BY DARRELL HALEN
A divided Windham School Board finally decided on a new chairman after agreeing that they will use a mediator to help members work better together.
Bruce Anderson, the board’s outgoing chairman, who cast the swing vote to elect Al Letizio Jr. as the board’s new leader, said he wants the board to use a mediator to improve relations among its members.
“This has been a difficult year,” Anderson said during the board’s Tuesday, April 3, meeting. “It’s really hard to watch people I have a lot of respect for treat each other the way I’ve seen people treat each other.”
Letizio’s election was part of the board’s annual reorganization when members elect its leaders following the March election.
Customarily, the board’s vice chairman is elevated to chairman. But while outgoing vice chairman Barbara Coish was backed by Beverly Donovan, Beth Valentine supported Letizio.
Anderson abstained and urged his colleagues to use a mediator to put an end to internal conflicts.
“This board has to learn how to work together,” said Anderson, later adding: “I want this board to go forward and respect each other more than anything else.”
Leading up to last month’s elections, Anderson, Valentine and Letizio recommended that voters back a pair of bond articles to add $7 million to the town’s high school building project. Coish and Donovan publicly spoke out against the articles. Voters backed a $4 million bond article but rejected a $3 million one.
During the meeting, Valentine suggested that members review the New Hampshire School Board Association’s code of conduct for its members.
It calls for members of a board’s minority to abide by majority opinion and not speak outside of board meetings against board decisions, she said. Windham’s members, she said, need to commit to that principle.
“It reinforces that what the community expects is (for) the board to act as a unified board going forward,” Valentine said. “That’s how the community has confidence in the board.”
Donovan responded that the prior to the election, members received a letter from the board’s legal counsel stating that members do not give up their First Amendment right to speak and have an opinion.
“I know it upsets people that we didn’t agree with the recommendation, but the fact of the matter is, we have a right to,” she said.
Coish suggested that Anderson temporarily remain as chairman, but he rejected the idea. Citing that he didn’t like some of the actions taken by Coish during the election, he threw his support to Letizio.
Anderson said he didn’t expect that the board would always make unanimous decisions but that minority members would respect decisions and “move on.”
He then joined Valentine and Letizio in electing Valentine as the board’s vice chairman.