In a decision fraught with tears and recriminations, the Haines Borough school board voted 5-2 Monday against moving forward with a memorandum of understanding to site the Chilkat Valley Preschool at the Haines School.
Sarah Swinton, Inez Gross, Mike Wilson, Brian Clay and Lisa Schwartz voted against the move. Board chair Ann Marie Palmieri and member Sara Chapell voted in favor.
Preschool supporters said the decision undermined support for the school district among young families and left them feeling disinvited, following a board move last spring to pursue an in-school site.
“How can it be detrimental to have young children in the school? How can the school not have space when it was built for a larger enrollment? I don’t understand that,” said parent Sarah Elliott. She said the preschool “got caught in the crosshairs” of poor relations between former superintendent Ginger Jewell, who advocated the in-school site, and teachers.
“It feels like we were invited to a party and a door got slammed on us and everybody said ‘See you later’ and a ‘No Trespassing’ sign was put up,” Elliott said.
Board members Schwartz, Wilson and Clay spoke at Monday’s meeting.
Schwartz referred to the timing of the decision. “We’re not in a place to bring on another project. We’re in a fragmented, transitional place where we don’t have a permanent leader in place.”
Wilson spoke to support interim superintendent Rich Carlson. Carlson recommended against an MOU last week, saying it would cost the district about $15,000 annually and that a decision by the board in May to pursue the arrangement was conceptual and not legally binding.
Clay said he’d like to see a meeting between the school board, preschool and Haines Borough about the matter. The preschool faces a July 1 deadline to vacate its 30-year home in the Human Resources Building, following an assembly decision to dispose of the building.
“I don’t know where the borough has been on this whole process, but they haven’t been here in these discussions and that kind of upsets me. They have a finger in this, too. They’re the ones who’ve brought this whole discussion,” Clay said.
Speaking after the meeting, member Swinton said her children attended the preschool and it has a “great program, but for the benefit of the school district we have here, I feel we can’t move forward with this right now. There’s too many negatives.”
Swinton said she considered the agreement “null and void” as soon as Carlson reported that the arrangement would cost the district money. “How can we take on an added financial burden when (MOU language) clearly stated it would not cost the district money?”
Board chair Palmieri cited positive spin-offs from a school site, including continuation of preschool, providing a “richer” school environment, and providing a transition into kindergarten.
Member Chapell said she was disappointed in the board’s leadership, as well as in administrators and teachers. “We are elected as the education leaders of this community and we are not doing a good job of that when it comes to the preschool… I think we should be able to sit down and have a thoughtful discussion of how we can help. I thought we were going to do that.”
Carlson chafed at Chapell’s remarks.
“I am more than a little irritated. I feel like I’ve really been thrown under the bus here. I was hired to come here. I did not have a clue about this,” Carlson said. “When I read that it was conceptually agreed to, I asked, ‘Tell me what conceptually means.’ And I specifically said, ‘Does that mean do it?’ I was told, ‘No, research it and come up with a recommendation.’ That is what I did. And I am insulted, frankly, by your insinuation that I’m not doing my job. So there.”
Assistant principal Cheryl Stickler said it was difficult to listen to testimony critical of teachers. Teachers strongly opposed the agreement, saying the district didn’t have the space or money to accommodate the preschool program.
“It’s difficult to listen to board members and the public who’ve come in and criticized our teachers who give and give and give to our community. Do you understand how much work goes into making a K-12 program? What we were asked to do is bring in another layer that we were not prepared or equipped to handle,” Stickler said. “Because of that we’re not educators and we’re not leaders?”
Testimony during the meeting indicated that relations between teachers and preschool supporters had soured. Preschool supporter and former teacher Lexie DeWitt said parents wrote a letter addressing staff concerns and how they could be solved. “In response, we got an email back saying we were bullying, condescending and rude. The response is hurtful and we were hoping to open a door to better communication.”
Board chair Palmieri said she expected the school district wasn’t done with the question. “I don’t think this is our last conversation about the preschool. (The preschool) could be on the school grounds. Several years from now it might be a totally different conversation. That’s in the future.”