PORT TOWNSEND — The remaining members of the Port Townsend School Board lamented the sudden resignation of its chairwoman this week.
Following Monday’s night’s lengthy and emotional discussion, the board took no action concerning the resignation of Holley Carlson, who announced she was quitting immediately in a letter to Superintendent David Engle dated last Thursday.
The issue will be addressed when the board meets again at 6 p.m. June 22 in the Gael Stuart Building, 1610 Blaine St.
Carlson was not seated with the board Monday night.
Carlson said in her letter that she had used poor judgment during an event on school grounds by participating in a toast with “an incremental amount of alcohol” May 29 at the end of an eighth-grade dinner-dance she helped chaperone.
No children were present when adults toasted “a job well done,” she said, but the toast with alcohol violated the school district’s zero-tolerance policy concerning drugs and alcohol.
Engle added he is “bitterly disappointed and heartbroken. Losing her is painful.
“But strictly from a governance perspective, I think to take exception to her resignation now creates a host of dynamics that will trail us well into the future,” he said.
“I think our community has a problem around permissiveness of drugs and alcohol.
“I think we quietly battle that front all the time in our schools. We take care of the peripheral damage when it comes to children. “
“This is such a red-hot issue.”
Any action by the School Board concerning the letter would largely be symbolic.
The board did not discuss how to fill the position.
Carlson’s resignation was effective immediately, pointed out Pam Daly, board member.
“By this policy, it seems that . . . we are not afforded the choice of either accepting it or rejecting it. The resignation has already become effective,” Daly said.
“We are tasked here tonight with discussing it and acknowledging that resignation, and then to announce that it has happened.”
But the four sitting board members could not agree to acknowledge the resignation.
Board member Nathanael O’Hara moved to table the letter, and board member Jennifer James-Wilson moved to acknowledge the resignation. Both motions died for a lack of a second.
“I am heartbroken about this,” James-Wilson said. “At the same time . . . her resignation is not our decision.”
Board members noted that, had it been a student or teacher who had consumed alcohol on school property, the person could have been expelled or fired because the district has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to drugs and alcohol.
“In researching the policies that we have before us, it is clear that the actions definitely were in violation of the standards and policies that staff members are held highly accountable for,” Daly said.
“A teacher, for example, would be facing likely dismissal and possibly revocation of their teaching credential.”
And “board members would be charged somewhere down the road with making that decision. So board members are charged with setting the highest standard in carrying out their duties,” she said.
“Holley has taken the high ground here in recognizing this responsibility, and I am grateful to her.”
O’Hara said that, though he had gone “through a lot of emotions on this, I do agree the policy was violated.
“But I also think . . . Holley rushed her judgment in order to try to save the district some bad publicity. And I think that is the sad part here because I think, had we been able to take some more time and maybe slow Holley down a little bit,” the outcome might have been different.
Board member Keith White concurred.
“I wish she had taken more time to ponder what the right [choice] was,” he said, adding he believes it is unfortunate there is no gray area to consider in this case because of the zero-tolerance policy.
Ultimately, it was “Holley’s decision,” James-Wilson said. “I think she may have come to it hastily . . . in an effort, in some ways, to protect us.
“She thought she was doing the right thing and in fact did do the right thing by owning her mistake. But it is very sad to me.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
