Berkshire County — Back in late September, 10 members of the Southern Berkshire Regional School District Committee co-signed a letter threatening to leave the Eight Town Regional School District Planning Board. The letter stated in part, “It is our firm belief, at this time, this process is being rushed and that until we address the difficult dynamic between the two districts and the ongoing feeling of imbalance, there simply is no path forward.” While it has been over two months since the letter was issued, the discord created by the letter was on full display at the board’s meeting on Wednesday, November 16, which was held virtually on Zoom.
At the November 16 meeting, a facilitated discussion was held with Simon Holzapfel, the founder and director of Crow Box Partners of Williamstown and Boston. Holzapfel moderated the discussion, which he said was to “surface issues that have been impeding the progress of this group.” In order to “take the temperature of the group,” Holzapfel asked the group members to rate how important it would be to talk about the issues, with a “zero” rating as no importance and a “five” rating as most important.
“This is a zero rating for me,” Great Barrington representative Stephen Bannon said. “I’ve been on a lot of groups and school committees over the past 25 years, and I realize other people have a difference of opinions. I don’t minimize those at all, but I think this is one of the best run and well-behaved groups, and I’ve really been proud to be part of it.”
However, other members disagreed and gave a “three” to a “four” rating, stating to Holzapfel that it is important to talk about issues concerning the group. “The answer is that issues have not been impeding the progress of the group at all,” Monterey representative Donald Coburn said. “The problem that we have at the moment is that there is a group of a few folks who are threatening to leave the group if they don’t get their way.”
“I guess I’m one of the people that Donald is addressing with that,” Sheffield representative Bonnie Silvers said. Silvers is one of the 10 committee members who co-signed the letter threatening to quit the board. “I really do strongly believe that Mr. Colbert has gotten to the heart of the issue that we’re facing, which is for me is a misinterpretation of the objectives of a number of people who entered this process open-minded and hoping for the best, but feel that, and I am speaking for myself, there are answers I don’t have,” Silvers said. “I don’t see how what we’re doing right now is going to get me those answers.”
Silvers added that another issue for her is “there is this sense of a difference in culture [with the two districts]. How do we face [the differences] head-on in order to have successful outcomes?”
New Marlborough representative Tara White said that in order to work out issues, much more candor is needed from committee members. “I’ve been on [the New Marlborough] Select Board for a long time, so I understand how to deal with different temperaments and different people,” White said. “I understand how to be respectful of other people’s feelings and that there isn’t always one answer to the question. But sometimes it feels like if you really want to say something, you can’t say it. You can’t say what you really mean, because you know that it’s going to offend someone. So if you don’t really say what you mean, you kind of just sit there and don’t say anything. And then that festers. And if we do say something, then sometimes it’s taken as extreme criticism.”
New Marlborough representative Susan Smith said that she agreed with White. However, Smith said that she was “incredibly offended” by the letter that was co-written by the 10 board members. “They were threatening to leave this discussion that we’ve had for the last two and a half years,” Smith said. “We have all had open access to talk and speak about what the issues are. For them to say that ‘we’re walking if we essentially don’t get our way.’ And for them to put that [letter] out into the public without even presenting that to us as a committee.” Smith added, “[W]e were all charged to come to this with an open mind to hear everything to get the answers. We’re still waiting on answers and we don’t have all the answers.”
Smith went on to explain, “I am frustrated, and I’m disappointed. Also, [the board members] are bringing information to their constituency that no one else is aware of, or has the ability to talk about or address. You know—it’s kind of been—they’re working behind a closed door, which is really frustrating.”
Later on during the meeting, Silvers said, “[O]ur letter was not aimed at us pulling out. It’s aimed at being heard.” She explained, “That letter was trying to get people to look at some of the issues we have raised. That nobody’s building a new high school with what they want for $100 million. That we’re concerned that we don’t have the populations for all of these different programs. We’re concerned about the economic impact on all of our communities. We want to look at these issues, and we feel that they’re not being examined.”
The committee members also spoke about a potential pause or delay in the merger process that was discussed at past meetings.
By the time the meeting ended, committee members had left with continued frustrations. “When—when we say that [representatives from the Southern Berkshire School District] came in with an open mind, I thought we were coming into a discussion about the value of education, the meaning of it to our towns, and the opportunities for creative solutions,” outgoing committee member Jane Burke said. “We never have had those conversations with our communities. I think that’s part of this process that’s been left out. I thought it was a fantastic opportunity to bring education to the forefront, and get everybody involved in this process. Instead, it’s been very narrow, so I don’t hold much hope for this group, because I hear how much resentment there is.”
Burke was a New Marlborough representative who was also the Southern Berkshire Regional School District Committee Chairman and a co-signer of the letter back in September. She is one of the five representatives who are all stepping off of the board because they did not run for re-election to their respective town’s school boards.
“It’s just not being approached in a way that I had hoped it would,” Burke said. “I felt all the way through that there wasn’t an opportunity to be understood, so I think that community members may be feeling that too. And I just want to say that the idea that somebody who disagrees has to then agree is, in the end, anti-democratic. Those people who have different ideas should not be vilified, because they are just as valid as the so-called majority. I think when you get over vilifying people who have different ideas, it will be helpful.”
