The Hinsdale High School District 86 Board voted 5-0 Monday, with two members abstaining, to affirm the superintendent’s decision that board policy does not include the right for a board member to file a grievance against a member of the community.
Board member Edward Corcoran filed a grievance in August claiming Joan Brandeis of Darien violated school policy by behaving in a rude and mean-spirited manner when she addressed him during the audience communication time of the July 20 board meeting.
Board policy 2:260 states that “students, parents/guardians, employees or community members” should notify the complaint manager if they believe the school board, its employees or agents have violated their rights, listing specific issues such as bullying, misuse of funds and sexual harassment.
Board members are not listed among those who should notify the district complaint manager if they have a complaint, Superintendent Bruce Law wrote.
Corcoran has maintained that when he became a member of the school board he did not relinquish his rights as a community member, and he appealed Law’s ruling.
Board President Kay Gallo suggested Corcoran should not participate in the board’s discussion of the appeal if he was presenting himself as a community member. Board member Bill Carpenter also questioned whether Corcoran should be making motions or discussing the issue since he is the one who filed the grievance.
But board member Claudia Manley said the same argument could be made against anyone on the board.
“Truly, truly, I believe everyone here is conflicted,” Manley said.
Manley proposed the vote on the superintendent’s decision be broken into two questions, the first being whether Corcoran has standing to file a complaint.
That motion failed when only Manley and Corcoran voted in favor of it.
Manley and Corcoran then abstained from the vote to affirm the superintendent’s decision.
Manley implied that both the administrators who ruled on Corcoran’s complaint and members of the school board had conflicts of interest.
Brandeis was the campaign manager for Carpenter, Kathleen Hirsman and Jennifer Planson, who won election in the spring defeating the candidates that Manley and Corcoran supported.
Thus, Manley said, they owe something to Brandeis, who was referred to as “the alleged perpetrator.” Manley said Brandeis raised almost $100,000 for the slate’s campaign, although records filed with the State Board of Elections show that the District 86 Education First campaign fund, which supported Planson’s, Hirsman’s and Carpenter’s election, had a balance of $6,125 as of Sept. 30, 2014, and received about $55,300 in donations and in-kind contributions over the next year.
“The amount raised in the campaign is irrelevant for what the board was voting on last night,” Brandeis said Tuesday. “In my opinion, the grievance should never have been made by a board member. It had no grounds and I have every right to state my opinion, especially when it is all fact.”
Maryam Judar, the executive director of the Citizen Advocacy Center in Elmhurst, asked the board to affirm Law’s decision. She said when she heard a board member was using the school grievance policy “to punish” a member of the public for comments made at an open meeting, “it immediately raised concerns of the abuse of power to intimidate people from utilizing their First Amendment rights to speak out on matters of public concern and offer their viewpoint.
“My concerns were underscored when members of the community contacted (the center) fearing the ripple effect such intimidation can have on the public’s confidence to speak out,” Judar said.
Judar said public comments on items before an elected board is political speech which gets the highest First Amendment protection.
“Government cannot limit the public’s speech based on its content,” Judar said. “A better platform for a trustee would be to use their position of power and access to the media to rebut with arguments and facts.”
Twitter: @kfdoings
