Christopher Peak photo
Board of Ed member Ed Joyner.
The lone Board of Ed member not to sign onto a public dressing-down of the new schools superintendent in her absence said he didn’t agree with “micromanaging” her.
Board of Ed member Ed Joyner said he first learned about a Monday morning City Hall press conference— in which five of the seven members of the Board of Ed, including Mayor Toni Harp and ed board President Darnell Goldson criticized Schools Superintendent Carol Birks and called on her to reverse her decision to layoff over 700 part-time employees — as the meeting was taking place. A sixth board member, Joseph Rodriguez, did not attend the conference but did sign onto a letter joining the group’s call.
Joyner said a friend called him yesterday morning to ask about it, and that he had no idea what that person was referring to. He said he then checked his email to find that his fellow board members had first emailed him about the planned press conference at a quarter to 10 the night before.
“Something this serious,” he told the Independent, “we should have met as a board [to discuss]. It shouldn’t have been just rushed.”
As for the contents of the presser, Joyner said the board should have stuck to its function as a legislative body and not superseded the executive authority and governing responsibility of the superintendent by ordering her to rescind the layoffs.
“I think it’s micromanagement,” he said. “I believe she knows what to do.”
He said he found it strange that the board members who fought so hard to bring Birks to New Haven are now criticizing her for making difficult decisions around closing the schools’ budget deficit. He said that he is not happy at the prospect of layoffs, but that he was and is confident that Birks will rehire those part-time staff who have a direct impact on the educational outcome of students.
“There is no painless way to reduce a 20-something-plus million-dollar deficit,” he said.
Joyner had publicly opposed Birks’ appointment earlier this year. The mayor and other board members who publicly criticized her Monday had publicly supported her.
It sounds like the BoE did have a board meeting to discuss the matter, an illegal one because of the lack of proper notice.