The School Board Rundown
HOW MOTIONS ARE PASSED
AN UPDATE ON THE MAJOR CHANGES FROM THE SCHOOL BOARD IN THE LAST SIX MONTHS
I
By Tyler Stacy and Tori Thorp
f you’ve missed the last six months of The crowd became a sea of incomprehensievents surrounding the school board, ble interruptions as Aguinaga continued to recite here’s a check in. After the district the proposed motion. Every community member announced a new common West Al- seated in the crowd of the meeting had an opinbany-South Albany schedule, students ion, a story to tell for why they were there. Some walked out in protest of the change had signs defending their stance, while others sat on June 8. At about the same time, the out- in silence and watched as Auginaga read from going school board approved an extension to the piece of paper resting on his desk. then-Superintendent Melissa Goff’s contract, Long before this heated July meeting, comwhich added a year and raised her salary. The munity members began to form their opinions new contract also included a no-cause termina- around Goff’s decisions as a disconnect between tion clause. On July 1, three new school board her supporters and critics began to grow. members were sworn The 2020-21 school year in after a contentious hosted a myriad of issues election, and then they that the district leadership elected a board direchad to find quick solutions tor as the new board to — distance learning apI THINK THEY DECIDED chair who had previproaches, quarantine rules, EARLY ON THAT THEY JUST ously been censured return to in-person learning WERE NOT GOING TO BE and asked to resign. and mask mandates, police Fourteen days later, the presence at schools, and ABLE TO WORK WITH HER. new board fired Goff high school schedules were without cause or exjust a few. As Goff made deplanation, in line with cisions on what those soluthe terms of her contions would be, the gap betract. On July 26, the board interviewed and tween her supporters and her detractors widened. hired Rob Saxton as interim superintendent. At the July 14 meeting, in front of a room The search for a permanent superintendent is full of protestors and a camera streaming to over underway. 90 viewers, the motion to fire Goff was passed after less than 10 minutes of debate surrounding How we got to this point the subject. The three new board directors Pete A colorful painted mural acted as the back- Morse, Roger Nyquist, and Brad Wilson voted drop to five wooden desks where the school in favor of the contract termination, while board board members sat to discuss the future of Su- chair Aguinaga abstained and returning board diperintendent Melissa Goff’s contract. Goff was rector Michael Thomson voted against. not present at the July 14 meeting. Thomson was the only member to debate School Board Chair Eric Aguinaga project- and subsequently vote no on the motion, and his ed his voice into the politically divided crowd disagreement with the rest of the board was met as he read out the proposed motion from his with a mixed reaction of support and disapproval agenda, a no-cause termination of Goff’s con- from spectators. In the case of Goff’s terminatract in which she would officially be fired tion, the motion was first discussed in a closed from her position as superintendent in 10 days’ executive meeting with attorneys present, and it time and given one year’s worth of salary and was decided that the board members would vote benefits as compensation. in a public meeting.
“
T H E W H I R LW I N D
HOW TO BE INVOLVED
04
Attend regular school board meetings and listen to updates by the Board.
Attend listening sessions and ask questions to Board members.
Write a public comment which will be read out loud to the Board at the beginning of Board meetings and entered into public record.
In the context of a school board, motions are proposed by a board member and must be seconded before moving on to a board vote. After it is seconded, time is allowed for the board member that
Thomson, despite the disapproval of the rest of the board, began his counterargument against the movement to terminate Goff’s contract. His points centered largely on the fact that the termination was invoking the no-cause clause in the contract, which means that no reason had to be given for the termination as long as Goff received one year’s worth of salary and benefits as well as a notification of her termination 10 days in advance. Thomson began his speech with a complaint about the financial irresponsibility of the decision to fire Goff. Even months later, he sees the termination as a waste of money, “without a doubt.” When you add a one year salary of the superintendent to other benefits listed in the contract, firing Goff meant paying her around $200,000 directly from the district’s budget. “I understand that no-clauses exist, but they exist for lawyers and mediators to come to a resolution,” Thomson said during the meeting. “I’m asking you as a parent and a community member, ‘Why?’ What is the community supposed to think?” Thomson then went on to speculate about the reasons for firing Goff, telling the other board members that a no-clause termination is not transparent enough to satisfy the community. His arguments included the references to emails the board had received thanking Goff for her work toward equity among marginalized students. “I think they decided early on that they just were not going to be able to work with her,” Thomson reflected on the meeting, months afterward. “And I think they were not willing to pursue that for a cause and I just think that’s just an easy way out.” Aguinaga thinks that the board’s decision was the right one for the Greater Albany Public Schools district. “There’s no bad people in the situation,” he said, “but sometimes things aren’t just the right fit.” In terms of the money that the district would have to pay out to Goff as compensation, Aguinaga feels that it was worth the sacrifice, and there have been changes made in hiring choices since her termination in order to offset the cost.
