Cabinet file photos Milford school superintendent Dr. Jessica Huizenga and school board chair Ron Carvell at a Milford school board meeting.

MILFORD – On the heels of school superintendent Dr. Jessica Huizenga’s resignation tendered on Dec. 2 (effective July 1, 2021), school board chairman Mike Hannon resigned on Dec. 7, citing his need to focus on health, family and a new job.

Hannon’s letter, in part, read: “I was hoping to speak to all of you during non-public as far as my decision, but I have no choice other than to resign my position from the School Board effective immediately.”

“I need to focus my time on my family and my new job which will not allow me the time going forward to attend meetings. I was fairly upset coming into the meeting and very distracted as a result of how this has affected my health, time with family and ability to properly manage a new career at my stage in life.”

This decision comes with a heavy heart as I really have enjoyed being on the board and meeting so many great people in our community.

Unfortunately, with managing home life, a new job and people who quite honestly have different agendas, I cannot take another moment for granted.”

For now, vice chairperson Holleigh Tlapa is assuming the position of board chair.

In a statement, Tlapa told The Telegraph, “The Milford School Board welcomes Mr. Steve Martin, and Mr. Kevin St. Onge as interim Board members who will be with us until the next election in March of 2021; when one 3-year Board member will be elected, and one 1-year member will be elected.”

“We are focused on the future and will be creating a superintendent hiring committee to ensure progress forward. We strive to learn from our mistakes and incorporate essential feedback from our constituents. We will choose a superintendent that fits a leadership profile designed by our committee, and that best matches the current needs of our district. The committee will be discussed at our upcoming meeting on Monday, Dec. 21, 2020, at the Milford High School lecture hall.

“Our initial committee meetings, where we create the leadership profile, will be held in public. Although we will not include a public comment section, we provide an avenue for input. Non-committee members are encouraged to ask questions, contribute their ideas, and provide feedback throughout the process.”

“Working together we will create a better tomorrow and the brightest possible future for every member of our school district and community, always focusing on what is in the best interest of our students.”

Former board chairman Ron Carvell, who recently resigned as well as a member of the school board, said his own decision to resign was for a couple of reasons.

“I was really unhappy with the way the board was operating,” he said. “That last few months have been difficult with the way they’re doing things and what goals are without thought. We’ve spent more time not about education, and education has always been my goal. I want to talk about the kids. I want to talk about what programs we have.”

Carvell had just attended a board meeting on Sunday morning, Dec. 13, calling the situation with the board and Hannon’s resignation, “a nightmare.”

“I personally resigned because I was unhappy there,” Carvell said of his member seat on the board. “So, I made a decision earlier this year. I think what the community is doing to the school district was horrible. It wasn’t in the best interest of the town.”

When Carvell was chair, meetings sometimes unraveled during public comments and he did what he could to keep the meeting on point and moving forward according to the evening’s agenda items.

“It’s gone awry,” he said. “Even after I wasn’t the chairman any longer, I took the position after they made a move that was very pre-planned. I did not bark thunder. I did not cry foul. I did not disrespect anyone.”

Carvell said as a board member, his ideology was that the board members should respect one another and function properly.

“We could disagree,” he added, “as long as we disagree with a manner of reasoning. And not just with wild, personal attacks.”

At the beginning of the 2019 school year, meetings were often heated, due in some part, to the hiring of Dr. Huizenga who many teachers felt should have never been permanently hired as school superintendent and wanted her to resign then.

“I thought I would be able to support the community of Milford from whatever seat I was in,” Carvell shared. “Because I don’t look as the chair as being the boss of the district. The chairman just writes the paperwork and gets authority to sign things and facilitates meetings. That person has no more authority than any other board member.”

Carvell said he just “sat back,” having no problem with supporting the school board as a board member.

“I’ll sit here and be very respectful in my last term,” he said. “I didn’t speak out of turn. I didn’t want it to look like we were bossing the district around. And that’s the way the board should function. This board is not functioning like that.”

Carvell disagrees with those who feel that Huizenga wasn’t a good fit for the district, calling her, “the best superintendent around.”

“We have a superintendent who cares about kids,” he said. “She’s engaged and she’s committed. And she is not looking to sweep things under the rug. It’s mind boggling the amount of time that people are spending going after her.”

In Huizenga’s letter of resignation, she stated that she was grateful to the community for their support and their “shared desire to improve our schools.”

“I am especially proud of the work I have led with my team in developing and implementing a forward-thinking Strategic Plan, the District’s first in 10 years,” Huizenga wrote.

While Carvell couldn’t disclose details of Huizenga’s leaving, he did call her the “best superintendent.”

“She wants to stay in Milford and do her job,” Carvell noted. “That’s her passion. And I left because of this whole thing that was transpiring. I left because I wasn’t going to be part of destroying a town. But I think there is more to come on this.”

Carvell said this isn’t just a problem in Milford; other districts in other cities have had similar problems.

“There are other school boards and individuals in other districts who behave like this,” he said. “There are people out there whose way of expressing concern is to put things up on telephone poles and harass them that way. That’s unfortunate, but that’s the world we live in.”

“We’ve created our own monster based on what goes on down in D.C.,” Carvell added. “It’s just pouring over everywhere.”