EcoWalk is a project with the “goal [of] … tak[ing] an underused area of the [Sag Harbor Elementary] school and transform[ing] it into a beautiful, usable, educational area for the children and community to use, as well as educate them about the origins and importance of various ecosystems.” EcoWorks, Ltd., the non-profit behind EcoWalk, has been raising money for phase II of the project over at kickstarter.com for the past few months. The goal was to raise $10,000 by January 5^th. As of 9:00 p.m. on January 4^th, that goal had been surpassed by over $1,000.

When I checked the Kickstarter site a few days ago, EcoWalk was still about $3,000 short. But, a last-minute e-mail blast from EcoWorks rallied support, and the Sag Harbor community came through for this worthwhile project.

That’s very good news, because the way Kickstarter works is that a project lists itself on their website, sets a financial goal and a deadline, and then Kickstarter starts accepting pledges. If the goal is met by the deadline, Kickstarter collects the money pledged and turns it over to the project organizers. If the goal is not met, no money is collected, and the organizers get nothing. It’s just Kickstarter’s way of making sure that the money people pledge will go to a viable project. It makes sense, but, can be stressful when the deadline is approaching and the goal still hasn’t been met.  It sure is a relief to see that EcoWalk has reached its goal, and not lost out on everything by falling a few dollars short.

If you’re not familiar with EcoWalk, you can visit their Facebook page to find out more. There’s a very nice video there that shows the work that was done during the initial phase of the project.

When completed, it is hoped that EcoWalk will link the campus of the Elementary School to that of Pierson Middle/High School. I’m particularly excited about this part of the plan as it provides an opportunity to calm a very busy intersection adjacent to the two schools, and will hopefully allow the schools and the community to engage in a bit of creative “placemaking.” (I’ll be writing more about placemaking in future blog posts. Stay tuned.)

And a thank you from Sag Hampton, to all who donated.

What do you think about EcoWalk? Leave a reply below.

One more disclaimer before I get to the point of this post: I neither have an interest in writing about the merits of the positions taken by the parties to the negotiation, nor about whether or not the teachers are asking for too much (or too little). These issues have been debated in the community for many months now, and I have nothing new to add. However, the fact that the teacher’s contract negotiations have been hotly debated in the community for many months — now that’s interesting. Does anyone debate your salary? Mine? The guy who delivers your mail? The clerk who checked you out at Walmart? The CEO of Exxon-Mobil? No, the only salaries that I can think of that get publicly (and hotly) debated are those of our public school teachers. Why is that?

Well, there is a simple answer — which no doubt has already occurred to you — but like most simple answers, it only appears to address the question, while missing the key point entirely. It’s because we get to vote on the school budget, the vast majority of which goes to the salaries of the people who work in the schools, most of whom are teachers. And, as we know, once the budget is passed, it becomes a tax bill that we have to pay. So, the argument goes, since we pay the teachers’ salaries, we have a right to have a say in how much they make. Sounds simple, right?

No, not really, since there’s an important question that no one is addressing: whose salaries don’t we pay? Whether it’s through taxes (e.g., the guys in the highway department or the clerk in the planning office), or via more direct transactions at Walmart, Amazon.com, or with a local handyman, we all pay each other’s salaries, through the money we spend or the taxes we pay. Where do you think the Schiavonis get the money to pay the workers at the IGA? They get it from you when you shop there, of course. If, next month they have to pay their workers higher wages, then they may have to charge you more for the meat, vegetables and dairy you buy. They have no other secret source of money with which to pay their workers. Neither does any other business. But, when was the last time there was a public debate about the produce manager’s salary? Or the plumber’s? (And, I think he definitely makes too much.) Does anyone write a letter to the editor criticizing the employees of the Variety Store because of a raise they asked for? And what about the CEO of Bridgehampton National Bank? I’ll bet the interest rate on my home equity loan would be lower if he made less.

What about the other (non-school) branches of government? After all, we pay the salaries of everyone in government with our tax dollars. The difference is that we don’t get to vote, even indirectly, on the salaries of the majority of government workers. However, we do get to vote on the school budget, and so we feel we have a right to decide how much teachers should earn. I’m sorry, but I think it is both logically and ethically indefensible to pick one group of employees out of all others and publicly criticize them for wanting the same thing that we all want: to make as much money as we can doing the jobs we’ve chosen to do.

At this point I have to say LOUDLY, that this has nothing to do with whether or not Sag Harbor’s teachers are greedy, selfish, or unreasonable. Maybe they are. Maybe they’re not. In this discussion, that’s beside the point. Perhaps you were greedy, selfish and unreasonable the last time you negotiated with your boss. Shall we discuss that here? No, I didn’t think so.

Basically, what I’m saying folks, is this: get a grip. Teachers, just like the rest of us — including me and you — have the right to ask for what they think they need to live the lives they want to live, without being publicly pilloried for doing so. This is America, after all, where we all have the right to chase success, however we define it, in whatever way we choose.

But this year…this year they assure us they’ve got it figured out and the fund-balance, like little bear’s porridge, will be just right. As I said, learning on the job is good. I really mean that. Now, what about those accounting errors?  They are the other villain in this year’s budget scenario, yet the Board was a little less specific about those. However, the District’s new business official, Janet Verneuille, assures us she’s got a handle on it, and from the depth of knowledge she displayed at a recent budget presentation, I’m inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt. I’m also inclined to giver her a word to the wise…it’s not necessary to try to defend or even explain the mistakes of your predecessors. They were their mistakes, not yours. Defending them makes them look like your mistakes. Correct, don’t defend.

Which, by the way, is advice the School Board should take to heart as well. In the current political climate — yes, the School Board is political — you can’t win an argument with the public. The public is angry, and that anger is not aimed at anyone in specific. Are you an elected official? If the answer is yes, just assume that the public is pissed-off at you. The best thing you can do is to publicly accept your role in whatever mistakes were made, apologize sincerely, and then be completely transparent about what you are doing to fix the problem. Don’t defend, don’t argue, and especially don’t get arrogant.

Unfortunately, when there’s a lack of leadership, defensiveness, argumentativeness and arrogance often appear to fill the void. Former Board President Walter Tice got it exactly right at Monday evening’s Board meeting when he admonished the board for expecting the public to, again, vote on a budget in which the dollar amount of the single largest expense — teacher’s salaries — is a guess that can’t even be revealed to the voters.  Tice advised the board to get the contract settled before the budget vote so that the public could have confidence that the proposed budget accurately reflected the amount the District would need to meet its obligations — not too little, and certainly not too much. That being a concept the board and administration have had difficulty with in recent years, they should carefully consider the wisdom of Mr. Tice’s advice.

The good news is that leadership can be learned on the job. All that’s needed to get the contract negotiation ball rolling again, is for one or more Board members to accept the fact that it is the Board’s job to get it done and to stop making it personal. As things stand right now, the animosity directed by some board members towards the teachers’ union is palpable, and that’s not appropriate. This is not an ego battle. Board members must put aside their personal feelings and their preconceived notions of whatever it was they thought they could “accomplish” in the negotiations, and actually start to negotiate.  A leader would recognize that “winning” is no longer the most important point. (It actually never was.) Preserving the vision, the quality, and the harmony of the District is what’s important now. A leader would know this, and would do whatever is necessary to make his or her colleagues understand it as well. I know that leader exists on this board. I just hope that he or she is ready to start learning on the job.

First there was a moment of sweet anticipation, as a representative of the Foundation thanked the children of Sag Harbor Elementary for adopting Shadow, and making his return to the wild possible. Then, Shadow was carried in his transport cage from the foundation’s van down to a spot near the water’s edge. One of the students was called upon to help open the cage door. As the door began to open, Shadow first stuck his nose out and then cautiously emerged from his temporary shelter. Looking a bit confused, he headed for the water, then changed his mind and tried to reverse direction and return to the safety of his cage. Apparently prepared for this eventuality, volunteers from RFMRP (as the foundation is awkwardly known), used large plywood squares to block his way, gently encouraging the seal to move seaward again, which he quickly agreed to do. A few minutes later Shadow was in the water. After swimming a few quick circles in the immediate vicinity of the beach, with just one quick backward glance, he was gone.

I’m not sure if Shadow was entirely happy about this turn of events — after all, he will now have to catch his own meals, after being hand-fed for many months — but we humans at least could bask in the happy feeling of having participated in a small worthwhile act of kindness and community. For us, it really doesn’t get any better than this.

Enjoy the photos.

Carrying Shadow to the water's edge.

A student helps to open the cage door

Shadow pokes his nose out.

Taking a look around.

Heading for the sea.

A bit reluctant, but almost there.

On his way.

A quick look back, and then he's gone.

So, at 7:30 p.m. tonight the Board held and “executive session,” which is a way for them to meet out of the public eye to discuss things that require a degree of privacy such as personnel issues, negotiations, legal issues and the like. Then, at 8:00 p.m. they went into public session to vote on hiring Dr. John Gratto as the District’s new Superintendent, which they did. They did not allow any public input at this meeting. When some members of the public spoke anyway, voicing their displeasure at the Board’s lack of openness during the process of selecting the new Super, the Board did its best to ignore what was being said. Eventually, Theresa Samot, the Board President, asked for a motion to go into executive session again “to discuss personnel issues.” The motion was made, seconded and voted on, and the Board walked out, leaving behind not only the public, but a somewhat stunned looking Dr. John Gratto, who had been expecting a cookies and punch reception.

That’s the bare bones of what happened tonight. There was much more, but I’ll leave it to the local papers to report and speculate about all that. What I would like to draw your attention to in this space, is the very sad fact that our friends and neighbors who serve on the School Board seem to have forgotten that they are also members of the very same community that they ignored and stonewalled tonight. How did that happen? I’ve known one of the Board Members for many years, having served on the Board with her decades ago, and maintained a passing friendship with her every since. I’ve served on committees with two of the other Board Members, and my wife also knows and/or has worked with a couple more. By and large, we like and respect these people, and believe they feel similarly about us. Yet tonight, they were able to build a wall between themselves, in their roles as board members, and their friends and neighbors who were sitting in the audience asking for a chance to be heard. That they were able to create this imaginary wall, and sustain it in the face of public outcry was much more disturbing to me than the fact that these normally caring, concerned and thoughtful people made a bad choice in how they handled the hiring process.

At tonight’s meeting one community member stood up and pleaded with the Board to recognize the many errors they were making by sticking doggedly to the path they had chosen. He asked them, “Is this really how you want to start Dr. Gratto’s tenure in Sag Harbor?” He appealed to their common sense and their humanity. But the Board had apparently checked their humanity at the door.

But why? It didn’t have to be that way. Even in the face of having already committed to Dr. Gratto, the Board could still have listened to what the public had to say. Perhaps it was too late for them to change course, but they could have opted to remember that they are also community members, and listen to what their fellow Sag Harborites had to say. It would have taken so little effort just to listen. Nothing else was necessary. Perhaps they would have heard a comment or two that would lead to a better decision, or at least a better decision making process, but we’ll never know. That’s a loss for everyone; but the people who lost the most tonight were the members of the Sag Harbor Board of Education — they lost their humanity. Not permanently, I’m sure, but for long enough to do damage both to their standing in the community and their own psyches.

Sometimes we just identify too much with the role we are playing at a given moment, and forget that underneath that role, we’re all just human beings. The Board of Education had a collective forgetting tonight. I’m guessing that somewhere along the way they fooled themselves into thinking that because they get to vote on the decisions, that the decisions are really theirs to make. Though they tried mightily to hold onto that illusion, they were reminded tonight, that that’s not how it works. In the end, the community makes the decisions; the Board just implements them.

It’s my hope that the Board wakes up soon from this dream of ‘being in charge’ and remembers that they are us.

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