With one dissent from new Board of Education member Callie Sullivan, the Board of Education re-elected Elizabeth "Betsy" Hagerty-Ross as chairperson, who then ripped into the previous administration, said the school system "failed" its students and apologized on behalf of the school system to parents, students and the community.
Sullivan said she was abstaining in her vote because new board members were not given adequate briefings about the school system by administrators, and therefore she did not believe she had enough information to support or reject Hagerty-Ross.
Hagerty-Ross later said extensive briefings were being organized.
Here is Hagerty-Ross' statement after she was re-elected Tuesday:
I would like to congratulate our new members of the Board of Education, Mr. Dave Martens, Mrs. Christa McNamara, and Mrs. Callie Sullivan and welcome them to the Board.
As per Board policy, the new members of the Board of Education will go through a thorough orientation in the next few weeks. Here they will be given their policy books, the book written by Tom Mooney on Ct Education law and any other pertinent information to help bring them up to speed. The orientation is a half a day and all the department heads are brought in to discuss their areas.
Monday November 4th, the parents, the Darien community, school administration, staff, and the Board of Education heard the executive summary detailing the findings and recommendations from Attorney Sue Gamm’s investigation.
After reading (and re-reading) the entire report, I am appalled at the breadth of illegal activities, misinformation, and deceptions that were perpetrated in the Darien Public Schools.
It became apparent that the “United Front” documented in the report and that the parents faced have been the Administration’s approach to its dealings with the Board of Education for many years. I would like to extend my sincere apologies to all children and their parents; the board and I believed that our administration shared the board’s goals and visions for providing a quality education for all our children.
It has been as frustrating to the Board as it is to the community that the process to address the transgressions is so protracted. In most cases, school administrators and staff belong to a union and are subject to state tenure regulations.
These safeguards and support are intact for the administrators and staff and the board is bound to adhere to these rules and regulations to prevent repercussions to the community.
From the report, it is clear that all safeguards to protect our children failed, the trust of the community was broken, and lines of communication were compromised.
I am committed to spending the rest of my term working with my fellow board members to rebuild that trust and to repair the lines of communication. To that end, and until our policy can be changed, I will forgo my Chairperson’s update and open that time to public comment.
Per the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE), “the board is a legislative body that develops, evaluates, and oversees education policies. The superintendent is the professional educator chosen by the board to implement policies and to provide professional leadership (and vision) for a district’s schools.”
Safeguarding our children and their education is paramount and the most important task for the board is to oversee the rebuilding of the infrastructure to support all our children.
The board has been actively working to find an exceptional educator and leader to hire as the interim superintendent to spearhead our steps forward. That announcement will be made this evening.
All Board of Education members and the superintendent work as the leadership team of the school district.
Per CABE: “As a leadership team, the board and the superintendent must create a system-wide approach to improving student achievement, recognizing the board’s appropriate role as the community’s representative and the superintendent’s appropriate role as the professionally trained educator.”
As the board and Interim superintendent work to rebuild the trust and lines of communication necessary to be an effective leadership team, I implore the community and media to support our efforts and help us move forward.
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