W.H. Auden famously said, "Poetry makes nothing happen." He could also have been talking about the Portsmouth School Committee in their executive session this afternoon.

After a nearly two-hour meeting behind closed doors, Chair Cynthia Perrotti announced that only one vote was taken: to eject the stenographer. There was a motion to seal the minutes, and the committee immediately adjourned.

The Town Council chamber had a curious mix of attendees who had been waiting out the long exec: the principals of all the schools were on hand, several teachers, three town councilors (Buddemeyer, Hamilton, and Seveney), a few parents and concerned citizens, and at least three people with the bulging briefcases that typically identify attorneys.

But what was missing was closure. There's a shoe out there, somewhere, just waiting to drop.