FARMINGTON — Mt. Blue school district’s Board of Directors is seeing some changes, unexpected and warm, under the leadership of newly minted Chair Carol Coles.

At the Dec. 14 Mt. Blue (RSU 9) board meeting, Coles honored the Tuesday, Dec. 21, Winter Solstice. She read out an excerpt from Brigit Anna McNeill’s poem, Sweet Solstice:

“The winter solstice time is no longer celebrated as it once was, with the understanding that this is a period of descent and rest, of going within our homes, within ourselves and taking in all that we have been through, all that has passed in this full year which is coming to a close… like nature and the animal kingdom around us, this time of hibernation is so necessary for our tired limbs, our burdened minds.”

Following the reading, Coles thanked the board, school staff and district families. She acknowledged the “long, tough time” of the 2021-22 school year and the many COVID-19 guidelines that accompany it.

“I wanted to ask you all to please take time for yourselves,” Coles said at the meeting. “To take a moment during this really busy time of year to pause and to take stock and relax, if you possibly can.”

In a phone interview, Coles said she wanted to look toward the days where “we’ll start seeing more light” amid the pandemic, which is worsening across the country and particularly in Franklin County.

Coles thought of the Winter Solstice and the poem as a metaphor for this state in the pandemic where the “strain, long slog” of COVID-19 is “continuing and not letting up” just yet.

“I wanted to bring us together and remind us that we are at that darkest time of the year,” Coles said. “The days will start to lengthen … we’re really in winter, but at least it’s getting lighter every day.

“In my mind, I was really dedicating this [reading] to the office staff, the administrators, the teachers, the support staff, the bus drivers,” Coles said. “I was thinking of all of those people when I was reading it.”

She also felt the solstice is a unifying celebration that brings together the traditions, heritages of “all of the different cultures that are represented in the state of Maine, from immigrants to Native Americans.”

The poetic reading wasn’t the only change that Coles and the administration have made to the board meeting format. Coles has started reading out different board policies each meeting. Coles said her favorite to read is “to think of children first and base all decisions on the effect on children, their education and their training.”

“It struck me that it was a good way to remind all of us, the public and ourselves — each member of the board — that we do have a code of ethics,” Coles said. “Being on the board is different than just representing your town and the students in your own town. You have a responsibility of the board as a whole.”

“This time is an opportunity to focus ourselves on the task at hand,” she added.

In addition, the administration has started a “Staff Members of the Month” award. Coles announced the award and its first recipients at that Dec. 14 meeting.

Coles is hoping that these kinds of additions, alongside the board’s regularly-occurring agenda item “Good News Stories,” can have a positive impact on the meetings amid heightened tensions transforming school boards across the nation.

“I’m hoping that it makes our business meetings compassionate meetings where we can have different opinions, but we can be kind,” Coles said.

Coles pointed out the “difficulties” and “anger” among the board, staff and administration over the past few years due to disagreements between former Superintendent Tina Meserve, over contentious negotiations for teachers’ contracts, COVID-19 safety policies, etc.

“As we brought new people on, I wanted to establish a climate among the board members of a unified commitment to respect,” Coles said. “And a unified commitment to serving our children and their families and to supporting our administrators and our teachers and our support staff.”

Coles said her perspective changed after serving on all three committees for contract negotiations, which has impacted her tenure as the board’s chair.

“[Serving on the negotiation committees] gave me the opportunity to understand what makes it hard for a teacher or support staff person and what would make it easier,” Coles said. “It just kept coming back to respectful listening.”

That also led to Coles’ introduction of reading guidelines before the public comment portion of the agenda. In recent months parents have used the public comment podium to air concerns on COVID-19 policies as well as issues with “critical race theory” and discussing LGBTQ+ identities in the classroom.

In one instance, a parent even threatened to sue the district for instituting a universal mask mandate.

“I think it’s hard for people to come up and speak into the microphone, regardless of what side of an issue they’re on. And I give them credit for coming to the meeting and doing that. I think that’s what makes our country work.

“I just wanted to have an overall tone to our meeting that it’s clear they are business meetings,” Coles said.

She added that she wanted to temper the “expectation” of “dialogue, back and forth” during public comment because the board meetings are not public meetings, but rather “business meetings open to the public.”

While the board has seen pandemic-policy related complaints, it’s nowhere near the intensity other school boards across the state and country face.

Coles said the board and administration “always seem to wonder if this will be the meeting where things shift into a really difficult situation.”

However, Coles believes that the board’s ability to be “welcoming” and willing to listen has prevented that tension from boiling over.

“So far, we’ve been able to listen and hear criticism, suggestions, concerns, and actually take them to heart and think about them and try to get back to people on what we think,” Coles said. “We’re trying really hard to be transparent.”

“I hope that people continue to feel welcome,” she added.

Ultimately, Coles does not consider herself the only factor in these positive changes and a unity among the board. Directors have been participating in committees, engaging with the issues and reports, hearing each other out, etc. This, Coles said, has shifted the board’s environment.

“I really credit board members for their interest in their commitment here,” Coles said. “They are good board members.”