Community members jeered and shouted as the Board of Directors, sprawled out on the stage, motioned to close Samuel Everett Elementary School. This scene was one among many reasons the March 17 school board meeting was disappointing. Yet while some community members perhaps can be expected to be impassioned and at times emotional, the more disappointing display came from the board members themselves. The Neshaminy School Board, at this meeting and many others, showed a lack of civility.
On March 17, this lack of civility reared its ugly head as two board members began to argue over the Everett closing. By all means, disagreement should be present among the school board, as it creates the best ideas and opens up policies to valid criticisms and thus to improvements. What occurred here, however, was different. One board member quoted another board member, to which the second replied that he had never said the alleged words. The board members began to argue until their microphones were turned off by a third member. This is just one instance of the bitterness and anger that has manifested itself between these members.
This hostility has been aimed at community members as well. Last year, a school board member allegedly referred to a community member as an “a——.”
It appears that working relationships among some (certainly not all) board members have fallen apart. If we are to take the behavior in the meeting as any indication, there is a lack of respect between members, and perhaps even a lack of cooperation. The lack of civility only compounds the dysfunction which this board has evidently griped with.
Worse is the atmosphere this projects on the community itself. Back during the teacher contract controversy the school board set a hardline tone, and the community likewise shifted to more stern of a stance. If this school board sets an example of disrespect, the community may likewise go with them. We cannot have this community be embroiled in so venomous an atmosphere. While we understand the emotion of the community, we also see the potential for the controversy to become needlessly acrimonious.
This school board needs to change course. If they wish for greater respect from the community, they must respect each other. They have been elected—or appointed— to lead this community, and so far they have not set a shining example. If they wish to be re-elected, it is up to them to change their image; if they do not, then it is up to the voters to elect those who show more respect and responsibility.
