I may well be a strange bird at times (as we all can be), but lately, and for obvious reasons, I’m reading School Board Policies. You know, those documents that describe how a School District is to operate in its entirety.
So, I’m expanding out from the Policy JBAB (Transgender and Non-Conforming) to some other “troubling” policies.
It seems, more and more, parents, taxpayers, voters, and other interested people are becoming aware that their School Boards are operating without their consent.
And School Board members SELDOM know what the NH State statutes ( and NH Dept of Ed regulations) are that govern what they are allowed to do – so they do what want (or end up being “Svengali’d by complicit Superintendents, lawyers with their own agendas, and the NH School Board Association).
And it seems that most School Districts are also too lazy to create most of their own Policies and just take what the NH School Board Association shoves out (Franklin is one that has actually done some of its own).
And they don’t care if those Policies pass legal or Constitutional muster, just like Biden’s CDC that declared yet ANOTHER eviction moratorium even as SCOTUS said that the CDC has no authorizing legislation to allow it to do ANYTHING with evictions.
And our Elite start to wonder why we peasants are revolting; why should we follow their “laws” when they refuse to follow their Laws in turn?
So, does your School Board have this Policy – SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER ETHICS?
In the case of Gilford, it is Policy BCA. There’s a BIG flaw in it – so I put in yet another RSA 91:A demand, and I just sent it to Gilford School Board Chair Gretchen Gandini, Vice-Chair Karen Thurston, Jeanin Onos, Kyle Sanborn, and Audra Kelly:
—— Original Message ——
From: “Skip” <Skip@granitegrok.com>
To: “Gandini, Gretchen” <ggandini@sau73.org>; “kthurston@sau73.org” <kthurston@sau73.org>; “jonos@sau73.org” <jonos@sau73.org>; “ksanborn@sau73.org” <ksanborn@sau73.org>; “AKelly@sau73.org” <AKelly@sau73.org>
Sent: 8/5/2021 6:41:04 PM
Subject: RSA 91:A demand – the Gilford School Board Policy BCA – SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER ETHICSGood evening.
Your Policy BCA outlines a number of items that a School Board SHALL comply with. In its entirety, it is (emphasis mine): https://www.sau73.org/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=11706448
SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER ETHICS
Each board member shall comply with the following ethical provisions:
1. Attend all regularly scheduled Board meetings, insofar as possible, and become informed concerning issues to be considered at those meetings.
2. Make decisions only after full discussion at public Board meetings; render all decisions based on the available facts and my independent judgment, and refuse to surrender that judgment to individuals or special interest groups.
3. Seek systematic communications with students, staff, and members of the community.
4. Work respectfully with other Board members to achieve the educational goals of the school district by encouraging the free expression of opinions by all Board members.
5. Communicate to other Board members and the Superintendent expressions of public reaction to Board policies and school programs.
6. Be informed about current educational issues by individual study and through participation in programs providing needed information, such as those sponsored by my state and national school board associations.
7. Support the employment of those persons best qualified to serve as school staff, and insist on a regular and impartial evaluation of all staff.
8. Respect the confidentiality of information that is privileged under applicable law or is received in confidence or executive session.
9. Recognize that no individual member has authority to speak or act for the entire Board, except as specifically designated to do so by Board action.
10. Recognize that final Board actions will be supported by all members of the Board; take no private action that will compromise the Board or administration; and refrain from private actions which undermine or compromise official Board action.
11. Display and demonstrate courtesy and decorum toward fellow Board members at all public meetings and in all public statements.(Adopted: 4/4/2016)
I dryly note that Items #9 and #10 are the most collectivist in nature (naturally!). Really, winning an election means that one cannot have a differing opinion. What a way to get rid of someone’s First Amendment Right. How can that be enforcible? As I have said many times before, the Gilford Town Adminstrator Evans Juris and Financial Director Debbie Schackett tried to do the same thing to shut me up with what turned out to be a completely plaigarized Code of Ethics that they said we all had to sign. Where did they have the power to demand that?
As I stated this past Monday evening during the Gilford School Board meeting, the word “shall” has a special meaning in Legislation. It is clear that the School Board also holds it in particular regard as it appears in your Policy proscriptions like this one.
Thus, pursuant to the Right to Know Law (RSA. 91-A), I am requesting public access, within 5 business days, to the following governmental records:
- The discipline schedule for School Board members that decline to follow one or more of the above strictures over some amount of time. In order to have the Power to discipline your members, I expect that the District will also supply the backup documentation in which the Legislature has granted to these Powers subdivision of the State in this matter. Threatening disciplinary actions requires that such objective actions are in place, otherwise such actions against a member would be capricious and arbitrary and may well violate existing State statutes which outline what a School Board is allowed to do.
- Signed copies of this Ethics document by each of the members of the Gilford School Board. After all, there is nothing in State statute that holds that merely winning an election automatically gives consent to such a document; consent must be willingly given.
Please let me know when these records are available for inspection or you may email the responsive records to me at Skip@GraniteGrok.com. If the volume is turns out to be substantial, I’ll be happy to supply a backup drive sufficient to hold all of your responsive records.
Thank you for your lawful attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Skip
There HAS to be a disciplined schedule – you can’t threaten official action unless people know what the penalties are ahead of time? If they are not known, the School Board is assuming the governance model of The Strong Man versus the American norm of The Rule of Law.
This should prove to be “interesting.” And they have even more just like it!
