The 2nd most often looked up word at Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary site in 2008, was “vet” – (v) to evaluate for possible approval or acceptance.  This was the year presidential candidate John McCain was criticized for improper vetting of potential running mates.  He chose Sarah Palin.  The wheels can fall off the bus if you improperly vet a potential partner.

Hartford Board of Education Member Shonta Browdy doesn’t want the wheels to fall off the school bus.  Perhaps it was the time of day (8:30am), but during a recent meeting of the Board’s Finance & Audit Committee meeting, Ms. Browdy was feeling like it was 2008 all over again.  The word “vet” was on her mind, and she used the meeting to vent her frustrations over the Board’s vetting process, or the lack of a vetting process.

But this wasn’t a special day, it was Ms. Browdy doing what she does better than most.  Most often, Ms. Browdy asks what needs to be asked and tells folks what they need to hear.

In 2014, speaking about the negative effects of Sheff v. O’Neill, she told the State Board of Education, “The lawsuit is killing our city.”  Her issues with the Board vetting process aren’t new.  During a public protest over HPS’ decision to move the Renzulli school in 2015, Browdy told reporters that it “didn’t go through any vote.” She stated during a  NAACP Hearing on charter schools 2016, that failing students were sent back to the public schools, “They come in droves,” she said.  When a 2018 story on Hartford’s magnet schools brought up the issue of leaving empty seats unfilled and unavailable to Hartford’s neighborhood students,  Ms. Browdy, stated, “You have to understand what makes it a high-performing school… if you open the seats, it’s not going to be the same school.  I am just going to be honest.” During a Board meeting in 2020, Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez downplayed the concerns of teachers who were speaking about basic supply shortages in schools, by stating that many of the reported problems are not representative of how things are overall.  Browdy would have none of that, stating, “This is the day to day about life or death.  So it’s not made up.  This is not little stuff.”

Which brings us to the latest Board meeting.

The Finance & Audit Committee began with that magic word, “vet.”  The first item on the agenda, “Contracts vetted through Committee,” contained the four contracts brought up at the Family & Community Engagement Committee meeting 4 days earlier (“A Board of One”). 

That meeting, member-lite, data-lite and legit-lite, was represented by only one member of Hartford’s Board, who had no questions for the presenter, a member of the Superintendent’s Cabinet, nor of the representatives of the groups seeking contract approval for their services - they themselves had little to offer to the meeting in the context of vetting information.  In the minds of the Superintendent, Board liaison, Christina Santiago, as well as Board Member Escribano, however, this meeting represented a “vetting” of the contract proposals.  I think that HPS believes that the less we understand, the more firmly we’ll believe in it.

During the Finance Committee meeting, Ms. Browdy asked if there would be an opportunity to ask questions about “data,” with respects to the contracts, when they appear on the agenda at the Regular Meeting, where vetting goes to die.  Ms. Browdy asked if the presenters “will be prepared with data.”  Ridiculously, Ms. Santiago said yes, but she would like to have the questions before hand so that the folks seeking contract approval could be “prepared with the answer.”  On Shark Tank, if you don’t know your numbers, you don’t get a deal.

Ms. Browdy also spoke about the reports which Board members receive to vet potential contract awardees.  She said that the Board gets a lot of “what we will do,” and she’s looking for “what we did do” from contract candidates.  Ms.Browdy stated that in the actual reports, she is seeing no “data on what was done.”  She stated that when this comes up at the Regular Meeting for approval, she will be looking for this data.

The next item on the Finance Committee’s agenda, was a contract amendment headed to the Regular Meeting for Caring Nurses, who have been filling the gaps in HPS’ nurse shortage for two years.  The Superintendent’s Office of Talent Management, still struggling to recruit teachers, and busy with discussing with the Superintendent’s office regarding doing away with teacher retention bonuses, has now expanded, we are told, to recruiting nurses.  God help us all.

Ms. Browdy stated that she would like to have the data on OTM’s efforts in recruiting nurses. The representative of Caring Nurses, Deborah Chameides, quite naturally, said that she could not speak to that point, but she did state that they have gone from 10 nurse vacancies at the beginning of the year, to currently having 3 vacancies.

After Committee Chairman Walker followed normal acceptable parliamentary protocol, and asked for a vote on moving these contracts forward to the Regular Committee for approval, Ms. Browdy required a moment to vent on vetting.

Ms. Browdy stated that it is being said that contracts are being vetted in committees.  She said, “I don’t feel like we’re vetting.”  She said that in “years past,” there was a general sense of the question, “Are we ok to move” this item forward, now, we get a “presentation.” Ms. Browdy stated that the Board’s committees are inconsistent in their vetting.  The Superintendent appeared “uncomfortable” during Ms. Browdy’s meeting contribution.  Mr. Walker suggested the Board’s Committee of the Whole discuss consistent criteria by which items would be moved between committees.

The Finance Committee moved on to further budget updates by CFO Phillip Penn. Chief Penn presented more detailed look at ESSER (COVID relief money) spending, as had been asked for previously by Member Browdy.  Mr. Penn’s presentation showed a $95 million dollar balance in the districts ESSER account, however, $88 million was, basically, encumbered, or “in the bucket” for planned spending.  Of the remaining $7 million, Mr. Penn stated that was “scattered across a very large number of items.” Mr. Penn didn’t think it “cogent” to get into that detail as it would not add to the discussion.  Many of these items are of the $8,000 and $9,000 sized items.   But they add up to $7 million.  Seven million is nearly a third of the district’s deficit.

Ms. Browdy wasn’t comfortable with this presentation by Mr. Penn.  She stated, in her best Cuba Gooding imitation, “Give me the data!” This is what the Superintendent and her staff are hired to do, said Ms. Browdy.  “My job,” she said, “is to get the data and say, ‘do I agree with that’”  Ms. Browdy stated that she needs the data to perform her role as a Board member.  She added that emailing questions to Christina Santiago is not as effective as having a live Board discussion.  The budget review process, for Ms. Browdy, is “unstructured,” and “it’s not working for me.”  Not wanting to “belabor” her point, Ms. Browdy ceded the floor.

Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez responded to Ms. Browdy, stating that that they “have been very explicit in allowing for time,” so that the Board could digest the budget details.  She stated that this is “an ongoing process and they have been trying to share information as it becomes available.”  The Superintendent stated they are available for further conversations if they are required.

Member Browdy wasn’t done.  “We have deficits every single year,” she stated, “we know we always have a deficit.”  Ms. Browdy wanted to know what “proactive” steps could be taken to mitigate certainty.  Ms. Browdy suggested that the district needed to do more in the way of going after grant money. As to the perennial deficits, Superintendent Torres-Rodriguez placed the blame on Hartford’s “structural challenges,” that have been around for years.  As being saved by grants, the Superintendent stated that the district is constantly searching, “across the entire national landscape” for grants (and teachers…and apparently, nurses), but a grant to cover the deficit amount, does not exist.

The meeting came to a close, with Ms. Browdy being Ms. Browdy.  However, she warned us that this was how it was going to be with her on the Hartford Board of Education. While running for the school board in 2021, Browdy stated she is “motivated to be impactful” as a board member because the schools must “provide the preparation” for students to move onto other education and career opportunities.

Preparation.  I think both sides of this coin need to practice a little preparation.