OUT OF ORDER BOE President Threatens to Call Police to Remove Board Member
I'll take this opportunity to share with readers a brief report of some events that took place during Tuesday night's school board meeting as well as excerpts from prior meetings. Defiance Tuesday night's meeting progressed in an ordinary manner, running fairly smoothly until the "board members' remarks" portion-the portion of each meeting when individual board members have "privilege of the floor" to discuss any issue of their choice. According to School Policy, "the president shall recognize board members who wish to speak and protect the speaker who has the floor from disturbance or interference." At that time I was recognized by the chair and granted privilege of the floor. There were several issues to discuss, two of which (in my opinion) had a negative impact on the District: the first being the lack of communications between the Administration and the Board of Education by the Superintendent (which President Tucker acknowledged existed); and the second, the Superintendent's failure to adhere to Board directives regarding agendas. To explain my point, at the September 11th meeting, the Board voted 7-0 to require that the BOE adhere strictly to the Open Government Laws with respect to grievances and that all future board agendas comply with the State's open meeting requirements (the agenda must clearly state the reason for Executive Session as involving "a particular person(s) or corporation") as mandated by law and further that the Superintendent shall inform each board member in advance the identify of the particular person(s) or corporation by placing the information in their packets. The blanket phrase, "personnel matters," that had heretofore been used would no longer be acceptable and should not be used. When the pre-board agenda for October 9th board meeting was prepared, the Executive Session portion was not in compliance with the board's directive as voted on at the September 11th meeting. As a result, a request was made to the Superintendent that he make the necessary changes to conform to the board's directive. During the October 9th board meeting, the final ADDENDUM agenda was given to each board member but the requested changes still had not been made. On November 7th the pre-board agenda for the November 13th meeting was prepared by the administration and once again, the agenda was not in compliance with State requirements, and the board's directives regarding wording for executive session. The Board President notified the Superintendent requesting that the proper changes be made to reflect the board's directive. When the final November 13th ADDENDUM agenda was given to the board, once again it was not in compliance with the board's directive. The question is, "Is there a lack of communications or is the Superintendent being defiant?" You be the judge! Shenanigans and Bad Behavior That aside, the highlight of the evening came during "Board Actions/Discussion Items" (the portion of the meeting when items are discussed and votes taken). While being granted privilege of the floor, I was rudely and continuously interrupted by board member Terry Parisian. Slamming the gavel down, President Tucker warned Parisian to stop interrupting while other board members had the floor.[click to listen] * When I tried to continue, Parisian defiantly disregarded President Tucker's admonishment, and arrogantly continued to interrupt and make sarcastic remarks toward me, as well as mock President Tucker (at which time, former board member Vince Buono, who was part of the audience, applauded Parisian's behavior). Outraged by Parisian's disorderly and unethical conduct, as well as the disturbance being caused by Buono, President Tucker once again slammed the gavel down and scolded Parisian. [click to listen] * He warned Parisian that if Parisian were to continue being disruptive while other board members have the floor, the police would be called to remove him. [click to listen] * That was not the first time Parisian had conducted himself in such an unprofessional manner, and I immediately recalled the incident that happened during my very first board meeting when Parisian, unprovoked and without warning, verbally attacked me. He was obviously enraged and, seemingly out of control, began yelling and arguing wildly. I could hardly believe what I had witnessed and was shocked by such a display of unrestrained temper (a report of the incident appeared in the Saugerties Post Star article entitled "Saugerties BOE Report Card"). [click to read] Another incident occurred at a special board meeting held for the purpose of giving the public an opportunity to address concerns about the track. Immediately following the meeting, three different individuals from the audience approached me and relayed their outrage to me, stating how they were appalled by the unprofessional conduct of board members Terry Parisian and Mike Brennan during the meeting. They complained that Parisian and Brennan were talking and laughing with each other during public recognition period. I also witnessed them laughing and whispering to each other while other board members were asking questions. The incident was reported to President Tucker. What is most disturbing, however, is that giggling, laughing, making sarcastic remarks about other board members and whispering in one another's ears occur frequently when Brennan and Parisian sit together. This childish sort of shenanigans by elected officials reflects poorly on the board as a whole, sends the wrong message and sets a poor example. Their actions are an absolute embarrassment, not only to the Board of Education itself, but to the entire community. Point of interest, Terry Parisian currently holds the position of president of the Ulster County School Board Associations. I wonder if he conducts himself in the same manner at those meetings? I welcome their reply to this article. Stay tuned… |