The Portsmouth School Committee met in executive session for 3.5 hours tonight, and the 20-or-so citizens who were still hanging on at 10pm learned only that a new subcommittee would be formed to support the Superintendent. The two votes taken during the exec reportedly had to do with process — one to affirm their personnel review approach and the other, which failed, to suspend the rules. The minutes were then sealed, and the committee adjourned without taking up the regular agenda.

If this sounds confusing and incomplete, well, yeah, it was.

Everyone I talked to at the meeting — we had so much time that I was talking with people I *never* talk to — admitted they knew a tiny piece of the story. People said they knew it was about Superintendent Krizic (which was also apparently in Saturday's edition of the dead-tree news organ from the southern part of the island) but beyond that peg, the stories diverged like a game of telephone being played in a Kurosawa film.

I clearly don't know, and I'm not speculating.

The first two hours of the meeting, the school committee was closeted with their lawyers, leaving Krizic out with the public. Then came a brief break, people headed for bathrooms, still not talking to anyone, then they disappeared back into the little room.

But this time, it was *with* the Superintendent and *without* the attorneys.

That left an odd mix of constituencies waiting in the PHS library — a contingent from the Portsmouth Public Education Foundation, several from NEA Portsmouth, a big bloc of PCC types, and three of the Town Council (Robicheau, Kesson, and Staven) who stopped by after their meeting ended. PHS Principal Bob Littlefield was seen slipping in and out. There were a couple of parents, and, of course, the usual reporters. All waiting for what seemed oddly anticlimactic.

I mean, okay, we've now got a new subcommittee to help the Superintendent. Or something. (Guide? Monitor? Evaluate? Remains to be seen who's on it and what their actual charge is.) Seems like you might have been able to get to a result like that without all the secrecy, angst, and drama. Whatever went on for those first two hours with the lawyers on the clock must have been pretty interesting stuff.

And I thought I was taking this week off from blogging....

Portsmouth Supt. Lynn Krizic sent a note on Friday seeking volunteers for a newly constituted technology subcommittee, and I'd like to encourage any regular geek readers to consider submitting an application before January 6. I've been a parent volunteer on the district tech committee for several years, and there are both big challenges and real opportunities for impact. Hope you'll read Dr. Krizic's note, below, and consider sharing your expertise.

The Portsmouth School Committee has created a Technology Subcommittee for the purpose of researching, developing, analyzing, and making recommendations to the Superintendent and School Committee on all matters related to information technology, networking, communication equipment, audio/visual equipment, and digital security systems. The Technology Subcommittee will recommend policies and standards for technology throughout the Portsmouth School District.

The Technology Subcommittee will be comprised of* two appointed School Committee members, the Director of Technology, four (4) members of the community at-large with demonstrated knowledge of modern technology systems, applications, and networking, and two (2) auxiliary members with demonstrated knowledge of modern technology systems, applications, and networking. The Portsmouth School Committee is actively seeking Portsmouth and Little Compton resident involvement in this newly formed subcommittee.

Individuals from the Portsmouth and Little Compton communities wishing to serve on the Technology Subcommittee in the capacity as one of the four at-large committee members and/or one of the two auxiliary members from Portsmouth and/or Little Compton should send a brief letter of interest to: Dr. Lynn Krizic at either Portsmouth School Department, 29 Middle Road, Portsmouth, RI, 02871, or krizicl@portsmouthschoolsri.org. All appointments will be made by the Portsmouth School Committee.

Interested individuals should send letters of interest containing the following information: (1) Name, (2) Home address, (3) Phone numbers, (4) Email address, (5) a brief statement describing knowledge and/or experience in modern technology systems, applications, and networking, (6) a brief statement explaining your interest in serving on the Technology Subcommittee, and (7) your desire to be considered for either an at-large or auxiliary subcommittee member. All letters of interest should be sent by Friday, January 6, 2012.

*I know, I know. It's in the original.

Editorial note: I've already sent my application.

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.

Tomorrow's emergency meeting of the Portsmouth School Committee, posted as "administrator's performance," may be a review of the recently hired Supt. Lynn Krizic, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Didn't get a second source until after hours, so have not had the opportunity to reach out to officials for comment; file this under unconfirmed speculation.

The meeting is posted for 4pm at Town Hall, and as with all personnel matters, would almost certainly be held in executive session unless the person being reviewed requests that it be open.

Don't know all the facts here, but as a parent, I'm certainly planning to be there.

According to the highlights just posted on the district web site, the Portsmouth School Committee has scheduled a meeting this Friday, Nov 18, at 4pm in Town Hall to discuss "an administrator's performance." Unless somebody's making their Broadway debut, a mid-afternoon meeting between scheduled sessions can't be good news.

School Committee meeting highlights!

Continuing the tone of transparency set at last night's school committee meeting, new Portsmouth Supt. Lynn Krizic established a new communication approach today, sending out school committee meeting highlights through the district listserv.

The 1,100-word update contained all the major action items, specific details like names of appointees and dates of meetings for the 2011-12 year, and a precis of the discussion on each item.

While clearly not meant as a replacement for official minutes, this offers valuable — and timely — information, and I personally want to commend Supt. Krizic for taking this initiative. Now when Cheshire Kathy misses a meeting, she doesn't have to rely on me blogging it. We'll all be much happier.

If you'd like to sign up for the district listserv — and anyone can, you don't need to be a parent or guardian — just send an e-mail to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.RI.NET, leaving the subject line blank and including the following line in the body:

SUBSCRIBE PSD-L FirstName LastName

If you have a sig line, remember to delete it, since nothing else can be in the body of the e-mail. I got these instructions from the PSD web site here.

Editorial note: I'm a sucker for transparency.

Mark Dunham, Supt. Lynn Krizic, Asst. Supt. Colleen Jermain.

From the moment Dr. Lynn Krizic began her Superintendent's report at this evening's Portsmouth School Committee meeting, attendees could see her begin to articulate and defend a vision for the district, and got some clues to how she intended to engage the community in the process.

Her very first agenda item was a request for the SC to consider a new web-based governance system for disseminating agendas and backup material typically held in the meeting packet to support committee discussion.

"We have a great opportunity to improve communication with stakeholders by making all board meeting information available on-line 24/7," said Krizic. "There are both tangible and intangible benefits," she said, citing reductions in paper costs and administrative time, as well as the less easy to quantify positive effect of transparency and community engagement.

As someone who has occasionally had to go spelunking to find the materials for a meeting, I'm going to plus-1 on that. The committee seemed generally supportive, and the sense of the group was that she should go off and do the research to draft an RFP.

She had a little more pushback on her second item, a proposal to shift school committee meetings to the 4th Tuesday of the month, with the 2nd Tuesday held for subcommittee meetings, which are currently scheduled pretty much all over the place.

Krizic had her ducks in a row and offered a crisp rationale: "Since it's a single monthly meeting, the actionable business of the district would be acted on at a consistent meeting. The coordination and scheduling of subcommittee meetings could be improved." Krizic also recommend scheduling all meetings in the PHS library, "To increase predictability of time and location," and avoid the situations where Monday holidays force the Council to bump them out of the Town Hall. And in another supporting point (and anyone with ears attuned to business presentations might have heard it as I did, a very crisp set of bullets supporting her main assertion) being in the wireless environment of the library would be highly advantageous for meetings where the materials are on laptops.

There was some grumbling from the Committee. Chair Cynthia Perrotti "liked the Chamber better than here" and Jonathan Harris wanted to make a deal with the Council to add wifi there. "We should approach them, and split the cost." Personally, I think some people just like sitting up on a dais.

In the first major decision from Krizic, related to the "late start" proposal that had been floated by Dr. Lusi for beginning classes 90-minutes late to accommodate professional development (PD), she walked a careful line that respected the interests of all stakeholders. Especially parents, who might have been concerned about an imminent change to start times. Not going to happen at this time.

Kriziz was clear about the importance of PD. "It's important for all of us to realize that great teachers create great students, and an inspired and informed teacher is most important factor in learning," and that "the best PD is ongoing, experiential, collaborative, and connected to the curriculum." But after meeting with all building leadership, she decided defer action on the recommendation, and proposed "we spend time taking a look at what we're currently doing and how to optimize time we have." A future iteration of the plan, she said, might not be for all levels, and might be based on need.

In other business, there was an budget article flowed through from the state which will allow cities and towns to transition retirees to Medicare when eligible, and the committee agreed to develop a plan.

There was a brief tussle over the staff hires on the consent agenda when one of the PCC gadflies got up to argue that the two elementary psychologist/guidance people had no place in elementary schools. "I don't think psychologists should be able to practice willy nilly without consent of parents." Honestly, does the PCC send people out with these talking points just to make the people on the School Committee look reasonable?

The rest of the appointees sailed through, as did setting tuition at $13,154 for the school year.

The committee also welcomed non-voting member Joe Quinn who will be sitting in as part of the new arrangement with the Little Compton school committee.

And then...and then... just when the they were about to reconvene in executive session, two members of the committee started falling all over themselves to talk about how much fun they had testifying against binding arbitration at the State House, and how thankful they were that Speaker Fox didn't allow a vote.

Look, I have as much delight in random political ranting jammed into a session in violation of Roberts Rules and Open Meetings Law as the next person. But seriously folks.

Put a sock in it.

Portsmouth Patch is reporting that at last night's meeting, the Portsmouth School Committee announced the appointment of Dr. Lynn Krizic as the district's new superintendent.

In a spooky coincidence, Dr. Krizic comes to Portsmouth from a district called Elmhurst in Illinois.

What are the odds, eh?

There's some coverage of Dr. Krizic on the Elmhurst Patch, including this piece on the controversy around her non-renewal, and this story which indicates that she took a $40K pay cut to come to Portsmouth. The comments on this Patch Q&A are pretty harsh, but just remember that every community has their Eastside and SoPo.

PCC President Larry Fitzmorris confers with Chair Cynthia Perrotti before the school committee meeting tonight.

After a nearly one-hour executive session, the Portsmouth School Committee tonight announced two unanimous decisions: they declared contract negotiations with NEA Portsmouth at an impasse, and voted to move forward with arbitration. Both votes were 6-0 (with Sylvia Wedge absent).

In other business, the committee also had a second reading and vote on the contested personnel policy #4111 which reduces the role of seniority in staffing decisions.

NEA Portsmouth vice-president Sue Hatch urged the committee to defer. "This is part of negotiations," said Hatch. "You said last night, 'how can we say you are not bargaining in good faith?' This is how."

Several other teachers also voiced their concerns. Chair Cynthia Perrotti limited their time to two minutes each, and cut off discussion at 15 minutes.

Perrotti dismissed concerns that reducing seniority protections would lead to a dog-eat-dog work environment, saying that the same arguments could be made against merit pay. "I am a proponent of merit pay," she said.

And Perrotti also questioned the inherent value of seniority. "If I hire someone to roof my house," said Perrotti, "I wouldn't look for the oldest."

So you...thought you...might like to...go to the show

The Portsmouth School Committee held a public forum on the school budget and contract at PHS last night where an audience of about 150 (mostly teachers) were kept at arms length for two hours.

Whether school committee chair Cynthia Perrotti intended it or not, the layout for the evening said everything: members of the committee were ensconced behind tables way up on the stage, with the three Republicans stage right and the three nominal Democrats on the left. Between them rose the enormous screen where vice-chair Jon Harris did his 20-minute PowerPoint routine. Teachers could only speak from the floor of the auditorium and were denied the opportunity to use the big screen. Perrotti graciously gave Joe Cassady, the president of the teachers' union, an extra couple of minutes at the mike, so he had 5 minutes to offer their side.

I half expected stagehands to come out with enormous cardboard bricks and begin to build a wall.

Harris spent his time waggling a laser pointer at pie charts and explaining why there was no money, blaming the S3050 tax cap and the funding formula, but neglecting to mention the advocacy by members of the school committee in opposition to last year's override referendum. Guess that didn't fit on the slide.

Harris outlined the same offer described in the school committee's release of last week, with more steps and lower increases, and urged the teachers to be grateful and compare themselves to "the unemployed person who's looking for a job."

"I don't understand what you don't get," he said to Cassady at one point.

"I can tell," Cassady responded.

Your lips move but I can't hear what you're saying.

Harris also said that the teachers should be glad to work in Portsmouth because it "delivers to you children who are given something at home." When pressed, he clarified "I didn't say wealthy. I said we deliver a demographic. A socioeconomic standing in town" which he asserted "is a driver for test scores."

Oooh, ah. Mother should I build a Wall?

About two dozen teachers took their turn at the microphone, critiquing the nature of the forum, the public release of information last week, the salary levels on the proposed steps relative to other towns, their willingness to compromise, their feeling that the negotiations had not been "civil and ethical."

Did you ever wonder why we had to run for shelter when the promise of a brave new world unfurled beneath a clear blue sky?

PCC member Jeff Richard played the part of the surrogate band, and with a fine sense of audience, told the members of the local NEA "The problem is not you, the problem is your union," before going on to claim that "it's impossible to pay your taxes in town," and that this was just part of a "national movement" to question public-sector unions.

You'd better run.

Dave Croston made what I consider to be last night's most authentic contribution by the school committee. He pointedly came down from the stage, prompting a remark from Perrotti, and used the same microphone as the teachers, and he spoke from the heart.

"You guys are incredible," he said to the teachers. "This is not about you." And then he named the elephant in the room. "We tried to address this with the referendum last October." It might be time, he said to face the fact that "this town doesn't want to invest in education." He described the shortfall in the budget, and how the upcoming year was being balanced with the fund balance, and that while the $300K difference in salaries might be found in that fund, "If we use that $300K of one-time cash, it will never again be in our appropriation." He added, "We're in an impossible position here."

"I want to give $300K to teachers," said Croston. "I walked for a week to get $300K for teachers. We lost."

There must have been a door there in the wall, when I came in...

In my opinion, Croston is the only one on the committee with credibility on this issue. There are people up there who opposed the referendum last year, and now they sit, crying poverty as their excuse and demanding sacrifice.

It will be interesting to see what the committee's next move is. Will they even go back to the table, or opt to head straight for arbitration?

Perhaps, as Croston suggested, the only successful end game is another referendum. "I'm at your disposal," he said last night. But with the PCC faction on the Council and school committee, and the perpetual agitprop campaign run by the anti-taxers in town, I think everyone knows that would be tough.

After all it's not easy...Banging your heart against some mad bugger's wall.

Editorial note: I can't believe I got through an entire story using "The Wall" as an extended metaphor for a school committee meeting without using, well, you know which song. Heard melodies are sweet, u.s.w.