By Linda Conner Lambeck
WESTPORT — The Board of Education abruptly adjourned its Thursday night meeting after speakers during the public-comment period refused to surrender the microphone.
Parents and others upset about treatment of minority students in Westport’s public schools exceeded the two minutes allotted to each speaker, under a board policy that sets aside a total of 15 minutes for public comments.
Several speakers told the board their concerns were more important than anything else on the meeting’s agenda.
“I apologize for being out of order, but your schools are out of order,” said Albertha Brown, the parent of children at Kings Highway Elementary and Coleytown Middle schools, when told her time was up.
She was one of several people who later spoke, expressing similar concerns, and also were cut off and told they had no more time to speak.
In February, a Black couple — Dr. Carol Felder and Richard Anderson — came forward to describe a series of racial slurs directed at their daughters at town schools and their inability to get officials to effectively address the problem.
At every meeting since then, the board has heard from other parents relating similar instances of racist behavior directed at their children.
The board is working on a new student discipline policy and Code of Conduct to help address the situation, but they are not yet finalized.
On Thursday, the audience was once again filled with parents, representatives of the Norwalk NAACP, which covers Westport, and others.
Some students attended the meeting in masks to conceal their identities.
“I should not be here,” said Brenda Penn-Williams, president of the Norwalk NAACP. “You folks should be ashamed of yourself to allow this to go on.”
Penn-Williams said she received five phone calls on Thursday alone regarding racism at Bedford Middle School and Staples High School.
“If I get another phone call, it’s over for Westport,” Penn-Williams said.
Brown said the public needs to hear the school board address the issue. So far, it has just listened. And board policy prohibits members from responding to speaker comments during a meeting.
“We want to ensure that Black and brown children in Westport can safely learn,” Brown said.
Brown’s attempt to give board members the details about five incidents of derogatory comments directed at her daughter by another student was cut off when she was told to wrap up her comments.
Dawn Vasquez, another parent, said her daughter has been subjected to multiple issues for standing up for her African-American friends.
“It’s not acceptable, I don’t understand,” Vasquez said. “Something needs to be done.”
Another parent came to the microphone with her son, who was wearing a mask covering his face, as board Chair Lee Goldstein announced the time for speakers from the public had run out.
“No, my son has been silenced way enough,” said the parent, who did not identify herself.
As the boy began to speak, Goldstein stood up and left the Staples High School cafeteria, where the meeting was held.
Several other board members, as well as Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice and central office staff, eventually followed.
Only Kevin Christie, the board’s lone Black member, remained to listen.
“These people are hurting … and you walk way,” said Penn-Williams. “You should be asking them how can you help them.”
When Goldstein returned, she adjourned the meeting, on a 4-to-1 vote, sending home students who were scheduled to report on high school research projects, and setting aside action to accept a PTA gift, a presentation about the school district’s restorative practice program and a review of several board bylaws.
Goldstein, in a later email, wrote, “We regret that tonight’s meeting needed to end before we completed our full agenda. We will be considering how to address this going forward.”
In a brief conversation with Penn-Williams after the meeting, Goldstein told her that school administrators are dealing with bias complaints described by parents.
Freelance writer Linda Conner Lambeck, a reporter for more than four decades at the Connecticut Post and other Hearst publications, is a member of the Education Writers Association.
Policy be damned. There is no excuse for walking out on these families who are hurting. Surely there are better and less rude ways to have dealt with their legitimate desire to be heard. Shame on those who walked out.
There are protocols. It seems to me that the ADL and westport schools are working together on teachable moments and protocols while Brenda is threatening the police and national guard.
I stand with the ADL and their collaborative work with Westport Schools, the BOE, and Tom.
“If I get another phone call, it’s over for Westport”. Really? My kids are long gone from WPS. And I’m way too old to care about the crap that may come my way, but i stand with the BOE on this one. I have done a bit of informal investigating over the past few months regarding these supposed racial incidents/complaints, and I can’t find anything to back up these claims. In fact it appears that some of the loudest voices are being less than truthful. So I call BS.
Weird Dave?! How would you have the the snap chats photos and audio recordings? ….. how does one do an informal ingestion? Enlighten me please so I may so as well.
I find it all to be hard to believe as well. All these phone calls and incidents randomly at one time, in one day?
Who is Brenda? Research her.
Why were kids wearing black masks?
Why the slander and defaming of Tom and the BOE?
Stephanie they wore black masks because two weeks prior a student spoke up and ended up getting threatening phone calls (they were recorded) . Did you read the article?
Isn’t Snap Chat used outside of school? The schools, Tom, and the BOE do NOT control kids’ use of Snap Chat! You know that, correct?! You have been to the meetings Tom has had about how much he disapporves of social media, correct?! I assume your answer is , yes of course.
They are responsible for social media bullying and harassment… it’s all in the code of conduct 😉
No, the parents and students sign a waiver regarding social media usage and bullying! The teachers, admins, and Tom are NOT responsible for what students put out on social media! That is why parents and students have to sign a waiver!!! Imagine if every teacher , admin, principal, Superintendent, and BOE member in this country were responsible for everything every child puts out on social media! Lol! We would literally have no schools left!
Please speak to a lawyer about this.
In the meantime, my work with DEI and the ADL is not done.
I would love to meet with you sometime. I am a yogi too!
I think this is a misunderatanding here:
The schools are NOT responsible FOR what students put out on social media. That would literally be impossible and the schools playing God somehow.
The schools ARE responsible for if a student within Westport schools DOES bully others and creates a hostile environment. So in essence, the school district is responsible for investigating and implememting a response if bullying occurs in accordance to the guidelines.
Tom does not promote social media or social media bullying. Quite the opposite if you have been attendinf his meetings.
If you attended the ADL meeting you would see how they respond to incidents.
He is doing hos job!
Be careful, you might be called racist for investigating all this and facts!
I was on the DEI committee.
I do not believe all these people and their allegations.
I do not like them painting a wide brushstroke about Westport.
They are defaming Tom and the BOE with lies!
Brenda of the NAACP of Norwalk needs to be researched by all! Do your due diligence people! I smell something very fishy.
I stand strong with how the ADL has handeled things.
Nobody is defaming anyone…. Thankful you are not on the DEI now bc clearly you are unaware of policy around harassment and bullying… . Perhaps take a full breath, listen and read what people are fighting for. No one is trying to take anyone’s job…. people are working to update policies for student safety. There have been multiple incidents in the last couple of months and it’s not just student vs student. One major incident was principal vs student.
Just for your reference, I inserted the link below on bullying. All bullying / harassment is taken into consideration outside and inside of school. Do you think people are only picking on kids outside of school?
https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1649182209/westport/dklljtxzxutnodhg787m/5131911-Bullying-Final.pdf
I am very aware of all policies and protocols, thank you! I have teo daughters in the school system, and as a teacher myself and a parent, I do my due diligence to read all of the code of conduct to myself and to my girls. I have to do the same as a teacher, obviously.
I also, for your information, have been attending schol board meetings for the past two years, have met with Tom at school improvement meetings, worked on DEI, worked on school board elections, attended ADL meetings at Temple Israel, and watch any meeting I miss online.
To say that Tom or the BOE does not care about racist incidents or does not do their job is slander, defamation, and sheer lies.
Would you like to attend an ADL meeting with me regarding bullyiing, biases, racism and anti semitism?
Or, would you rather accuse and call in the national guard?
Let’s meet in person!
And no, of course I do not think bad kids who are peoducts of horrible parenting are only bullying outside of school!
I also know that Tom hates bullying and racism and addresses it all according to protocol, investigations, and measures in place.
These incidents are horrible. But they don’t always start and end in the schools. The schools are in the business of educating our children, not raising them. Of course they have to deal with behavior that is happening within the school. The Superintendent has addressed this and the community had the recent meeting at the temple to discuss antisemitism and racism. The board discussed the new discipline policy at length in a recent board meeting so its not that they are ignoring it or denying the culture and what’s going on. At the same time, these are business meetings and there is other business to conduct. Where do we draw the line, who gets to say something is more important and should supersede any other agenda items. There are 15 mins allotted at every meeting for public comment and this should be used. Of course the parents and President of the NCAAP should be heard and I hope they are speaking to our Superintendent, but if you’re going to attend a board meeting you have to follow process.
Lauren you can have all the written policy you want but administration needs to enforce it. There is a code of conduct for students but not for administrators. I encourage you to actually go to the BOE meetings to hear the stories… and it’s not just student to student it’s also administrators to student behavior. If you can’t make the meetings then watch the past recordings before assuming any of the incidents happened outside of school. Our public schools have an obligation to keep our children SAFE but until it happens to one of your own kids people sometimes don’t really understand it.
Mary, I have been going to or watching the BoE meetings for a number of years and I have taken the time to hear all the recent public comments. Of course, some of this starts out of school – the antisemitic incident in Coleytown and the kids watching crap on South Park and then repeating abhorrent phrases and taunts. As I said the school and the BoE are not responsible for raising our children – they have to deal with awful behavior that happens in school and I see that happening with the recent discussions on disciplinary code. If there are incidents that are not being addressed those have to be discussed with school administration and perhaps another forum like the one recently at the Temple should be conducted to have a larger more open parent dialogue. But it is not accurate to say the board isn’t listening or doesn’t care because they took a recess during the meeting debacle. They can’t allow a group of parents/residents/anonymous speakers to take over the meeting. We wouldn’t want the group of anti DEI parents to do so either – even though they vehemently believe the whites are being hurt and our board is responsible for anti-white behavior.
Bingo again Lauren! The slander and defamtion against Tom and The BOE is as bad as what Camilo and his crew did!
I most certainly will be getting people to attend these meetings. Every weel there are new wild allegations, slander, and defamation. I pay taxes here. I need to kmow who these people are who are falsely accusing Tom and the BOE.
That’s exactly their job and it stated here
https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1649182209/westport/dklljtxzxutnodhg787m/5131911-Bullying-Final.pdf
Could you imagine if teachers and administrators were not responsible for the safety and well being of our children?
Nobody said teachers are not responsible for the safety of all students, but you are blamimg teachers, Tom, and the BOE for students with poor behavior! That is not fair! Blame their parents! The teachers have to follow protocol for reporting bullying and racism and they do. Tom does not tolerate racism! Stop the slander and defamation of the BOE, Tom and this district. It is as bad as Camilo Raino’s crew that wanted to take down this district and drag it through the mud with broad brushstrokes of defamation and slander!
Follow the facts people!
Also, Learn from the ADL, not Brenda, how things are handled appropriately.
Teachers, Tom, principals and the BOE are not responsible for what children put out on social media. That would literally be insane and shut down every school in America.
This is why parents and students BOTH sign social media usage waivers and giidelines!
I am curious if you have been to school baprd meetings over the past two years where emotions and accusations ran rampant with a certain group constantly accusing Tom and the BOE being: anti- Merican, pedophiles, communists, Marxists, and so on and so forth. Did you attend any of those meetings where people did not want to adhere to rules of engagement?
BINGO! BRAVO!!!!
Tom and the BOE do NOT tolerate racism! Period!
Thank you for speaking the facts Laruen. People are not doing their due diligrnce and researching protocols and plans in place.
Attorney Weisman is correct. What’s been reported here is disturbing on several levels.
A review of the BoE agenda reveals a list of public participation guidelines with the following relevant ones amongst them:
“Comment on non-agenda topics will occur during the first 15 minutes except when staff or guest presentations are scheduled.”
“Speakers on non-agenda items are limited to 2 minutes each, except by prior arrangement with chair.”
“The Board may modify these limitations at the beginning of a meeting if the number of persons wishing to speak makes it advisable to do so.”
“Per Board policy, speakers must be town residents, employees, or a parent/guardian of an enrolled student”.
In addition, note that: “A topic may be added to the BoE agenda via a 2/3 vote of the Board”
1. As stated, these are merely GUIDELINES, the definition of which is:
“Simply put, guidelines are general recommendations; they’re not mandatory or required. Employees who don’t follow guidelines usually don’t have anything happen to them, discipline-wise. Policies are formalized requirements.”
“Guidelines are recommendations, or instructions and are not expected to be the hard and fast, must do items.”
2. Clearly, according to their own guidelines, the Chair Lee Goldstein had discretion to permit commentary to surpass the 2 minutes guideline restriction.
3. Ms. Brenda Penn-Williams was not in attendance as a Town resident, employee or parent/guardian or an enrolled student. However, contrary to the above guidelines she was still permitted to speak – evidencing that even the “must” criteria is subject to discretion. (I must add that I find this particular guideline “mandate” to be an unwarranted, undemocratic means to censor free public commentary. The word “must” should be expunged from these guidelines and replaced with discretionary language).
4. Given that the guidelines stipulate that the Board may modify the public commentary limitations if it appears advisable to do so, the Chair’s decision to both stifle and then censor public comment was both unnecessary and a personal choice. Clearly it was advisable to permit public commentary to its completion.
5. Knowing that the airing of these important experiences and concerns could have simply been added to this BoE agenda via 2/3 vote – particularly given the attendance of these concerned parents, students, and the presence of the NAACP Norwalk Chapter President – the discourteous actions taken by Ms. Goldstein evidences her personal priorities.
There were more appropriate options available rather than having a tantrum and invoking authority. Choosing to leave rather than listen to important and likely emotional experiences by those who have been subjected to distress under her tenure is a testament that speaks for itself. Ms. Goldstein’s actions needlessly added insult to the injuries already being sustained by these individuals. That she is not cognizant of the deleterious impact of her own actions speaks for itself. Weaponizing a policy GUIDELINE (one that is clearly malleable at her discretion) in order to subvert the needs and concerns of the public speaks for itself.
And that our superintendent of schools joined her in this cowardly public display of inconsideration speaks for itself.
Given other recent power plays in Westport that have been intended to stifle, censor and control public discontent, this is hardly surprising.
When as a solution to resident discontent our school superintendent offers his chainsaw to assist in the destruction of the Community Gardens, when concerned elected representatives and residents who offer constructive advice are greeted with insults and false accusations by this same BoE leadership (in conjunction with other Town officials) of meddling, lecturing and having malicious intent, and when this same BoE obsequious leadership just chose to attack harmless residents & senior citizens under the guise of school safety, it illustrates a pattern of subjugation via power, self-interest, hubris, and a haughtiness that too often accompanies being granted authority.
In this specific instance I agree with the sentiment that permitting the speakers to finish publicly relating their experiences and concerns “was more important than anything else on the meeting’s agenda”. How much of the Board’s time was even at stake? Being thusly dismissive of the angst, the time these attendees expended, and the preparation of their comments, is worse than just being rude. It was disrespectful and irreverent.
In this instance I too believe that Ms. Brenda Penn-Williams was right when she informed the BoE that “You should be ashamed of yourselves”. Last evening Ms. Goldstein and Mr. Scarice added further justice to that sentiment.
Everyone understands the importance of having guideline restrictions for the efficiency of conducting meetings. However, using discretion, having appropriate judgement, and understanding when flexibility and alternatives are warranted, is always of paramount importance for appropriate, compassionate and benevolent governance. The line between “meeting management” and “attendee subjugation” must be avoided. The fact that professed expert educators do not appreciate and act on this maxim is both disappointing and incomprehensible.
Now BoE Chair Lee Goldstein writes: “We regret that tonight’s meeting needed to end before we completed our full agenda”. Her public statement is an obfuscation attempting to malign and indict the attendees – a further insult to injury. The truth is that given available alternatives, the meeting DID NOT need to end. This censorship and abrupt boycott was Ms. Goldstein’s choice – a choice that WE regret her engaging.
Learn where your facts are coming from please. Anyone can accuse anyone of anything. It has happened to Tom and thr BOE before with Camilo Raino and this slander and defamation must be stopped.
Everyone has a right to their opinion. there were times when bullying and racism were NOT fully reported. there are specific administrators who have not been held accountable when they have neglected children or placed them directly in harms way. I have listened to the stories, heard recordings, read emails and I have seen pictures. Some students are disciplined and others are not. Administration picks and chooses and perhaps the “investigations” have been one sided.
Nobody is perfect and everyone makes mistakes but when that happens those people need to be held accountable… not only the students but administrators as well.
It’s honestly sad you are choosing to NOT listen to the families who are hurting and deciding to call them liars. Consider watching all the BOE meetings starting from January. Why was the Coley Middle Principal accused of locking a child in a room for over an hour in the dark and NOT put on paid administrative leave immediately pending investigation??? They chose to never investigate????
I choose not to put blind faith in administrators. You are giving them more power and less accountability and that is a recipe for danger.
I realize that strong emotions ae running rampant at school board meetings. I have witnessed this the past two years with constant attacks and accusations.
This is why everyone needs to attend an witness school board meetings.
This is a copy of the letter I sent to the Board of Education this morning. Clearly, the two-minute rule imposed during Thursday night’s Board of Education meeting is arbitrary and inadequate when it comes to a meeting of such importance. Walking out on our fellow citizens whose complaints about racism in the school system have long been ignored or answered with bromides — “we have a zero-tolerance policy” — is more than rude; some might consider it further evidence of racism. These people who went to the meeting with their children are asking for an anti-racism policy with teeth. Is expulsion for a limited period too radical a consequence for a student who points a prop gun to the back of the head of a 7th-grade girl and says, “This is what happens to people your color.” Is the Board of Education afraid that white parents will see such a punishment too severe?
Here’s what I think should have happened. Right then and there, the Board, gauging the degree of upset and the pent-up need to be heard, should have halted the meeting, consulted one another, and agreed to extend the time limit. All numbers are arbitrary, but five minutes might have calmed tempers on both sides.
Unfortunately, that act of consideration didn’t happen. I suggest that, as soon as possible, the BOE should schedule a special meeting to address racism, and that the board members should welcome citizens of all colors to speak their minds — not for an indefinite period of time — but for what the Board deems reasonable.
Thank you for taking my views into account. Mary-Lou Weisman
I tend to err on the side of hearing out those who take the time to show up in our democratic process. Yes decorum must be observed. Yes, the chair has authority to keep the meeting moving. Yes sometimes citizens don’t know when to stop talking. Yes board members are volunteers who should be treated with respect; their time is valuable and appreciated.
But read the room. It seems like this was an opportunity make an allowance for constituents to be heard on a singularly important matter. There are a handful of important, sometimes emotional issues in Westport right now and they need to be vetted. Anger will wane in the face of understanding and mutual respect.
More citizen participation, not less. I suggest we take the time needed to let everyone be heard.
Would the Bedford student who left an anonymous comment on April 5 please check their email?
Thank you.
Please do your due diligence as arents and look at the waivers you and your child signed regarding social media usage!
Thank you! Oh, and while you are at it, read the cose of conduct!
Oh, and attend school bpard meetings and ADl meetings!
Do your due diligence as parents. The onus is oon YOU!
One last thing parents,
Have you attended any of Westport Schools meetings about social media usage and the dangers of social media? If you did attend, you know the district and Tom’s strong opposition to social media usage!
Now, begin to imagine if people erroneously tell other people that teachers, princials, admins, superintendents, and board of education members are responsible ( not the kid or the parent) for what kids post on social media!!! Lmfao!!!!
Could you imagine?!
We literally would have to shut down all schools!
Do your due diligence please and learn the FACTS!