The Bangor School Committee’s steady course

Over the last 19 years, the Bangor School Department has maintained a steady course of academic improvement. These gains have been hard-won and of immense value to the community.

In June 2005, City Councilor Dan Tremble advocated a $416,000 cut to the school budget. The entire City Council had been informed in writing that such a cut would result in the elimination of many of our extra-curricular activities that serve to enhance the academic program. The school budget passed intact, but Mr. Tremble’s assertion that the schools only needed the amount defined by the Essential Programs and Services formula was dangerous indeed. Should that assertion become conventional political wisdom in Bangor, the academic excellence in our public schools would be but a distant memory.

In August 2005 at the annual opening-of-school breakfast, I reviewed the passage of the budget with school employees. I explained Mr. Tremble’s mistaken belief that our schools only needed what the state deemed essential, and I reminded the audience that EPS does not cover food for hungry children, transportation or debt service, among other things. It funds extracurricular programs at only 10 percent of their cost. Lest our employees be alarmed, I informed them of the School Committee’s intention to educate the community about EPS.

Some weeks later, I received an official Freedom of Access request for my speech that was sought by Councilor Tremble. My first reaction was amazement. Had Mr. Tremble assumed I intended remarks delivered to hundreds of people in Peakes Auditorium to remain a secret? How very absurd! All Mr. Tremble had to do was ask me for my speech. His store is but a short walk from my house. Why not drop by and ask me?

Now, by making a Freedom of Access request he had forced the school department, at public expense, to engage lawyers to determine which documents were public information and which were not. After several weeks of dueling lawyers, I became fed up with the cost to the taxpayers. So, I read the lawyers’ letters and my remarks at a public School Committee meeting. I gave a copy of the speech to the Bangor Daily News and to each City Councilor. I hoped the Bangor Daily News would print the entire speech and thus start the campaign to educate the community about EPS. Alas, my humble scribblings were not printed.

I take my promises to out teachers and administrators very seriously. During the 2005-06 school year, I met with as many parents and other citizens as I possibly could to acquaint them with the perils of EPS and how it was used to advocate for a cut in the school budget. Mr. Tremble’s City Council term ended in November 2005, so he was involved only peripherally in my talks. Actually, it would never occur to me that any elected official would expect a public vote, cast on television, to be treated as a secret. The most American thing we can do is debate the voting record of our public officials. All these meetings were time-consuming, but the community response made it worthwhile and enjoyable. The parents were hungry for the information and they were determined to maintain the academic excellence of our schools and the extracurricular activities that enhance them – a relationship they clearly understood. They began a discreet and respectful e-mail campaign urging the City Council to pass the 2006 school budget intact. The budget passed as presented. I look back at those meetings now as one of the aspects of my public service of which I am most proud. I am eager to do it again if necessary.

In the spring, friends warned me that Mr. Tremble planned to run for the School Committee in response to my opposition to his proposed $416,000 cut. I understood that Mr. Tremble’s election could mean a renewed effort to achieve disastrous cuts to the school budget. I would have respected the voters’ choice and worked with Mr. Tremble, as I have with all other School Committee members. Nevertheless, I would have vigorously opposed huge 11th-hour cuts as I did in 2005.

I knew Mr. Tremble would make my long service a campaign issue and assumed the issue would cost me votes. I was not deterred. I campaigned on my record of working for academic excellence for all students, and even Mr. Tremble acknowledged the excellent academic quality of our schools.

Mr. Tremble and I were both elected and sworn in. Unbeknownst to me, Mr. Tremble had a legal conflict of interest because his wife is employed by the school department. It is noteworthy that Mr. Tremble’s conflict was not apparent to any member of the School Committee, including the lawyer on the committee, James Cox. Surely, had Mr. Cox understood the conflict, he would have informed Mr. Tremble.

Despite his concern that he might have a conflict of interest, Mr. Tremble failed to bring his concerns to the attention of the school department or to consult a school attorney.

The public may have the impression that Mr. Tremble had no choice but to resign. That is not true. The conflict could have been resolved had Mrs. Tremble resigned her position. That was a private decision for the Trembles, but once the conflict became apparent, only the Trembles could have known how they would resolve it. Therefore, to suggest the conflict inevitably led to Mr. Tremble’s resignation is simply wrong.

Mr. Tremble may have been embarrassed by his legal conflict of interest as he may have been embarrassed by his vote to cut the school budget by $416,000 in 2005, which would have resulted in the reduction of extracurricular offerings such as the math team, athletics, debate, drama, music programs. Nevertheless, the responsibility is his, both for his vote, and for his legal conflict of interest.

The public attempt to confuse the issue with the smoke and mirrors of who knew what, when, and who should have informed Mr. Tremble, is irrelevant. No one was responsible for Mr. Tremble’s conflict and its resolution but Mr. Tremble, himself. That’s the law, as the Maine Legislature made it, plain and simple.

It is noteworthy that in all of the recent controversy, no one has questioned the academic excellence of Bangor’s public schools. Academic excellence for all students has always been my priority and academic excellence for all students is the priority of the School Committee. I want to assure the citizens of Bangor that my focus will remain on the achievement of that goal.

Martha G. Newman is chairwoman of the Bangor School Committee.