Frustrations boil over at GMUSD Special Meeting

The GMUSD held a special meeting on May 24, 2023.

CHESTER, Vt. – “This is not okay!” It took only 20 minutes for the Wednesday, May 24, special meeting of the Green Mountain Unified School District (GMUSD) School Board to devolve into angry shouts from some of the more than 20 people attending in person at Cavendish Town Elementary School (CTES), and over 80 participants who appeared via Zoom. Steve Perani was the only board member in attendance at CTES.

School Board Chair Deb Brown charged forward, at times speaking over objections, or ignoring motions made by board members. After a brief explanation about the change in agenda due to CTES principal candidate Donna Bazyk dropping out just hours before the open forum was to begin, Brown presented the board instead with the resignations of members Dennis Reilly and Katie Murphy for consideration.

Board member Josh Schroeder waved his hands in protest and demanded that he be given a chance to read the letters of resignation. “Had I known we were going to discuss this,” Schroeder said, addressing Brown, “I would have come to the meeting. I haven’t had the chance to read any letters, has anybody else?”

“[The letters] were sent out.” Brown responded. “The fact remains that [Reilly and Kate Lamphere] walked out of the meeting, and resigned in public, so that should be enough right there. Actions have consequences.”

“I think it’s my turn to talk,” Schroeder maintained, and requested again to have the chance to review the letters.

Brown then read Murphy’s letter aloud, which explained that Murphy resigned from the board after the May 18 meeting, due to the Chieftains name being in direct violation of state law.

Without input from Murphy or Lamphere, the board voted to accept the resignation of Dennis Reilly. Brown then moved to vote on Murphy’s resignation.

Fighting for Brown’s attention, Perani pointed out that Kate Lamphere was trying to log in on Zoom, that she was not going to resign, and until the board officially accepted her verbal resignation, she was still a member, and should be allowed a vote.

Brown pushed back, “I have not heard from Kate [since] she walked out of the last meeting and resigned.”

Lamphere joined the meeting and responded to Brown. “I sent you an email…” quoting the date and time of the communication.

“I have not received any such email,” Brown quickly replied, which generated moans and protestations from the crowd.

Ultimately, Brown asked Lamphere to state her current intention, and Lamphere specified, “I rescind my resignation. Given the situation, I think a revote is in order. Had I known the will of the board was not to violate the law, I would not have submitted my resignation,” she said, referring to Murphy’s request to reverse her vote to say that the mascot is in violation of the law.

Brown questioned whether Murphy’s claim of a misunderstanding was factual. “At least four times I explained what the motion was,” Brown said. “I stated very clearly, I asked Katie, ‘Do you understand?’ I will not entertain that she did not know what she was voting for!”

“And I trust her word!” Lamphere exclaimed.

Interrupting Brown, Lamphere declared, “I make a motion to accept the withdrawal of Katie Murphy’s resignation, and that she be reinstated to the board.”

Brown insisted the board vote on accepting Murphy’s resignation first, pressing ahead as Lamphere shouted, “I was mid-motion!”

There were more objections, with some residents unmuting themselves to shout at the board, “This is a dictatorship!” Others called the proceedings “ugly,” “disgusting,” and “shameful.” Brown ignored the comments, and continued forward with rollcall. When Brown’s vote broke the tie and she announced the board’s acceptance of Murphy’s resignation, the meeting erupted.

A confusing and contentious discussion continued for several minutes, with everyone speaking and yelling over each other. Ultimately, Brown agreed to “entertain Kate’s motion,” adding, “which should make everybody happy.” The motion was seconded by Rick Alexander.

Vice Chair Adrienne Williams asked Murphy to turn her camera on and address the board, since they had not heard directly from her. Murphy obliged. “I want to be back on the board,” she said. “I don’t want to resign. I want to stay and fight for my community, and my children, and the rest of the children in the community.” The board agreed to Murphy’s reinstatement with a vote of 7-1, with Scott Kendall the only member to vote no.

The response of the collective community was not a positive one, evidenced by the public comments.

Amy Hamblett, teacher at CAES shared, “Like many of my colleagues, I was completely disheartened at the meeting on Thursday night. I want the board to understand the impact your actions have on teachers, and what they are trying to do with students. Your actions on Thursday night leave us completely leaderless. I cannot overestimate how difficult this is for us.”

Amanda Tyrrell introduced herself as “the lone Cavendish Town principal candidate left. I was asked to be here for that purpose, and I realize plans changed. I want to acknowledge how many people are in attendance here, and on Zoom…I had something else to say, but right now, this is about respect. This is about children. Please be respectful, please be good role models for our children. Right now, I’m standing before you as a grades 5-6 teacher, and I would want them to see something different.”

Several citizens pointed to Brown as the cause of the board’s troubles, including former CTES Principal Amy Bohren, who commented, “I have been at every board meeting this year, and there was a precise moment where things started to go really bad. This is not personal, this is professional. That precise moment was when there was a change in the board president.” Bohren stated further, “I don’t see a way out or a way forward in collaboration until that elephant is taken out of the room.”

The Brauchts addressed Brown directly. “[We were] really disappointed [with] the way you handled the board members today. On public record, [we] would like to say your combative nature is not helpful to the collaboration of this community.”

Brown attempted to move away from public comments to enter executive session, but Perani interrupted, and suggested that no decision on the CTES principal position be made yet. He felt it would be unfair to Tyrrell. “Given the tone of tonight’s meeting, she has been set up to fail. I want her to feel we are behind her,” Perani explained.

Brown clarified that the executive session’s purpose was to get the board’s input on Tyrrell, and discuss the next steps, not to make a final decision. Brown suggested they entertain a motion to adjourn, but was met with shouts of “More public comments!”

Commenting as a “private citizen,” Reilly added, “The only way the board can move forward is for the board to consider new leadership on the board.”

Abraham Gross expressed his thanks to “the majority of the board that voted to stay out of an illegal executive session…The board made a lot of mistakes this evening, but that was not one of them.” Gross suggested training in Robert’s Rules, or to “hire a parliamentarian to be on site to provide the necessary guidelines.” Gross also said, “Public sessions are mandated by statute. And the tendency of the chairwoman to limit the speech, to limit participation, is all in violation of the statute. I really encourage the board to follow Robert’s Rules, not some form of it that you think might work. It has to be done right.”

The Chieftain’s team name was an ongoing topic as well, with some residents calling it “illegal.”

Tara Laughlin, a mother with two children in the school system, addressed Brown. “We need to be better. This school has numerous problems with racism and sexism. This is one small step we can take to lead these kids in the right direction.”

Former GMUHS student Sarah Devereux related her experience at the school. “I feel there was not a lot of education around how disrespectful the mascot is. There is a lot of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and overall bigotry at Green Mountain, [which] has definitely affected me and my peers and something should be done about that.”

Superintendent Lauren Fierman and Brown said they will meet to take the next steps to reset and schedule a meeting for next week. Fierman explained that when they were left with a single candidate, they felt it wasn’t appropriate to go forward with the open forum.

Fierman stated, “We can have Amanda speak in an open forum, if a quorum of the board can be present, then the board will hold an appropriate executive session, and allow for an additional interview if they think it’s necessary.”

The school board agreed to find a time to reconvene and give Tyrrell an answer by the end of next week. The next regularly scheduled school board meeting will be June 15.

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