Schooling the Richmond School Board: Adults Only

Over a recent lunch with Jeff Bourne, Chairman of the City of Richmond School Board, we talked about the six months and -- especially the last two weeks -- the new school board has been in office.   I first praised; then I empathized, sympathized, and, yes, criticized.   Truth be told, he looked tired.  In fact, the entire board looks tired, which is only understandable given the hectic pace of the last six months.

Since being sworn in, this school board has asked that City Auditor Umesh Dalal conduct a thorough audit of RPS expenses, negotiated and passed a budget, navigated administrative upheavals (divested themselves of a superintendent and a chief financial officer, hired an interim superintendent), and dealt (poorly) with "Doctorgate," which is the product of 6th-District board member Shonda Harris-Muhammed's brazen lie. One board member received a death threat and others have been called "white devils," and worse, for closing and rezoning some schools.  They've endured ludicrous accusations that this board is somehow "resegregating" Richmond's schools (in a district that has fewer than 10 percent white students that has never been desegregated) and supported the Latino students with promises of increased vigilance. And, most recently, there's been the strange and sorry saga of the "I'm Gonna Whoop Your Ass” Blues, starring Tichi Pinkney-Eppes (9th-District) and her sidekick, (Not Dr.) Shonda Harris-Muhammed (6th-District), who have pitted themselves against Kimberly B. Gray (2nd-District).

Whew!

Like many men on the planet, Bourne admits to being a bit blind-sided by what he charitably refers to as the "bad behavior" of some of his female colleagues.  "One thing I learned from my mother growing up," he said, "you don't get in the way of women having a fight."

Unless, that is, you are the Chairman of the City of Richmond School Board and the women are elected to that body. 

He talked about establishing a committee to consider what penalties can be imposed for board members who prefer to fight one another, rather than fight on behalf of our children.

I told him he doesn't need a committee to establish disciplinary consequences for board members behaving badly and that the board should not waste any more precious time than it already has on the subject. I then asked him if he thought there would be calls for "intervention and mediation" if this recent dispute involved men.  The look on his face told me that he knew there would not be.

I also asked whether, given Mrs. Harris-Muhammed's reputation for making stuff up, he thought any court in this land would consider her a credible witness.  The pained look on his face told me that he knew the answer to that, also.

I assured him that dissent and disagreement between political colleagues are as American as the 4th of July and healthy as long as people stick to debating ideas and policies and avoid ad hominem attacks.

And, it is precisely the ever-escalating ad hominem attacks from Harris-Muhammed and Pinkney-Eppes against their colleague Gray that have so many people disturbed and wondering where the adults on School Board were when this hyperbolic drama hijacked the board's reputation and spilled onto the pages of The Richmond Times Dispatch, Richmond Free Press, The Voice, Style Weekly, OpenSource RVA radio news, television news and various other local news venues.  

Friends, neighbors and people who care about our schools have basically offered the same solution: Bourne needs to bring his gavel down hard on this nonsense and run all future meetings quietly and in close adherence to Robert's Rules of Order. 

Had he been doing so, the recent kerfuffle – and the effluvium of rule breaking, name-calling and immature remarks -- would have been shut down before it ever happened.  And at this point, it matters not who started it or starts it -- the Chairman must make it stop immediately. 

That said, it is helpful to know a few facts in order to understand that the underlying problem is even more important than the ugly, public face of all this bad behavior.

First, the members agreed in prior work sessions that any names of candidates to be considered for either the interim or permanent superintendent positions were to be given to the HR department.  

If someone in the community made a suggestion to a board member concerning a possible candidate for interim superintendent, the board member did have the leeway (at most) to contact the person suggested, perhaps even have a cup of coffee (but no more) with said individual, and then they were expected to give the individual's name immediately to the RPS Human Services director. 

Board members further agreed that they would NOT engage in lobbying on behalf of any candidate until all candidates had been vetted and formally presented to the entire board.

Makes sense, right?

In that context, why would Eppes proceed to set up meetings between "her preferred candidate" and other members of her board?  Indeed, why would any other board member -- much less six of eight -- forget this agreement and meet with Eppes' candidate prior to receiving the names of all candidates?

To conclude her disdainful performance, Eppes demanded to have her candidate's name added to the list of candidates for the interim superintendent position, despite having missed the deadline for submitting his name.  When asked if her effort was successful, Bourne wryly noted: "It was not." He declined to elaborate.

Gray repeatedly interrupted this outrageous performance in closed session asking whether Eppes was seeking the support of six board members or of nine.  Gray's persistent interruptions frustrated Eppes to the point where she raised her voice and told Gray to "shut your mouth!"  Eppes later admitted to members of the media and several people in the community that she also told Gray that she would "whoop her ass."  In neither context did she seem the slightest bit chagrined by her behavior.  Really.  

Gray's transgression in this mess was that she walked up behind Eppes as they were leaving City Council Chambers at 12:30 in the morning and whispered in her ear:  "Don't you ever tell me to shut my mouth again."  

Gray has already said she is sorry she engaged directly with her colleagues from the 6th and 9th Districts instead of following Robert's Rules in closed session.  And she wishes she had asked Bourne (as Chairman) to convey to Eppes that there is no excuse for any member of this board to tell a colleague to shut their mouth.  She is prepared to apologize to the entire board for the time that has been wasted dealing with this embarrassing episode and more than ready to move on to more substantive work that will benefit Richmond's students.

When asked why he met with the candidate Eppes was clearly supporting and lobbying on behalf of, despite the board's decision to have all applicants for the position vetted and academic credentials checked, Bourne explained that he only did so out of courtesy to Eppes, and that it was not clear to him that he was meeting a candidate for interim superintendent.  He also suggested that this might have been why other members of the board agreed to meet the candidate.

"I thought I was meeting someone who wanted to do consulting work for the school system and I told him -- as I have told other people -- I can't really engage in a discussion given Virginia procurement law.  But, thank you for being interested. End of story," explained Bourne.  (*Note to Bourne and Board members:  Do not meet with any vendors or consultants who want to sell something or some service to the board.  Please schedule an in-service training from City Auditor Umesh Dalal or your very expensive lawyers about the basics of procurement law ASAP).

Individuals privy to what transpired in the closed session have confirmed that that Eppes' "candidate" didn't exactly want to be interim superintendent or even superintendent.   What he wanted was to be paid $3 million to bring his team of educational consultants to Richmond for six months.  Yep, you read that right: $3 million.  The idea was that this consulting group would clean house and then hand the district over to the School Board and whoever it ends up hiring as the permanent superintendent.  Bourne declined to confirm or deny the $3 million figure.  However, that number has been confirmed by 5 sources familiar with the situation who asked not to be quoted.

More's the pity then that Eppes knew all along that he was not really a bonafide candidate for interim superintendent, but a consultant in search of a $3 million contract. 

Either way, this was a demeaning performance:  If the “candidate” wanted to be Interim Superintendent, Eppes was compromising the process she had agreed to follow.  

If the “candidate” was in fact a would-be contractor, these four questions immediately occur:  

1.) Who "inspired" Eppes to work her board members and try to get this consultant and his team hired?  

2.) Did she realize that her actions were leading the Board to possibly violate the Procurement Act? 

3.) How is it NOT a violation of Virginia Open Meeting Law to discuss in closed session the possibility of hiring a specific consultant and his company for a job for which there has never been an RFP issued? 

4.) Why did Harrell & Chambliss,  the School Board's very expensive lawyers -- paid more than $1,000 a day, every day, including holidays and weekends -- let this get so out-of-control? CLICK HERE to read the contract and be sure to  see the chart in the upper right-hand corner of this blog.