Just the Facts Ma'am

I’m floored that Phil Keren, editor of the Falls News Press would do the citizens of Cuyahoga Falls the favor of printing our board president admitting a vote took place in executive session. Although the article was wrong on one part. It was not a unanimous decision as I and one other member did not vote. I stared at them and was quickly ignored, and the other member (noob) stated that they had their three votes and didn’t need his either way. Remember- he just had those new board member sessions with the Ohio School Board Association.

Bad fact checking Falls News! I mean, with today’s technology it wouldn’t have taken much effort to call me. Especially before you print something that is clearly a violation of Ohio’s Sunshine Law.

You can check it out here, or you can continue reading and I’ll explain to you what it says and of course my opinion of why it says this.

You can enter executive session for very specific reasons. They are few because we are a public entity. One of the reasons is discipline. Not that our board has ever bothered to be as specific as they should despite my raising concerns several times over the last two years.

Anyway, once you have convened into executive session you may not vote. That means no voting, polling, hand raising, etc. No vote. Period. The reasons for this are very simple. The public has a right to know what their board of education is doing. They also have a right to know how a decision was reached.

In fact I left the executive session February 6th because of illegal voting. They were voting on whether to censure me for leaving the meeting with a board document. Yes you heard me right. I was threatened with censure if I left the board meeting with the superintendents evaluation. The board president stated at the onset of the meeting that she wanted the document returned. I made no comment. I wasn’t made privy as to why I couldn’t leave with it.

I think it has something to do with the fact that she stated she couldn’t find last years evaluation. Even stranger is that she actually thought this was confidential information! The document is there by the way, but if you really need a copy, just ask around. Many copies were made available courtesy of a concerned citizen at a board meeting. In fact some board members had copies in the executive session.

Then it got bizarre. Obviously my scores were shared with other members, even tough we turned them over to the board president anonymously. The minute we took a peek at the scores another member stated, “boy Kellie you sure had a change of heart from last year” What?! How in the hell would anyone know that? In fact, if information wasn’t shared and you compared from last year you’d think the scores were anyone’s but mine. I’ll admit my scores have gone up this year. But only because I have seen improvement. I was not going to base the entire evaluation on one incident involving the missed deadline.