LETTER: Administrators confronting the school board was ‘the spectacle of the year’

June 19, 2021 | By Neil Nussbaum

An open letter to the Harwood Unified Union School Board: 

On May 12, you were part of the spectacle of the year, one in which the administrative team of the consolidated school district was paraded before you en masse to coax you into reversing your earlier decision, one that you made in response to the request of more than 1,300 petitioners, to look into the abrupt firing of Moretown's first son, Harwood Boys Hockey Coach Jacob Grout. Remarkably, although one of you admitted at the time to feeling "pressured" by the ridiculous circus show that was foisted upon you, no one on the board has spoken out against the abuse of authority that you unwittingly participated in.

Which of these subordinates of the superintendent acted genuinely on their own volition? Which ones would have preferred instead to sit out this stunt, or, heaven forbid, state the obvious, that is, that the Harwood High School principals and your subordinate (Superintendent Brigid Nease) clearly overreacted by firing Coach Grout, but were strong-armed into nonetheless appearing before the board? We'll never know, of course. The future livelihood of each of these administrators depends on them remaining in the good graces of the superintendent; they can ill-afford to ignore her demands. Thus, we ended up with the joke that was May 12th, which at one low point included a principal misstating your legal obligation to oversee the actions of your Superintendent as a partnership.

Also, what about the timing of this whole coach-firing charade? Is it simply a coincidence that this debacle occurred at the same time that a new school board, with a number of new members and a sea change in the overall philosophy, had just begun its work? Or was it instead a not-so-thinly-veiled attempt by the superintendent to force you into the fold, to introduce your newest members to the "us-versus-them" mentality that has served this superintendent so well these past 13 years?

And finally, why did the board choose to hide behind closed doors when it finally discussed Coach Grout's firing? With more than 1,300 petitioners asking for Coach Grout’s termination to be reconsidered, it has unquestionably attracted widespread scrutiny in communities throughout our district. For this reason alone, it should have been discussed in a robust and spirited open session, not in secret, as the board chose. As Lord Acton put it in his pithy way 150 years ago, “Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice.” What, after all, is there to hide?

Faculty morale in the consolidated school district is cracked and faltering. You can begin a process of restoration by censuring your leadership and the superintendent for allowing the travesty of May 12th to take place, thereby sending a clear signal to the hard workers of this district that extortive demands of acts of fealty to your employee will no longer be tolerated. I urge you to do so. 

Thank you for your time and service to the communities that comprise the consolidated district.

Neil Nussbaum

Moretown