Four of the eight members of a Holden-based school board abruptly resigned on Thursday, citing a lack of leadership, fiscal responsibility and direction as their reasons for leaving.
Linda Graban of Clifton, Heather Grass of Eddington, and Heather Lander and Cherie Faulkner, both of Holden, submitted their resignations to the RSU 63 School Board on the same day.
Contentious relationships with the community and fellow board members pushed the members to resign Thursday, Grass said.
The flurry of resignations comes after the board split a 4-4 vote this spring to consolidate its two elementary schools, one in Eddington and one in Holden. The vote fractured the board and community, leading Holden residents to take out petitions on Dec. 15 to recall Lander and Faulkner.
Faulkner accused the administration and board of not prioritizing the local children and their education in her resignation letter.
“I will not adjust my moral compass or compromise my integrity by remaining on this board of directors,” Faulkner said.
Faulkner, Graban and Lander did not respond to requests for comment.
All four of the members’ names and contact information were stripped from the RSU website as of Friday.
It’s rare for so many members of a school board to resign without any notice. With just half of the members remaining, the school board will be unable to conduct business, meet or vote because of a lack of members needed to meet a quorum.
The petitions to recall Lander and Faulkner were the culmination of the four members being “belittled” by the vice chair of the school board and heckled by community members over the course of multiple meetings, Grass said.
Board Chair Scott Walton was not available to comment Friday. Board Vice-Chair Amy Hart did not respond to a request for comment.
The recall petitions stated that Faulkner and Lander were hindering the school board and not working for the students. The residents who took out the petitions didn’t try to reach out to the two board members to ask why they voted a specific way or what their goals were, Grass said, and may have taken the papers out based on someone else’s thoughts.
“The problem is these people in the community, they’re getting a spinned version of things. They’re getting the highlights and low lights that are put together the way that somebody portrays it to them,” Grass said
A lack of transparency from interim Superintendent Sheila Caldwell, Walton and Hart about a change in the board’s weighted votes began to divide the body this spring, Grass said.
Previously, the board had weighted votes that coincided with how many members represented a community. The differing weights made the vote for the lone Clifton representative the most impactful, the votes from the three Eddington representatives the second most and the votes of the four Holden board members weighted the least.
The weighted votes were a deciding factor for the 4-4 vote over consolidation this spring because there is no tie breaking vote.
Faulkner, Grass, Lander and Graban voted not to consolidate. Their votes had a higher cumulative weight, meaning their side won the vote.
In November, the board received an email from the Maine Department of Education, forwarded by Caldwell, that said the vote weights were incorrect, Grass said.
When board members asked for more information on the change, Caldwell didn’t provide it, Grass said.
“The lack of transparency is what really pushed us over the edge,” Grass said.
Caldwell was not available Friday to comment.
All four of the members who resigned had been elected multiple times. Lander and Grass were the least tenured, with three and a half years each on the board.
Three of the members said their mental and physical health had been negatively affected by other board members’ actions and resident feedback, according to the resignation letters. These actions have made it so the four former board members would not return unless there’s a change in leadership for both the RSU and the board, Grass said.
“Life is too short to spend any more time with such a horrible group of people as they are,” Grass wrote in her resignation letter.
It was not immediately clear how the now-vacant board positions will be filled or when.