​Maltais Resigns School Posts; Cites Micromanaging

​By MIKE DONOGHUE
Islander Staff Writer
GRAND ISLE -- Mason Maltais of North Hero has resigned as chair of both the Champlain Islands Unified Union School District and the Grand Isle Supervisory Union.
Maltais, in his 1,000-word resignation letter, said he could no longer watch efforts to micromanage the education system in the Champlain Islands and feared more teachers, principals, superintendents could be lost.
See the full letter on Page 6. 
School Superintendent Michael J. Clark said the departure of Maltais is a loss and he thanked him for his many years of service to North Hero, CIUUSD and the GISU.
“Mason has been a dedicated advocate for education in the Islands and has volunteered countless hours to ensure all members of the GISU learning community are curious, creative, courageous, and capable to pursue their aspirations in a diverse and ever-changing world,” Clark told The Islander. 
Clark said Tuesday he expects the North Hero Selectboard will be posting the vacancy for any resident in filling the seat.
Maltais said he believed he needed to take the severe step in an effort to obtain the best longterm outcome for schools.
“People were not listening.  Drastic action can catch the attention,” he told The Islander.
Maltais said he believes he can be more vocal while being in the audience instead of restrictions placed on him sitting at a school board table.
He said he wants to ensure children in the islands have the best educational opportunities possible.
“We have a good quality administration.  We need to operate it effectively,” he said.
He said since March the board meetings have seen some members dive into issues that normally are handled by principals and superintendents – not elected school boards.
School boards oversee policies, draft a budget and hire administrators to execute the budget and policy plans.
The board’s responsibility to the town and taxpayers is not to micromanage the actions of the administration and try to dictate how the school is run, but rather is to set a series of goals and allocate appropriate funds to allow the administration to achieve them,” he wrote in his resignation letter.
“If the administration is accomplishing the established goals and they have large scale reports to show that they have taken steps to help accomplish what was set forth (not reported by individual test scores or which families do/don’t have internet or even by allowing the board to see teacher reviews), then the board’s responsibility is to allow them to continue to do as they have been tasked because they are accomplishing the established goals,” he noted.
CIUUSD, which covers three towns, is left with four board members:  Vice Chair Mike Inners, Nathan Robinson and Amy Thompson of Grand Isle and Chet Bromley of Isle La Motte.  
The GISU also includes the other two island towns: South Hero and Alburgh.
Maltais, as board chair, is often seen as a task-master – keeping meetings on track.  When Maltais has been absent, some board meetings – and discussion on some specific topics -- have been known to run long.
“Once the board ventures down the rabbit hole of getting involved in personnel issues or pushing for individual data, they are actually inhibiting the administration’s ability to do their jobs, as they now have to waste time gathering information on topics that the board really has no business being involved in in the first place,” he wrote.
“If the individual bits of data are something that you want regarding each teacher or each student, then you need to become a principal and run a school,” he told the remaining board members in his letter.
“If you take a really good look in the mirror, the fact that we have had 7 superintendents, 4 principals and countless teachers over the last handful of years makes a lot of sense because very few are willing to survive all of the hostility leveled at them,” Maltais said.
He and his wife, Desiree, lost their two sons, Theodore Maltais, 5, and Nathaniel Maltais, 1, during a fast-moving nighttime fire that destroyed their Bridge Road home last October.
Maltais told The Islander his resignation is unrelated to the loss of his sons, but the family is planning an educational program for children in the community to honor their lives.
“It made my resignation harder.  I want to honor my kids.  The best thing is to speak freely about these issues,” Maltais said.

 Letter from Maltais to To Superintendent Clark, CIUUSD Board members and townspeople of the CIUUSD,

  I am officially tendering my resignation from my elected position on the board. Effectively this is also my resignation from my posting to the GISU board. It has been an intense last few years, but these districts have come so far and done some pretty amazing things in my short time here. A new superintendent, ACT 46, GISU auditing growth and restaffing - all of this that we’ve accomplished and so much more that I won’t belabor are why it pains me to leave, especially in the middle of COVID, but it has become necessary.
CIUUSD, you have an amazing administration that is doing a phenomenal job, especially considering all of the challenges that they are faced with currently. Unfortunately, the board seems to have forgotten some of its most crucial and basic tenets. Most importantly, perhaps, “The Board doesn’t run the schools, it ensures that the schools are run well.” This must be kept in mind going forward. I will apologize for any frustration that I expressed to any of you in meetings, but know that it came from a place of caring for both the board’s legality and the quality of action that the administration was able to enact. The board’s responsibility to the town and taxpayers is not to micromanage the actions of the administration and try to dictate how the school is run, but rather is to set a series of goals and allocate appropriate funds to allow the administration to achieve them. If the administration is accomplishing the established goals and they have large scale reports to show that they have taken steps to help accomplish what was set forth (not reported by individual test scores or which families do/don’t have internet or even by allowing the board to see teacher reviews), then the board’s responsibility is to allow them to continue to do as they have been tasked because they are accomplishing the established goals.
Once the board ventures down the rabbit hole of getting involved in personnel issues or pushing for individual data, they are actually inhibiting the administration’s ability to do their jobs, as they now have to waste time gathering information on topics that the board really has no business being involved in in the first place. If the individual bits of data are something that you want regarding each teacher or each student, then you need to become a principal and run a school.
The board level of oversight specifically prohibits that information from being shared unless the board is involved as a semi-judicial body in a grievance, or if they wish to petition the Supervisory Union (GISU) to review/remove the superintendent, as the GISU oversees the Superintendent and the Superintendent oversees the Principals, who in turn oversee the teachers. I care about this district and all 3 member towns, so know that I say all of this from a place of care and love. I do not want to see the district struggle, or for any of our board or administration members to have unnecessary stress in their lives, as is the case right now. Let the Superintendent carry forward the goals; let the Principals marshall their teachers; let the teachers teach. We have an amazing team, and they all want nothing more than to do an amazing job for your young students, so stop getting in their way.
Townspeople, the administration has done an amazing job of working within the constraints of a fickle state government and the budget with which you were willing to provide them to provide a quality experience for the children and keep them safe. I understand that if we analyze minutia and assume execution is at its worst, there could be concerns. However, all in all, the plan that is put in place is there so that all of the students are kept as safe as possible and are able to be educated in the best manner that they are able to be in this insane time. Despite this, the board seems to be constantly faced with issues that approach the realm of causing the faculty and administration to work in what amounts to a hostile work environment. If you take a really good look in the mirror, the fact that we have had 7 Superintendents, 4 principals and countless teachers over the last handful of years makes a lot of sense because very few are willing to survive all of the hostility leveled at them. In the end, I understand that you want what is best for your children, but effectively the culture we create is the reason that a sustained quality education system has been such a challenge to maintain in the Islands. Rather than focusing on only the negatives of what cannot be done, help to grow the positives that can be achieved and help the schools strive for the perfection that we do not give them the money to achieve.
I am sorry for the diatribe, but these are things that needed to be said and to go on the record before I step away for a while. I will run again in the future, when perhaps the board is not in a condition that is untenable or threatening to my own sanity, but at this point it is just too much for me to process month in and month out, and the kids of the CIUUSD deserve better. I will continue to advocate for quality education in the schools, and will be pushing both those who I know in the buildings to continue to do the amazing work that they do and those parents at home to support the executors of education. I will be working with the school to provide additional educational opportunities through means not tied to the board and therefore not limited by a requirement to work with those both in the community who won’t take the time to understand what is happening and the board that won’t put personal agendas/egos aside to be assets to the schools. The schools should run well because of the support of the towns and the board, not in spite of them.
Good luck to you all, and to the children of the town: be studious, play hard and be well.
Respectfully yours,
Mason Maltais, North Hero
Former CIUUSD Board Chair
Former GISU Board Chair

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