Palm Beach County board members sniping at each other

The members of the Palm Beach County School Board haven’t been playing nice this holiday season.

Tensions first exploded last week when Vice Chairwoman Debra Robinson was rebuked for scheduling a public meeting in the boardroom without first getting the approval of her board colleagues.

But that was tame compared to the assault unleashed Monday by board member Monroe Benaim.

I wrote an article for today’s paper describing an email from Benaim that blasted the six other members of the board over the school district’s decreasing graduation rates.

Benaim concluded that the decision by the rest of the board to get rid of former Superintendent Art Johnson has now come back to haunt them.

“The 6 board members who removed Art Johnson ignored a decade of sustained high student achievement and financial solvency and deliberate and directed leadership. This was leadership that has not been supplied by the interim superintendent,” Benaim wrote.

He went on to blame board Chairman Frank Barbieri and Robinson for leading the district in the wrong direction.

“Backwards is lost opportunity for thousands of students in Palm Beach County,” Benaim wrote.

So I asked Barbieri for his reaction. He did not continue the war of words, but instead he issued a statement, posted in full here:

“I’ve learned long ago in previous leadership roles to not respond to ad hominem attacks. I appreciate the support received from the community and my fellow Board Members. I remain focused on improving our School District in these challenging times. In the end, my six colleagues and I all strive towards the same goal of sustained progress in Palm Beach County Schools while facing the challenges of difficult economic times, increased mandates from the state and federal government and limited resources to meet them. The Board has been assured by the Superintendent that the Administration will continue making whatever changes are required to ensure that all of our children are provided a high quality education and all available resources are directed toward the classroom.”

The outbursts come just as the board is accepting applications for the permanent superintendent’s job. Sounds like they need a good referee.