This week’s School Committee agenda is the rough equivalent of an effort to place School Superintendent Priya Tahiliani on notice that everything about her job and those who she hired is about to change.
In Everett language, this translates into this: the SC agenda is intended to tie Tahiliani’s arms behind her back and to tie her feet together at the ankles. The agenda also provides for stipulations that act like a thick sock stuffed into her mouth.
The agenda is way overboard. Its creators are aware of this but they don’t care.
Attempting to rig the process of forcing Tahiliani to leave is part of the mayor’s plan to control the School Department and to reorganize it the way he wants, to hire whom he wants, and to fire whomever he wishes.
In the case of Tahiliani, the School Committee is attempting to rid itself of a woman of color.
This should be easy to accomplish.
There are 8 votes pledged against Tahiliani and her appointments.
This means that when the votes are taken, the mayor will not have to vote against Tahiliani. He is likely to vote for her to remain to show how fair the process is.
In a school system that is almost entirely Black, Spanish speaking, Brazilian and made up of minorities from all over the world, the effort is now being made by the nearly all white School Committee to rid itself of the lead woman professional educator who happens to be a woman of color.
The idea is to return to yesterday. To bring the Everett schools back to Everett by employing only Everett people who happen to be white, who will be appointed by the nearly all-white SC with the mayor nodding his head as if he is pleased that such a thing is being done.
It is one of the best kept secrets in Everett that the mayor is set to get rid of Tahiliani. He has also placed a big target on the outspoken high school vice-principal Cory McCarthy, who also happens to be Black.
Being Black and being outspoken in Everett, well, that doesn’t go down well with the town fathers who yearn for the so-called return to yesterday.
We will reserve final judgment on what’s going down when we can report on the happenings of the School Committee meeting held Tuesday night.
This will be reported on our FaceBook site and in next week’s Leader Herald.
In the meantime, the Tuesday night agenda is the road map which the School Committee is likely to follow trying to satisfy the mayor’s wishes.
It is so transparent as to be scary.
We believe this is all about retaliation. And it is about race. As a public policy, it stinks.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.
The SC agenda proves it.