- Peter Prohaska
- 4 days ago
The famous poem “In Flanders Fields” has long served to commemorate and honor those who lost their lives in war. A Flanders Elementary School teacher was acknowledged at the January 22 Southington Board of Education meeting for continuing to do that.
Gretchen Yatzook recently received the Citizen-Teacher of the Year Award for Connecticut. The accolade is given by Wheeler-Young VFW 201, which is based in Waterbury but serves veterans in several neighboring communities.
As Board Chair Zaya Oshana explained, the yearly award recognizes educators who teach “patriotism, American history and civic responsibility,” while innovating and including the broader community in those efforts. As part of the ceremony, the Board also presented Yatzook with a Certificate of Excellence.
Yatzook admitted that her “favorite” veteran is her father, who was in attendance. She also mentioned the long history of celebrating veterans at Flanders with a Veterans Day event and thanked some of the teachers and administrators who helped make the popular event possible.
“I know we have parents that have said it’s their favorite day at Flanders and they’re sad when they don’t get to come out anymore,” she said.
Southington Teachers’ Union President Jason Ghidini commented that Yatzook is incredibly deserving of the award. Besides her work on behalf of those who have served the nation, she is a “fierce defender of teachers, an amazing professional and a great person,” he said.
Ethics Presentation for the Board
The elected members of the Southington Board of Education are volunteers who take on a complex job as they help shape educational policy for Southington. Among the challenges they must navigate are limitations and duties imposed by Town bylaws, as well as state and federal laws.
Richard Mills, a partner at the law firm of Shipman and Goodwin who serves as counsel for the district, gave a presentation to help the Board better understand some of the more difficult challenges they may face.
Oshana mentioned that while many members would have seen a similar presentation in the past, each term faces challenges and new scenarios as laws and human factors change over time. He also said that while the presentation was ordinarily given to members at workshops, he felt that making it public would help ordinary citizens understand more about the Board and what members can and cannot do.
“I do believe there are some misperceptions and misinterpretations of where our Board of Education members roles, responsibilities, and levels of authority start and end, versus what the administration is responsible for,” said Oshana.
While Board members have their individual First Amendment rights, each member should always take care to differentiate his or her own opinion from a message from the Board as a whole, Mills explained.
Board members should also be careful to keep private matters private. The appearance of prejudice can jeopardize the impartiality that is due to an employee or student involved in hearings.
“If we don’t have a good process, we have legal exposure,” Mills cautioned.
Mills also explained that the Board has a strict duty to respect student confidentiality. Student privacy is covered by its bylaws as well as federal law, particularly FERPA (the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act). Thus, meetings that involve sensitive personal information are often held in Executive Session and are not generally accessible to FOIA requests.
Mills stated that in the event of an expulsion hearing, for example, nothing learned inside such a hearing should ever be shared with the public, not even with a Board member who did not attend the hearing.
Another key takeaway from the presentation is that personnel matters and classroom issues that parents might bring to a Board member should then be brought to the Superintendent directly, Mills advised. The Superintendent is the only school employee who reports to the Board, he explained, and the Board is not the administrator for the district.
Mills also described the importance of ethical behavior by members, using the example of a transportation contract. A hypothetical Board member with a family member such as an in-law who was in a position to benefit from the contract should always disclose that relationship and most likely recuse himself from consideration. Transparency in spending public money is of the highest importance, Mills said.
*****
Finally, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for seniors at the high school: the Board moved unanimously to designate June 11 Graduation Day, with a rain date of June 12.
