I am writing this letter out of genuine concern of the current leadership structure of LPBC and I have noticed patterns that I would like to point out to you because I believe we are at a critical moment in our organization. This email does not represent the views of the grow committee, nor the grow chairs, as they were not involved in drafting this.
Since becoming a member of LPBC in 2015, I have served on the board of directors on two separate occasions, I was the first co-chair of LPBC Aspire, was chair of Grow Program for 4 years, I was a recipient of a LEA Award in 2018, and participated in GROW until was asked not to participate by LPBC President, Kim Lea. Through my business, I have also provided sponsorships for the Grow program, scholarship donations, and have been a sponsor at Songwriters in the Round.
From my perspective here is my concern:
Since 2015 the number of people involved in making major decisions has decreased. We created an EC on the board which I think hurts us. I think fewer people are doing the critical thinking and then ideas are presented to the board and simply being approved without much critical thought. This theory is explained in detail in my attached email below.
I think the GROW program is the most important thing about LPBC. Engage is wonderful, but the participants are adults. In Grow, the participants are incredible 11th graders who go through a program of similar curated experiences as the adults in the ENGAGE program. However, a typical brain is not usually fully developed until age 26. By that point, a normal person has already developed their own core beliefs and biases. It is very hard to change these core beliefs once established. But 11th graders are different. You can actually see the experience impact an 11th grader’s perspective of the world. It matters so much more in developing leaders. If you spend a year on the bus with these kids, the experience is profound and life changing.
Many members of the LPBC Board of Governors do not understand Grow, nor its value. While we appreciate Keely, Jessica, Teresa and Alpesh attending a Grow day this past year, and James and Keely attending Grow graduation, there has been no other Board involvement with Grow despite an open invitation. I have no recollection of a Board Member attending a single Grow committee meeting this entire past year.
How this accumulated to the GROW issue:
There has always been friction between the Grow committee and Board of Governors. Whether it is charging students for the experience, eliminating it, getting rid of scholarships, making significant changes– there has always been something.
At the end of this past 2023-2024 year, the Grow Committee, were told there would be changes coming. There was also discussion that Grow may be eliminated completely because it cost too much money. The Grow Committee chairs were told they would be invited to meet with the board to address concerns before the next 2024-2025 Grow year. They were also told they would be sent a detailed budget of expenses and revenues so they could provide critical input and ideas to the board, and then the board would be equipped with information to make appropriate decisions.
This did not happen.
Instead, our Executive Director, who has one of year experience with LPBC,, came up with significant changes to the structure of Grow and presented it to the Board at their recent meeting, without input from Grow chairs (as promised) or any other Grow committee member. The Board approved every suggestion and change without comment or any form of critical review. Not a single Board member reached out to the current Grow chairs to share this new information with them.
Instead, the way the Grow Committee learned about these changes, was in a recent email blast informing the entire LPBC population through the “LPBC Weekly” and a personal phone call from the Executive Director to only 2 of the 3 current chairs.
This was shocking to me and the Grow committee, as they cannot understand how such important decisions could be made with so limited information, and with zero input from the actual people who chair this program and work directly with the students.
When one of the program chairs spoke up and expressed concern, the program chair was immediately ostracized by the current board president in two consecutive Emails, who said the “whistleblower” was inappropriate and should not be allowed to behave this way (i.e. voice a critical concern about the organization and advocate for the Grow program).
The email chain is copied below for you to make your own determination. Please remember the circumstances that led up to it. Also, I have seen members of the board send out this email and they seem to omit (I cannot tell if it intentional or not) the Executive Director’s original email of Thursday, July 25, 2024 1:25 PM. This email is critical and clearly demonstrates the core of the committee’s frustration.
Here is LPBC’s Executive Director complaining about one of the Grow Chairs:
And then, LPBC ED Lori Norcito, issued this apology:
This led to extreme frustrations had a 75-minute conference call on 7/26/24 where the EC promised to hold a workshop with the committee and are willing to revisit any of the sweeping changes the Board recently approved for GROW without any input. An example of a decision made without information was when the Executive Director told one of the Grow chairs that they were going to eliminate Arts and Media day because the Executive Director did not think there was a day chair for that day. If the committee or chairs had been asked, they would have responded this is not a problem as we have already secured day chairs for next year. So if Arts & Media day would have been eliminated, it would have been based on total misinformation.
While I think this is an excellent way to resolve this particular problem, I am concerned the consequences of the leadership structure will have impact on other areas of our organization.
The two times I served on the board were quite different.
The first time I felt engaged, I was part of the discussion, my input was meaningful.
The second time I felt ideas were presented to us for approval and I did not feel I was performing any kind of meaningful contribution. During my 2nd time on the Board, I did not renew when my first term expired. No exit interview was conducted and not a single board member or staff asked me the reason why I did not return.
I think it’s probably because my service did not matter as the critical decision making of this organization had been funneled to a select few (i.e. the executive committee and executive director). I do not think these dynamics are healthy, as important decisions are being made without enough information or critical thought.
Further, I do not think the unintended consequences have been thought out, and I am concerned other members of LPBC will experience the same feeling of alienation that many people in GROW have.
This is the email telling me I can not look at minutes or budgets:
This is email where I am told I am banned from participating in GROW:
I have been asked not to participate. The future of LPBC is being defined. Which way would you like it to go? Good luck!!!!!
Stephens & Stevens Marital & Family Law 