MONTPELIER — Rebecca Bowen has resigned as a board member of the Montpelier-Roxbury Public Schools District and requests to fill the remainder of her term this year are being accepted through Jan. 8.
Bowen said she informed the School Board in the fall that she would not seek re-election on Town Meeting Day, and made it official last month. Bowen said she thought her three-year term ended in March but learned that it had been extended to March 2021 after she was re-elected in July when the Montpelier and Roxbury formed a unified school district under Act 46.
Bowen said there also were other reasons she decided to step down.
“Honestly, I’m not a good fit for the board with my personality type,” Bowen said. “I’m not a political person and I get impatient when things go at a snail’s pace.
“I said to Jim (Murphy, the school board chairman), ‘I’m not a good fit, I feel like I’m doing more harm than good, and I need to resign.’ He agreed to that,” she added.
Despite Bowen’s misgivings, she is credited, together with fellow board member Michele Braun, for their work with Montpelier High School’s student Racial Justice Alliance that raised concerns about claims of “systemic racism” at the school.
At the request of students, it led to the raising of the Black Lives Matter flag at the school in February 2018, the first public school in America to do so and led to other Vermont schools following suit.
“It’s had a huge impact, not just at the school but in the community, I think,” Bowen said.
Bowen said she was inspired to get involved because she had two African American children in the school system who were affected by the issues around racial justice in Montpelier schools.
Bowen also noted that her professional background as the human resources director at Central Vermont Home Health and Hospice, and a background in finance also led to her being asked to accept several other leadership roles on the board.
“Because of my work background, I was immediately tasked with putting together a finance committee, putting together an evaluation committee (for the school district superintendent),” Bowen said.
The latter, she said, was connected with the contentious departure of former Superintendent Brian Ricca and the need to establish clearly defined policies concerning board evaluations of the superintendent’s performance.
“I think I was kind of brutally overworked the first year and I got exhausted,” Bowen said. “I think that was my fault. I personally felt that I was not a good fit.
“My only dismay with Brian’s process is that it took so long to happen. There were performance problems that needed to be addressed. They needed to be addressed years before. You shouldn’t let a situation get to that point but the people on the board weren’t people who were accustomed to managing managers,” Bowen added.
Murphy praised Bowen for her service on the school board.
“I thank Becky for her hard work on the Board and enjoyed serving with her these last few years,” Murphy wrote in an email. “Becky was a strong advocate on the board for diversity, equity, and inclusion in our district and helped successfully guide the district through a leadership transition and a merger. Her contribution to these efforts is greatly appreciated.”
Murphy said the board had received only one letter of interest in filling out the rest of Bowen’s term, from Mara Iverson, but would consider it and any other applications at the board’s meeting on Wednesday.
