The Board of Education meetings have gotten contentious over the past couple years, leading to the Board’s discussions often sounding more about politics than about vision and goals.

With school board elections coming up in the fall, Derby residents will have decisions to make that will affect the make-up of the board. Knowing how current members vote can help voters make informed decisions.

The Derby School Board’s Jan. 13 meeting got contentious when a board member, several Derby High social studies teachers and a couple parents spoke out against the Board’s November vote against adopting the new Houghton Mifflin Harcourt social studies curriculum piloted and then chosen by the teachers. 

The board has seven members, and the vote to approve the HMH curriculum failed 4-3. Board members who voted to approve the teacher-recommended curriculum included Mark Boline, Tanya Jacobucci and Melanie Turner. Those voting against included newly-elected Board President Robyn Pearman, newly-elected Vice President Cathy Boote, Michael Blankenship and Jennifer Neel.

Just before the vote, Boote said, “My biggest concern… involved what I would define as bias of omission.” 

Boote described that bias of omission being that the curriculum unfairly left out good things about Donald Trump, but included negative things. 

For example, referring to the Muslim ban early in Trump’s first term, Boote said, “It wasn’t covered that not all Muslim countries were included, and it makes people think he is xenophobic.” 

The book reads: “Trump also put a ban against travelers from several Muslim-majority countries.” 

At the next meeting, before the social studies teachers spoke during public comments, Boline used his board report time to call out Boote on the way she had gone about persuading other members to not adopt the curriculum just before the vote. 

“The Derby community is led to believe either our teachers are incapable of seeing bias or they were attempting to further an inappropriate agenda,” Boline said during his report. “I do not believe anyone on this board disrespects teachers, but what we have done is disrespectful.”

Blankenship interrupted during Boline’s report, defending Boote.

Boline talked over Blankenship saying, “This is my report.” 

Boline continued.

When Boline finished, Blankenship started speaking. 

He got one sentence in before Boline said that it wasn’t a time for discussion. To which Blankenship said, “this is my report.” Blankenship had already given his report, though no one on the board stopped him from speaking. 

“Over the last three years, this board and the previous board (I was on) has had some disagreements and contentious votes, and a lot of times Mark, I have lost, but I got up the next day and went to work on it,” he said.    

Contentious issues have included mask mandates, textbook adoptions and removing a novel from the high school curriculum. One of the most publicly contentious issues was in early 2023 when some board members raised concerns about then Principal Tim Hamblin showing a video to staff that referenced white privilege. Hamblin chose to leave the district at the end of that school year.  

With the current board, which has been seated since January 2024, Blankenship has not been on the losing side of any 4-3 vote. With the previous board, he was on the losing side of one 4-3 vote. He has, however, been on the winning side of many 4-3 votes. 

While local school boards have long been described as non-partisan and meant to work together as one unit for the betterment of the school district, the Derby Board has been split on many important issues over the past four years.

Blankenship, who had unsuccessfully sued the school district over mask policies prior to running for the Board, was sworn in at the meeting on Jan. 10, 2022. Almost immediately, he won his first 4-3 vote. The motion was to elect experienced board member Pam Doyle as the board’s president. The motion failed 4-3. 

Past Board members say there is sort of an unwritten rule when new members join. They are supposed to wait their turn for leadership positions and learn from the other members who have the experience. 

Moments later in that same meeting, he won his second vote. Neel, also in her first meeting, made a motion for Blankenship to be the board president, and the motion passed. The next motion was to make Neel the vice president, which also passed. 

Doyle said that was the first big clue that this was to be a board split on many issues to come.

“I can’t speak for other members, but to me it sent a message that there was no interest in cooperation or working together as a unified board,” Doyle said. “It also indicated that they had met with each other before the meeting, even though members are not supposed to talk about board topics outside of meetings.” 

One of the first motions made by the new board member and board president Blankenship was to change the pandemic mask policy to “strongly recommended” under the district’s “red” zone rather than “required.” That motion passed 4-3 with yes votes from the three new members, Blankenship, Neel and Pearman as well as from Andy Watkins, the previous board president.

Other split votes from that board included a vote to not accept district leadership’s recommendations for the members of the strategic plan steering committees and not renewing the contracts of the district superintendent and assistant superintendents — a decision that was revisited and passed at a later meeting.

Teachers at Derby High say Heather Bohaty, the superintendent, is well liked and respected. Her contract has since been renewed.

“Every school board has two tasks that are their top priority; hiring the superintendent and controlling the policies that govern the school district,” Blankenship said. 

Other board members described the school board’s role as providing oversight.

In January 2024, four new members joined the board, replacing Doyle, Tina Prunier, Mathew Joyce and Watkins. Those new members were Boline, Boote, Jacobucci and Turner.

Apart from Boote, the new members tend to side against the more veteran members on contentious issues. 

“Ultimately, disagreements can make the solution stronger. It’s okay and expected to have different viewpoints,” Jacobucci wrote in an email. 

Blankenship also addressed the contentions on the board. 

“It’s not preventing the current board from doing its job, not even close,” Blankenship wrote in an email. “While board members might disagree in some areas, we have a responsibility to approach each decision with an open mind and respect for others.”

Neel said she believes that the contentious discussions are what makes our board so good. 

“A healthy board thrives on diverse perspectives and open dialogue,” Neel wrote in an email. “What may appear as tension is often just passionate discussion, which is essential to strong governance.”

Boline said the contentious climate and the reasons for it is easy to see. 

“If you watch the meetings, it is readily apparent why there is tension.”

Many people don’t understand the importance of the school board and its members, but teachers think that everyone should be paying attention and voting.

“They’re all individuals and they can vote as individuals,” teacher Kathleen O’Brien said. “They vote how they represent their constituents, but I don’t always agree.” 

“I was very upset with the decision regarding the social studies curriculum, but they are the ones in charge right now,” O’Brien said. “So if people are unhappy with the way the majority is voting, they need to get out and vote for new members.”