Team Building Turns Ugly For School Board

TAMPA - A Hillsborough School Board training session erupted in accusations, scoldings and door slamming Tuesday as the group met to create a vision for the district.

Packed into a tiny conference room at Orange Grove Middle Magnet School, the board and superintendent met with a facilitator from the Florida School Boards Association to keep them focused.

The meeting had barely started with a discussion of 'Five Dysfunctions of a Team' when the veneer cracked.

April Griffin, the newest board member elected in November, said she lacked trust - one of the five dysfunctions - and called board meetings 'an orchestrated play' rather than an honest discussion.

She recalled the board's negative reaction a week earlier at a televised board meeting when she questioned the process of appointing an administrator, not usually done in public.

Board members chimed in, agreeing it was poor timing and poor protocol, and embarrassing to the employee and her family.

'We don't realize how powerful we are when we sit on that dais,' veteran board member Candy Olson told Griffin, after noting, 'We all came in with things we wanted to change' before understanding how the system works.

Board member Jennifer Faliero said she also struggled as a rookie, but took Griffin to task, saying, 'I see a pattern developing with you. ... You feel you have to defend everything you say.'

When Griffin interrupted, Faliero snapped back, 'You're doing it now. You have to learn to swallow your medicine. ... If you keep going the direction you're going, you're going to be a maverick - and it's going to be six-to-one votes.'

Attempts by facilitator Carolyn Kitchen to intercede hung in the air as board Chairman Jack Lamb recalled how he encouraged Faliero's board behavior to change by sending her notes saying, 'You did a good job tonight.'

'Try to give reinforcement,' Lamb said. 'Just like in the classroom for appropriate behavior.'

Suddenly board member Carol Kurdell pointed out, 'April shut her folder, sat back' and had disengaged herself from the meeting, just as she has done at regular board meetings. 'Let's deal with it.'

Member Suggests Resignation

Others agreed, as Griffin denied it and shot back, 'I'm not buying what you're selling.'

As Griffin became upset and defended herself, Faliero suggested to her that maybe 'you need to resign.'

Griffin answered: 'I need to resign? I'm not doing this.'

When Olson reminded her she was 'part of a team,' Griffin got up, saying, 'Part of a team? This isn't a team,' and left, slamming the door behind her.

Then it was between Olson, who told Faliero, 'That was really harsh,' and Faliero, who responded, 'I have a right to my opinion,' as the facilitator ran after Griffin.

Susan Valdes, who along with Griffin was the only other board member to give Superintendent MaryEllen Elia low marks on her evaluation last week, leaned back in her chair, sucking on a green lollipop and tapping her feet, clearly agitated.

'Beating her up and chasing her out doesn't fix it,' Olson told the group as Kurdell turned to Valdes: 'Susan, help me out here, honey. I'm trying to understand your position and your passion for what needs to be changed.'

Valdes, in her third year on the board, said when she has unresolved disagreements with the superintendent, she is uncertain where to go to address them.

Griffin never returned and the board resumed discussions about team building throughout the next three hours along with each charting their top priority for the district during the next year.

Remarks Called Audacious

Outside the meeting, Faliero called Griffin's walk-out 'childish antics' and said, 'It's almost like someone having a temper tantrum. I think I put out there what everybody else wants to say but won't.'

Griffin later said, 'I actually lost it. I was upset when Jennifer said what she did. I know she's under a lot of stress, but she attacked me personally.

'How dare she?' Griffin asked, noting Faliero was just found living out of her district after a divorce. 'Who is she to give me advice?'

Griffin said she would not have walked out of a regular board meeting, and did not regret leaving the training. 'I regret walking in,' she said.

The board scheduled another training session in October. Griffin said she will not attend.