well for the system.

However, Firestone said, that trend reflects students’ economic backgrounds rather than the quality of the schools.

“The level of parents’ education and family income determines where kids go to college,” Firestone said. “We don’t deserve a blue ribbon for those kids succeeding because they would succeed anywhere. If you want a blue ribbon, talk about kids who don’t come from that background.”

School board members need to remember that they represent the community, said Firestone, noting that he believes that the board does not adequately communicate to school administrators the community’s concerns.

“I believe there is a disconnect and that a portion of the community feels it is not being heard,” he said.

The three board members at the meeting agreed that they believe that Yellow Springs students might be better served by a less traditional school system.

When he moved to Yellow Springs from the Boston area, Bullock said, he was impressed with the school system’s small size and therefore its potential for new thinking. However, he said, since then “I’ve been surprised at how relatively little interest there is in trying major structural changes.”

Board members discussed how to motivate teachers and administrators to consider new ways to approach educating young people, and whether positive reinforcement alone could promote changes.

“This is something all five board members would want to see, more thinking outside the box,” said Wright.

Firestone said that he appreciates Yellow Springs High School’s attempt to empower students by creating the Student Review Board, but that the school has not gone far enough. While review board members do have some power to create changes in the school, that power is limited to a small number of students, he said.

“It’s a mistaken impression by administrators that empowering a small group of students is reaching the whole student body,” Firestone said. “In the student body many are discontented and not fully engaged. Kids are falling through the cracks. I wouldn’t do away with the Student Review Board but would find more ways to create opportunities for leadership.”

Currently, there are no term limits for Student Review Board members so the same students tend to serve on the board year after year, board members said. Bullock suggested that review board members be limited to a one-year term so that the responsibilities could be shared by more students.

Firestone also suggested that high school students should have the opportunity to evaluate their teachers, much as college students do. Such evaluations would give a more complete picture of the teachers’ effectiveness, he said. Currently, teachers are evaluated only by YSHS Principal John Gudgel, who observes them in class on a prearranged day.

“We need a more inclusive, more comprehensive evaluation process,” Firestone said. “We need to take into account all the stakeholders’ points of view.”

Bullock and Wright agreed on the value of student evaluations of teachers, while acknowledging that some teachers might resist the idea.

However, board members agreed the board should have as a goal improving the teacher evaluation process, saying that they would bring it to the table in upcoming negotiations with the teachers’ union.

Students’ evaluations of teachers were linked to a concern raised by Wright, who said she is worried about the high school’s science program. The board received complaints from several parents this year about chemistry classes, which are taught by a teacher who was hired shortly before the school year began last fall after former chemistry teacher Emily Riley suddenly resigned. The teacher was an experienced educator but had never before taught chemistry. Currently, the school is seeking a new teacher for next year.

Students’ frustrations with the chemistry classes have taken a toll this year, Wright said.

“This year the problem is students are not signing up for chemistry until they know who the teacher is,” she said. “I’m worried that chemistry is eroding. The kids will go elsewhere.”

For years YSHS had a strong science program, Wright said, and the school board needs to pay attention to current challenges to regain that strength.

Firestone raised concerns about what he described as a possible situation of sexual harassment at the high school, alleging that a male teacher sometimes uses inappropriate terms of endearment with female students. Bullock and Wright said they were not aware of the situation, and that if parents or students have concerns, they should contact the board.

Firestone also said he was concerned about memos he recently received from Bullock regarding Superintendent Tony Armocida’s possible retirement and plans for his successor. The memos were not released to the public.

Bullock said that the memos were “internal memorandum” that he wrote to prepare board members for an upcoming executive session on the issue, and were therefore not a public document.

After the meeting, the News requested a copy of the memos after an attorney who specializes in open records law confirmed to the newspaper that all communication between board members is public information.

On Tuesday, Bullock released the memos to the News.

The documents include a proposal to hire Gudgel as Armocida’s successor, including a timeline and plan of action suggesting that Armocida groom Gudgel for the job.