On Monday May 9th the Valley Central School Districts Board of Education meeting included an open forum to support one of the district employees, Ms. Tammy Coleman. The meeting was attended by so many of her colleagues, past and present, who all sang her praises that the meeting had to be moved to a larger venue. There, I learned that Tammy had been evaluated only once in five years, but now the board was looking to terminate her. My immediate thoughts were to wonder if she had done something heinous, and that there must be more to the story. No sex scandal? No embezzling? No official review? 

Our Board of Education are all well respected members of the community. Each one works hard to attend events and are constantly seeking to improve the district from every angle.  Does the district really want to face a wrongful termination suit?

The district risks gaining a reputation that it railroads good employees out without a review process or ability to fix any non compliant behavior whether that behavior is intentional or otherwise. Evaluations are to celebrate good work and counsel not so good work. This keeps the team running optimally on every level. Evaluations allow all parties to make sure there are clear objectives and keep everyone on the same page. They are essential and without them will prohibit future good employees from working here. Without good employees, the district falls apart which ultimately will affect the property values and taxes of every homeowner in the district. 

In his book Polyvagal Theory and the Developing Child, Dr. George S. Thompson, MD and Marilyn R. Sanders, MD quote a study that proves that (I am paraphrasing for simplicity’s sake) the central nervous system picks up minute cues in .70 milliseconds. So before you are even aware of anything on a conscious level your body is innately equipped to sense any and all types of danger and recognize if you are safe. This triggers a cascade of hormones flooding through an individual’s system, preparing them for whatever they need to do to stay alive. IE: fight, flight, freeze response.

I suggest that perceived, unwarranted actions against employees creates a fear environment. Those fears are then picked up by co-workers thereby potentially crushing employee morale.  More importantly though they are also picked up, even if only subconsciously, by the students whose central nervous systems are relying upon the very employees we are talking about to help their still developing systems to develop in a healthy manner. 

As the Board of Education makes a decision regarding this matter, I would implore them to step back and calculate the cost, both financial and emotional to the district. Without properly being evaluated and a future opportunity to make improvements, any decision but one to dismiss this and strike the recommendation to dismiss Ms. Coleman will only serve to further burden the district.