Members of a divided Jordan Middle School Site Council, plagued by an inability to reach consensus, have hired a mediator to help them iron out their problems.
The difficulty started at the beginning of the school year when the council elected its alternate member, Pattie Maples, as the group's secretary. The group later rescinded the election after its members decided an alternate member could not hold office.
Maples and her supporters protested, both at the Site Council and to the school board, saying there was a "vendetta" against her because of her husband Jim's position on middle school math teaching. Jim Maples lost a 1995 campaign for school board. They charged that the Site Council violated parliamentary procedure.
Three months have gone by since school started, and "we haven't reached any solutions," said Principal Joya Chatterjee, who is a member of the site council. "We weren't reaching consensus, and we're trying to build consensus."
The group asked the Palo Alto school district's lawyers for legal advice on running meetings and holding elections. The advice they got was that "the bylaws are probably not as detailed as they should be," Chatterjee said. The result was the formation of a bylaw subcommittee that will report back to council in January.
Deputy Superintendent Pat Einfalt and Assistant Superintendent Candace Simpson also met with a small group of site council members, including Chatterjee, but couldn't come up with a solution. That group decided to hire an outside mediator, Wendy VanCamp, a family law attorney who volunteers with the Palo Alto Mediation Program on Ventura Court.
The district is paying VanCamp $50 per hour, which is half of her regular rate as an attorney. She has facilitated three meetings, and will also do the council meeting in January. At that point, the district and the school will start splitting the cost.
Chatterjee said she is optimistic that things can be worked out.
"Everybody has the kids' interests at heart. It's just that we need to sort things out."
--Elizabeth Darling
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