We Can Do Hard Things

The State Ethics Commission was unable to give me a ruling on Monday because the lawyer who made the ruling had an unforeseen family circumstance that kept him from the office. When I learned of that, I asked our committee to delay.  

Please note, that I am still expecting a clarification ruling from the State Ethics Commission. I will admit, at one point in this process I didn’t want the clarification because I was tired. I do have big girl pants and I have put them on for the last 7 months every time someone has tried to make this experience personal instead about ideas. Still, as anyone would, I have my limits on what I can take and this recusal put me there.

Mentors and people I deeply respect then asked me to pursue a clarification because it had ramifications - perhaps even statewide - that could be really damaging to our political process. I agreed if I could do it with SUPPORT from the town instead of the POLITICS of those who wanted the ruling reversed, I would pursue it. 

(Politics: There was an argument made that I had caused the ruling b/c of the way I framed the decision to the SEC AND that the ruling needed to be reversed NOT with the motivation of restoring my vote, but because the ruling that my house value would be impacted weakened the argument that the Schools had done enough research. I shared this exact thought with my chair so that I could be clear about my motivations when I pursued a clarification - I was doing it b/c I do not want future votes to be compromised because of 19b3.)

The Chair asked the committee to delay this week and two members could not do the new dates because of personal reasons. The other option was the Monday of Thanksgiving week. When this option was put forth, I called two members - asking as a parent and community member - if they had made their decision. Both had. 

This School Committee had one of the most difficult decisions a board will ever make before them. In my family, when faced with a challenge, we rely on this value statement: “We Can Do Hard Things.” 

And, I teach my kids that we can do hard things:

• Without blaming or lashing out on others because what we are doing is hard 

• Without a notion of entitlement that we “shouldn’t have to do this.” 

• Without giving up emotionally, spiritually or physically

Now, as a parent and community member, I absolutely disagree with the committee’s decision. I also disagree that none of the members seconded Ms. Sonnenborn’s amendment to create a time bound closure contingent upon acceptance into the MSBA. Had they done that, we could have waited to see what enrollment looks like over the next 5 years and at that point we could have made a deliberate decision to stay at 5 schools or move to 4. Instead, the order the votes were taken about a building that needed to close, has far reaching implications about the total number of kids at each school. I truly hope that my opinion is wrong and that we see the benefits that have been listed around consolidating - that we can compensate our teachers well because of it, that we can still expand programs that have long been desired in a cost containment model, that ASAP will not be limited and that we work hard to bring the best parts of Johnson at the other schools. 

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Moreover, after all this, I sincerely hope, we do not land back exactly at where the recusals started. Now is not the time to threaten each other or intimidate one another for having different opinions. Now is the time, Johnson parent or not, to mourn that our town was not able to resuscitate a cherished piece of our town’s history. Decades of decisions led to Monday’s vote and the most important thing we need to do is reflect on that and ask ourselves, how do we move FAR, FAR from what created a nearly impossible situation. If we do not, people we will never meet might have to have the same conversation about other beloved things in our town in 100 years and wonder why this generation of citizens left them with such bad luck.

Right now I am mourning, but I am also reflecting. If the Johnson school is to have one last impact on our whole town - it is to convince us that: 

We can do hard and strategic, and thoughtful things that will have important impacts: 

• We can get more people to run for every elected position.

• We can hire and then empower professionals by interacting with excellent communication and checks and balances that are a tool (not a punishment) that allow us to focus collectively on measurable goals.

• We can make changes to our charter to allow the positions to be more desirable 

• shorter term limits for some positions, 

• stipends for “volunteer positions” that take 40 hours a week

• changes to the budget cycle that put people and administration regularly at odds.

• We can make changes to our Town Government that take a system that was built for farmers in the fiefdoms of England and adjust it to our experience now.  

• We can hold one another accountable (without defensiveness) in order to better the lives of our children and the residents of Natick. 

Above all, we can expect that our elected officials do the hard work of clearly defining their roles and responsibilities and choosing every time to act within those guidelines.