how it's done

I'm not feeling any too happy with the Ridgewood situation at the moment.

One of the issues is this page on the school website.

The board's statement (anonymous phone calls...not reflective of Ridgewood's supportive community and its values...) should not be there. It is inappropriate in every conceivable way and then some.

Some of you may remember the fields vote here in Irvington. Each member of our school board spent two years of his or her life putting the fields proposal together, dealing with the resulting conflict (neighboring homes with drainage problems, questions about costs), substantially scaling the proposal back, and finally campaigning for the bond when it came to a vote.

The bond's defeat was unexpected—for me, at least—and terribly disappointing to board members, all the more so because they took a tremendous amount of heat from 'yays' and 'nays' alike. Their experience had to be excruciating.

How did they respond?

Here's how:

As I am sure you are all aware, the final result of the December 20 vote on the Fields Improvement bond referendum was 845 against and 798 for. As everyone had predicted, the election was close and number of votes high. The referendum was the topic of discussion in all corners of our community. There was a spirited debate as the proposition and its merits were debated in the bagel store, on our fields, at the IEF Gala and on-line. In the end, there were many reluctant “no” votes, but there were also many “yes” votes with reservations.

Today the key question is: “What’s next?” We were asked “What’s the plan, now” only minutes after the vote results were announced. On the train platform in the morning and in town, we hear the same question. Community members on both sides of this issue have contacted us to offer their assistance in promoting a different solution, to help to find a way to address our athletic field needs.

So during the Winter break, the Board thought about how we could address the issues that arose during the community discussion surrounding this proposition.

This is what leadership looks like.

Leadership and grace.