Burlington Superintendent of Schools Yaw Obeng commented publicly for the first time Thursday on a widening controversy involving alleged discrimination directed at him by a school board member.
Obeng said in a statement that he never filed a formal complaint but asked the board to investigate former chair Mark Porter’s claims of racism involving board member Jeff Wick, who has repeatedly refuted Porter’s allegations.
“I inquired as to if and how [the board] intended to respond to these statements and reminded them of their responsibility to ensure that they administered their board role within fair practices and principles,” Obeng wrote.
The board responded by “trying to be fair to all parties” with an impartial investigation, he added.
Obeng said little else about the investigation itself. Seven Days has filed a public records request for the document, the tab for the investigation and any complaint written by Obeng.
In his statement Thursday, Obeng explained that “no such formal complaint has been filed by me at this time. The investigation is a result of the former board taking a proactive approach to alleged discrimination.”
The district has not formally responded to the other requests yet.
The board called an emergency meeting Sunday night to discuss the investigation. The session, held on Easter and the weekend of Passover, was warned publicly just a few hours ahead of its start time.
School district attorney Joe McNeil advised the board that the meeting might not meet the grounds for an emergency and could thus be a violation of Vermont’s public meeting law, which requires 24 hours notice ahead of a special meeting.
Some board members, including Mark Barlow, refused to attend because of the possible violation. Wick attended but said he did so in protest. Some city residents complained that it was unfairly called.
But the acting chair at the time, Stephanie Seguino, insisted that it met the standard for an emergency meeting and defended the session. Under the law, boards can meet without 24 hours notice to respond to an “unforeseen occurrence or condition requiring immediate attention.”
The meeting took place hours before Seguino, Porter and several other board members were legally set to conclude their terms and make way for a new slate of board members.
The outgoing board members wanted to review the just-completed investigation before their terms were up, Seguino told the Burlington Free Press and other media.
The board went into executive session and afterward, Seguino announced that the board had agreed to training sessions around implicit bias.
Wick declined to comment and referred calls to his attorney, Brooks McArthur, who did not immediately respond to a message.
Thus far, both the former and current board, which was sworn in Tuesday, have declined to release the investigation.
Obeng apparently wants to see the matter move to a conclusion.
“The report regarding the former board’s investigation has been completed, and it is up to our new board to decide what steps to take going forward,” he wrote Thursday. “I am looking forward to seeing the new board resolve this process in order for us to focus on the actions we need to take as a district to support students and close the achievement gap.”
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This is a challenging situation. If future board members want to question Mr. Obeng’s performance as Superintendent, will anyone dare?
I do believe Mr. Obeng is the problem. If Mr, Wick was expressing his concerns over Mr. Obeng, To me, Mr. Wick is more supportive of the children, then any other board member.
How about getting rid of the elephant in the room, Mr. Obeng? He seems to be the problem.
This whole event was unnecessary and remarkably ham-handed. The Board SHOULD look into these sorts of issues but SHOULD NOT twist the process out of expediency (thereby becoming instead of solving the problem). The new Board would have had to and will deal with the issue, so what if the timing wasn’t right for the outgoing Board, that’s inherent to the electoral process – some things get started by one elected body and completed (or whatever) by another.
I don’t believe this…
Jeff Wick is a hard working long term member of this community. He is not a racist.
Mr. Obeng you need to put your big boy pants on….. You are in a position that will be scrutinized for the way you operate our school system as every Burlington Superintendent has been scrutinized for the past 50 years.
This is a very difficult post…. the color of your skin has nothing to do with your attitude or performance….but the thickness of your skin does!!!! As you have to face parents, unions, teachers, students and residents…. it’s not easy. Ask any past head administrators.
My advice, your candor will determine your success…. put your shoulders under this school system. Lead, set the example for working relationships, and make this happen
Remember we chose you……
Superintendent Obeng didn’t start this, Mark Porter did. If board members are making public accusations of racism and racist comments directed at the superintendent, then it’s completely appropriate for the Mr. Obeng to ask for an investigation. Whatever you think about how the district is being led, the posts here attacking the Superintendent are misguided.
Don’t lay this at the feet of Dr. Obeng. As Superintendent he had a responsibility to ask for an investigation into an allegation of racism whether it was directed at him, or someone else.
The missteps here were by the “old” board- or, at least, those members so willful or misinformed as to believe they were justified in calling a barely warned, eleventh hour emergency session (on the night of term expiration) to hear the findings.
They were a lame duck board at that point, and there was no emergency.
The Secretary of State’s rules are clear:
“An emergency meeting may be held in the event of a true emergency, i.e. when necessary to respond to an unforeseen occurrence or condition requiring immediate attention, without public announcement as long as some public notice is given as soon as possible before the meeting.”
An issue of school security, a fire or a UFO landing in the middle of the high school football field-
These would merit an emergency meeting with no warning.
Not the release of a report, and an outgoing board’s burning desire to know.
I question Mr. Porter’s story. If it was so concerning, why did he wait 6-7 months after the conversation to report it to the board. As a parting shot when resigning from board chair. When he’s decided to not run again when faced with certain defeat. Would have to call BS on this one.
ski pepsi, you are incorrect, I did NOT choose Mr. Obeng. I have no doubt he was fast-tracked as the top superintendent candidate first and foremost because he is black. How’s that for irony?
SAYSME-
Dr. Obeng had, when hired, over two decades of experience as a teacher, principal, and district administrator in a couple of cities far larger than Burlington.
If he happened to be white, hed still have a resume that was quite impressive. Which is why he got the job.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/vtdigger.org/…
The most important revelation here is that Superintendent Obeng “never filed a formal complaint.”
Nevertheless, the Board responded as if he had and implied that the emergency meeting and the formal investigation they hired out were their legal and ethical responsibility. The questionable allegations made would have been better handled simply by talking about them.
The Board managed this issue in fiasco and loose cannon fashion. They were set off by an angry outburst from a departing chair using a hot button issue to sow discord, target a perceived opponent, and satisfy himself.
The report should be released so the public can see just what they paid for and whether any useful insights emerged.
Superintendent could go long way toward healing the community if he would apologize for misrepresentations during interview process and community meetings prior to his hiring, when he stated he would comply with decades of Burlington law requiring department heads to live in the city. Would do even better to move into Burlington & enroll his children in Burlington schools.
This is not to say Obeng was not hired into a difficult situation and that Porter did not try to provide leadership after years of financial mismanagement & budget problems. The question is the direction of that leadership. Have to imagine Superintendent would be just that much more invested in school district if he lived here and his children enrolled here. Decades of the residency requirement brought accountability, credibility & personal investment for city decision-makers. So they would personally live by & be impacted by their own decisions. And be neighbors and friends with other taxpayers, parents, and students. Not every Burlington mayor loved it but the voters repeatedly rejected its proposed elimination at the ballot box.
Unfortunately former superintendent Jeanne Collins and former zoning director Ken Lerner were also in violation.
After Obeng’s misrepresentation & move to South Burlington, City Council chose to go around will of voters and weakened residency requirement. City Council & Weinberger did not want to risk losing again if they presented repeal to voters yet again. So they instead “kept” the residency requirement but diluted it to total meaninglessness, magically making “must live in Burlington” = live anywhere in Chittenden County.
Students learning many different lessons from Superintendent and City Council.
Board members like Porter who hired Mr. Obeng might consider reimbursing Burlington taxpayers the legal fees spent on the immigration shenanigans involved in bringing Mr. Obeng from Canada to Burlington School District.
Although no question Obeng is qualified, immigration authorities disagreed and rejected his original visa application for “extraordinary ability.” They said BSD can find someone equally qualified among the 320 million plus people already living in United States.
Porter and Board did not accept this. Instead of going back to the hiring file, they instead let BSD lawyers then misrepresent to immigration authorities that Obeng was primarily coming to US to work as UVM adjunct professor (and not because he was hired as superintendent). UVM cooperated with this nonsense by conveniently hiring Obeng, after-the-fact, after his 1st visa application was rejected. Conveniently, UVM never bothered to post the position nor consider any other candidate.
Obeng now has different, 3-year visa, that expires in 2019; & has left UVM faculty. . . supposedly the primary reason he came to US.
There were certainly good reasons to hire Obeng but when BSD (and UVM) had to engage in border-line immigration fraud just to get him, it puts a black eye on the whole process & undermines the credibility of all involved.
Had Obeng then at least honored his public commitment to live in Burlington, made to the community before he was hired, he may have overcome this. Instead, he decided his family should live in South Burlington and enrolled his children there (with highest-paid teachers in the state). And then needed City Council to further bail him out, by passing special legislation to dilute the residency requirement.
Is the overarching message to students essentially do whatever is necessary to game the system?
Seven Days- I’m surprised Michelle C’s comments haven’t been addressed by the moderator.
It is a surprise, Thea Lewis, especially since this website has a history of deleting comments that don’t beam with praise for the Wick family. It’s sad that there are no options for free expression, even in a small town. Pretty spooky if you ask me