Media Consultant Resigns From Position With Newtown Public Schools

By Eliza Hallabeck

After Board of Education Chair Debbie Leidlein contacted Ann Baldwin of Baldwin Media Marketing last weekend to verify that she would supply information for the school board’s Tuesday, December 20, meeting, Ms Baldwin, who has been providing services to the district since July, responded on Monday, December 19, that she has resigned from her position with the Newtown Public Schools.

Ms Leidlein explained during the meeting that Ms Baldwin, whose position with the district was contracted through the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE) on the authority of Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson, spoke with her in a phone call over the weekend.

During the school board’s previous meeting, on Tuesday, December 6, Ms Leidlein asked Ms Baldwin, who was in attendance at that meeting, to give a presentation to the school board to answer questions that came up during the meeting.

During the weekend phone call, Ms Baldwin told Ms Leidlein she could not attend the December 20 meeting due to a previous engagement, but Ms Leidlein said she asked Ms Baldwin to supply information regarding services she has provided for the Newtown Public School district.

Ms Leidlein said she sent a follow-up e-mail thanking Ms Baldwin for the phone conversation and listing the items on which she wanted more information.

“I subsequently received a communication from Ann Baldwin last evening, and she has resigned from working with Newtown Public Schools,” Ms Leidlein said.

Ms Leidlein told the board she had contacted Ms Baldwin seeking details on an invoice for $3,800 in June, previous projects, current projects, future projects, access to e-mails and PowerPoint presentations, how the contract between the school system and Baldwin Media Marketing “came to be,” how Ms Baldwin’s monthly retainer worked, and more.

Following Ms Baldwin’s e-mail, Ms Leidlein said she contacted CABE for more information regarding all of her questions. She said she hopes to receive that information.

“I was a little taken aback in the monthly finance report,” said Ms Leidlein, about the report for November presented by District Business Director Ron Bienkowski earlier in the meeting, “that it was mentioned that the CABE contract had ended with regard to the media consultant, considering that came out on Friday and we were not informed until Monday evening of the resignation.”

Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson said she had informed Mr Bienkowski that Ms Baldwin was discussing resigning, but then Ms Baldwin decided not to resign.

“But I didn’t tell him that,” Dr Robinson said, “and then she did.”

Board Members Respond

School board Vice Chair Laura Roche asked why the questions surrounding the media consultant and the services provided by Baldwin Media Marketing could not be answered at the meeting without a response from CABE or Ms Baldwin.

“I’m trying to understand how the contract was brought to the table, how it got approved or didn’t get approved, how it was orchestrated, and how certain board members were part of it and certain weren’t,” said Ms Roche. “And I’m trying to understand the process. I’m trying to figure out how all of this came about.”

Board member William Hart, former chair of the school board, said he and former board secretary Andrew Buzzi both encouraged Dr Robinson to improve communications in the district, and later added, “CABE was the obvious place to go to look for help for something like that, since they are school board experts. I guess it was just like anything else, where do we go and get help?”

Ms Leidlein said the most upsetting part of hiring the media consultant was the total cost to the district of $19,700, “and we’re not getting answers.”

Before expressing his pleasure that Ms Baldwin has resigned so the district will not continue spending money associated with the contract beyond December, board member John Vouros also agreed the situation was upsetting to everyone for multiple reasons, including, “We have plenty of people in this district who could communicate.”

He also said he could think of “a lot of ways to spend that money.”

Saying the entire situation does not bode well with him, board Secretary Cody McCubbin questioned how he could justify the school district spending money on a media consultant when teachers come before the board to ask for money for books.

Board member Keith Alexander said he agrees that details, specifically reasons behind unspecified charges to the school district, would be nice, but he also voiced concern about starting an investigation into the topic with an assumption of intent of decisions.

Looking back, Mr Hart said it was a mistake not to announce Ms Baldwin’s work with the district, and during the meeting he took responsibility for it. He also said communicating is a difficult job that takes certain skills.

“Had I been a better communicator, I would have seen this,” said Mr Hart.

Following the board members’ discussion of the topic, Dr Robinson spoke.

“My recollection was she provided services during a stressful time,” the superintendent explained. “Then there was discussion about some ongoing things that she could do, and the larger agreement was done later. Several statements have been made that there were deliberate attempts to stay under the board approval [amount], and that, I assure you, is not the case.”

After Dr Robinson spoke, Mr Vouros asked her to improve her communication, saying it was upsetting to hear her say that attending multiple meetings a day left her with little time.

Ms Leidlein said the school board needs transparency, the ability to talk with one another, and “to explain the work that is going on so that everybody on the board can understand, everybody on the board can be informed, and can make the right decisions going forward.”

On Thursday morning, Ms Baldwin said her resignation had nothing to do with her conversation with Ms Leidlein last weekend. Ms Baldwin also said she had been thinking about resigning.

“Really, in the whole scheme of things there are bigger issues the board needs to deal with, and I’m not one of them,” said the media consultant. “Education really needs to be the focus.”

She continued, explaining that she was hired to promote positive aspects about Newtown’s schools, and was in the process of doing that as recently as Tuesday, December 6, when she filmed what will be a 15-minute segment for Channel 21 about the school district. For that segment, Ms Baldwin said, Newtown High School Technology students were trained to use filming equipment and Dr Robinson was featured in the segment.

Had she continued her time with the district, Ms Baldwin said airing video features of the school district would have continued, and would have been included in her monthly retainer cost.

“I want these kids to be able to continue that project,” Ms Baldwin said.

Due to being out of town, Ms Baldwin said she could not attend the week’s meeting, and said she wishes she could have been there to explain.

In 18 years in the industry, Ms Baldwin added, said she has never seen anything like the negativity in Newtown. She said her hope is that with her resignation, issues surrounding her time in the district will come to a close and the school board will be able to focus on education.