Harmony Union School District

Regular Board Meeting

August 19, 2010

Late again

I arrived late to this meeting as well. It looked like it lateness might be becoming a pattern for me, but in this instance, I might be excused. The District website had brought me to the school a week previous, and tonight I went to the announced location at what I thought was the announced time only to find the meeting was actually scheduled somewhere else a half an hour earlier than I thought. Other patterns were to emerge over the course of the evening, though, patterns within patterns like something from an Escher print. It turns out that working on local boards helps one develop a taste for small town politics. Or maybe it’s the other way around.

Anyway, when I finally arrived at the right location, I found the board in the middle of a little fracas. A civilized little fracas, to be sure, but a fracas nonetheless. It seems that the Harmony ARK, the volunteer fundraising organization associated with the school, had gone ahead with signage plans for the new playing field, built with private funding in honor of Joe Negri, without consulting the full board, though they had been in communication with board member Fawn Nekton and interim superintendent David Wheeler prior to making the decision.

There were other factors involved. For instance, the artist had already agreed to put aside other work in order to complete the Harmony project in time for the planned unveiling on Augusst 29^th. Also, the artist, Patrick Amiot of Sebastopol, has published, for the last several years, a calendar of his artwork that benefits local schools. The Harmony piece was to have been featured next year—not a trifling consideration. The calendar project has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Sebastopol area schools since Amiot began publishing it several years ago.

Sketch proposal submitted

The design Amiot submitted to the ARK consists of a two-part piece that would stand 14’ tall and sit at the northwest corner of the new environmental building, behind a small fence but in full view of the parking area, in a place where no further landscaping has been planned. The lower half of the statue depicts a compact figure playing baseball that is meant to represent Joey Negri. A female soccer player balances atop his head, poised for the winning shot.

If you are familiar with Amiot’s work, which litters Franklin Street in Sebastopol, you probably have an idea what the piece looks like. He uses recycled materials—car headlights, trash can lids, watering cans, basically any bits of metal he can scrounge up—to make eccentric character based sculptures that are unique and quite charming. But that’s just my opinion. As people kept saying during the meeting, the beauty of art is in the eye of the beholder.

People repeating themselves actually became a theme of the evening. The main voice of dissension belonged to board member Alex Mountjoy. He felt that the ARK and Fawn had done an “end run” around the board; the decision on commissioning the sculpture, he said, was a board decision. A cheap price and impending deadline, according to Alex, were not reason enough to rush the procedure through without consulting the board. Fawn responded that she thought they had acted reasonably because most of the interested parties had approved.

Innocent agenda item spawns dissent

The agenda item was innocuous enough. The ARK was asking for $2500 for the sculpture (including a 50% reduction donated by the artist). They had already made a $500 deposit and signed a contract. They, and everyone they had talked to (according to ARK representative Davina Harden), were in favor of the piece and had anticipated nothing but excitement from the board. Needless to say, they were sorely disappointed.

And so the verbal merry go round began. Alex demanded that the project be abandoned and the item get agendized for the next meeting according to proper procedure. “It’s not urgent,” he said at one point. In due time we will address the issue. It’s not that important.” Davina disagreed with this line of reasoning and urged the board to hold a special meeting to consider the sculpture in hopes that her August 29^th unveiling could be saved. Other board members would add their own two cents. Dennis Rosatti, Jr. was concerned with the size. “A 14’ foot statue is very big and hard to miss,” he pointed out early on. “The board should have been consulted.”

Board President Bryce Hetler was also concerned about procedure. He mentioned at one point that he thought this was a good discussion, but that it should have happened earlier in the process. Henry Goff, while agreeing that the procedure could have been handled better, said that since the art piece had already been commissioned, and since he personally felt it was appropriately fun for a kid-centered location, the Board should agree to pay for the piece and the project should move forward. Needless to say, Fawn agreed with him.

In the end, the Board voted 3-2 to suspend the project. David Wheeler agreed to call Patrick Amiot and tell him. [Ed. Note: The most recent Harmony ARK newsletter mentioned that the August 29^th dedication ceremony had been postponed indefinitely.]

Other business took very little time to complete, especially compared to the statue discussion. The hire of a new principal was passed unanimously, as were the new staff assignments. In the process, it was clarified that the Superintendent (David Wheeler, in this case) had sole hiring and firing control. The Board hired him, and he manages all other staff.

Other business

The after school program was an interesting item. Up until now, it has been run by the Young Men’s Christian Association, out of Santa Rosa. They have now bowed out, and the Catholic Youth Organization across the street was supposed to submit a proposal. They didn’t, so the District has put together a program of their own. The program is expected to lose money, but there is a chance it can break if parents keep current on their payment contracts. As Fawn pointed out, the program “…only works if people pay.” David Wheeler said that if “…after a month it didn’t look good, we need to really get at CYO.” Fawn agreed that it looked like a short-term solution. The Board was unanimous in its support of the program and the staff that had been hired to run it.

They also voted unanimously to ratify the contract with West County Community Services for school based counseling and prevention services. Then they voted to adjourn. Next meeting scheduled for third Thursday in September. I won’t be there; the Shoreline meeting is that same night.

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