Community Corner

Ed Board Member James Plutte Lambastes Darien Times Coverage

"The Darien Times' coverage of the issues surrounding special education in the Darien Public Schools as well as last week's outrageous editorial require a response," Darien Board of Education member James Plutte writes.

An editor's note appears at the end of this letter to the editor.

An Open Letter to the Editor
The Darien Times

I would not normally get into an argument with someone who buys ink by the barrel, but The Darien Times’ coverage of the issues surrounding special education in the Darien Public Schools as well as last week’s outrageous editorial require a response. 


Most of the articles dealing with this issue over the months have been a litany of unsubstantiated accusations and innuendo masquerading as facts.  In article after article, after reading an extensive and dramatic list of charges, we are greeted with the less-than-persuasive “some say”, or “some speculate.” 

I recognize and respect that people have differing opinions on issues, but most of those articles, at best, should have been on the editorial page; they are opinion fraught with innuendo and not fact-based news.

Last week’s editorial was so riddled with untruths, innuendos, and distortions that it is difficult to respond in limited space.  The newspaper asserts that its coverage merely is following the truth, presumably meaning the facts. 

One fact (and it is significant) has been established, and that is that special education training materials for staff for the 2012-13 school year contained information and procedures that a Connecticut state investigation found to be inconsistent with existing law.  Everything else is conjecture. 

That conjecture, endlessly repeated in The Darien Times, obscures the fact that the Board of Education and the administration have stated from the beginning that they would take (and in fact are taking) actions to remedy the situation, and are working closely with the special education community, especially the affected families. 

It’s fair to ask questions about how this happened, which is exactly why investigations are taking place; but I recommend waiting for the results of the investigation before assembling the lynch mob.  And The Darien Times’ inciting that mob is hurting, not helping, the situation.

The immediate important consideration is whether any children had any services curtailed unfairly as a result of this error.  If any child was harmed by these actions, the Board and the administration have stated from the very beginning that it is unacceptable and that they would take action to remedy the wrong.

I hope that parents who felt this way took advantage of the procedural safeguards available to them in order to right the perceived wrong. 

In the wake of this, additional procedures have been established to provide parents an opportunity to re-visit their child’s Individualized Education Program, including, if they choose, having the case reviewed by individuals such as former special education hearing officers.  Where catch-up services are ordered, they will be provided.

In response to the situation, and to ensure future compliance, the Board and the district administration hired Theresa DeFrancis, a special education expert formerly with the State Department of Education, to develop new training materials and provide training for administration, staff, Board of Education members, and parents. 

In addition, the Board hired Sue Gamm, an attorney who specializes in special education investigations and who has no ties either to the Town of Darien or the Board of Education attorneys, to investigate the charges made in the complaint filed by the group of special education parents. 

She will report directly to the Board of Education, not the district administration.  The Board will act on her findings and recommendations when it receives them.

Is this happening fast enough?  I think most would like to have everything wrapped up in an hour, like an episode of “Law & Order”; but that isn’t reality. 

Conducting thorough investigations, setting up procedures and choosing community members for the search committee that will choose the independent person to oversee special education for the 2013-14 school year, selecting that person, protecting confidentialities, identifying specific goals, and coordinating meeting times all take more time than any of us would like.  But it’s worth the time to get it right.

Now let’s consider whether The Darien Times has exercised the kind of responsible fact-based journalism that we expect, or whether it has used its platform to engage in distorted or uninformed reporting. 

The Darien Times questions the Board’s leadership, claiming the Board of Education does not sufficiently challenge the district administration; that it is a rubber stamp. 

The charge would be laughable if it weren’t so serious.  In order to analyze and discuss in depth new proposals, curriculum changes, policy changes, etc., most of the Board’s detailed work takes place in committee meetings, which are open to the public and posted on the district website. 

However, The Darien Times’ reporter rarely comes to the Board’s committee meetings, where he would witness lively discussion between and among Board members and the administration; but this contradicts his preconceived view, so he ignores it.  Or, to be charitable, he never observes it because he’s not there; in which case, he’s not being disingenuous; he’s merely choosing to be uninformed. 

Board members and our district administration know the art of disagreeing without being disagreeable.  We frequently disagree, sometimes strongly; but we also like and respect each other.  If the evening full-Board meetings seem a bit tame, it’s often because the hard work of sorting through challenges in a proposal has been done in committee. 

The full-Board regular evening meeting can then run more efficiently, with a thorough explanation of the proposals, which usually contains a discussion of how potential problems will be addressed.  It doesn’t make for exciting viewing, but the result is an excellent school system.

The Darien Times’ criticism of Betsy Hagerty-Ross’s leadership is ludicrous, totally unfounded, petty and personal.  Ms. Hagerty-Ross is a forceful, articulate, well-organized, and compassionate leader.  She has the strong support of the Board. 

The Darien Times’ current objection to her is that she has recently refused to answer the questions posed by its reporter, something he rarely fails to point out.  That entirely justifiable refusal might stem from his consistent misrepresentation of what she has said, in addition to the “Do you still beat your wife?” style of his questions. 

I have been nearby numerous times when he has asked questions of Ms. Hagerty-Ross and have been appalled at his unprofessionalism.  In this week’s editorial, the writer seized on one word (“product”) used one time by Ms. Hagerty-Ross in an interview he had with her and, taking the word and her meaning out of context, accused her and the Board of viewing children as commodities.  He then wastes several paragraphs fabricating then beating down a non-existent villain.  It was unethical journalism and a cowardly thing to do.  

The Darien Times’ charge of a lack of transparency is one that every governmental body deals with, and again, reasonable people may disagree.  Setting aside the current controversy for a moment, few in town could argue convincingly that the Board of Education is not transparent in its work. 

The Board does all its work in public with the exception of those topics that are required by law to be handled in executive (private) session, which include, among other things, personnel issues, contracts, and legal proceedings.  Budget sessions in the winter can be painfully transparent. 

Curriculum revision, the World Language Initiative in the elementary schools, adding classroom space to handle student population growth, among many others, are major topics that received a full vetting in public.  And that is typical of the way the Board and administration operate. 

Those on the Board are townspeople, taxpayers, and neighbors, too.  We don’t function in a vacuum.  All of our regular meetings are videoed and broadcast on Channel 79.

To accuse this Board of a lack of empathy and compassion is not only wrong, it’s reckless and insulting.  All but one Board member have children in the Darien public schools, and several Board members have children who are receiving special education services.

To imply that the Board is unaware of, insensitive to, or indifferent to the concerns of parents with special needs children, or to those children themselves, flies in the face of reality.

The situation with special education presents unique challenges to transparency because of the legal requirement for confidentiality in so many aspects.  The Board makes public every bit of information that it is allowed. 

The Board considers it important to have community input in the process of choosing the person to oversee special education during this school year.  To that end, the Board is including in its search committee community members who have children in special education. 

Furthermore, when the Board receives information from the ongoing investigation, it plans to release it immediately.  I believe significant progress has been made working with the Special Education Parent Advisory Committee.  Excellent suggestions to improve communication have come from these meetings.  It’s an example of initial efforts to rebuild a trust that has been frayed.

The editor complains that the Board is unwilling to relinquish control.  I would ask understanding that the Board is elected by the community to do a job that is established by and subject to state law. 

Not only would it be irresponsible to relinquish control over those areas for which it is responsible, it would be illegal.  The Board consistently seeks input from the community on ways to improve the school system.  Members attend the monthly meetings of the Council of Darien School Parents (the umbrella group for the school PTOs); each school has a member of the Board assigned to its PTO as a liaison to be a source of information and to hear ideas from the school community. 

The Board welcomes and encourages attendance and active participation at our regular and committee meetings.  At every Board meeting, when the Board has finished discussing an agenda item, the Chairman asks if any community member wishes to speak.

The Board of Education works to provide the best possible education for all our students, and in a fiscally responsible way.  The annual budgets reflect that commitment.  The Board of Education has never asked, instructed, or encouraged anyone to reduce services to any student in order to save money. 

The Board’s ongoing investigation will determine whether any evidence supports the allegations that services for some special education students were improperly curtailed and, if so, by whom. 

The paper’s editorial statement that the “school board pushed for these new policies and the administration was merely following suit” is flagrantly wrong and accuses the Board of deliberately violating federal law. 

That is a serious and possibly libelous accusation, even by someone hiding behind the skirts of the First Amendment.  If The Darien Times had any evidence of the truth of its charge, it would have printed it by now, with enormous glee.  An ethical newspaper would print a retraction and an apology.

Although I am a current member of the Board of Education, I am writing this letter as an individual, and am not speaking for the Board of Education or the district administration.

Sincerely,

James Plutte

Editor's note: Board of Education member James Plutte wrote that he sent this letter to the editor to the Darien Times and asked Darien Patch to publish it, as well. Darien Patch will publish letters to the editor that meet our Terms of Use policy (a link to which is at the bottom of every Patch page) and which seem of value or interest to readers of this website. Readers themselves may also post letters to the editor or Op-Ed articles without getting approval from the editor, and those posts will remain on the Darien Patch website unless an editor finds that they violate Patch's Terms of Use policy.

(By the way, nowadays you should feel able to get into arguments with those who buy ink by the barrel -- or, in the case of online media, pixels by the trillions -- by posting comments on websites, certainly on Darien Patch's website. Unless your comment violates Patch's Terms of Use policy, Patch leans toward keeping your criticisms online, with few exceptions.)



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