Pontiac school board to discuss its role amid controversy over board member
Saturday, January 9, 2010
By DIANA DILLABER MURRAY
Of The Oakland Press
Of The Oakland Press
PONTIAC – New Pontiac Board of Education President Gill Garrett has called a special meeting for 11 a.m. today to discuss what the board’s role should be amid allegations that newly seated board Treasurer Mary Barr can’t legally sit on the board while she is a teacher.
As of Friday, State Rep. Tim Melton, D-Auburn Hills, had received two requests to intervene. He said his staff was preparing an official request to the state Attorney General’s Office for an opinion on whether the teacher, who was elected to finish out a one-year term, will be legally required to give up one of the positions.
“I want to handle this in the open and above board,” Garrett said. “I don’t like to play political games. I don’t know what all this is about,” he said, referring to attempts of more than one person to file a complaint about Barr’s dual role at the Pontiac Police Department, where complainants said they were told the process had to be started.
The fact that the issue has been raised only after Barr has been seated and officers have been elected makes it a distraction for the board that has so many other issues to work on, Garrett said. He didn’t want to wait until already scheduled meetings next week because he wants to have the issue dealt with before then.
“I am calling a special meeting so we can all get out our differences and decide what we think and what we should do,” Garrett said. “I need direction on moving forward as the current board president. I don’t want to move on my own.”
He said he had asked former President Damon Dorkins Nov. 4 to find out whether the board had any legal responsibility in the matter before Barr was seated and before he became president, but never got an answer. He has asked that copies of all correspondence on the issue be prepared for today’s meeting.
As of now, Garrett said he doesn’t believe the board has a role in such a situation. But he said he was planning to consult with the school board attorney before today’s meeting.
“If any trustee has anything that will help us they should state it now. If they do, they can put a motion on the floor and move on with this.”
Garrett said the issue is a distraction when the board is in the middle of restructuring the district.
“Our kids are at stake,” he said.
In reaction to the call for an attorney general’s opinion, Barr, who was the top vote-getter in the November school board election, said simply, “I respect the democratic process.” She had said earlier that she had met many challenges in her life and whatever challenges she has, she will address. Melton said there are opinions on cases in Michigan similar to Barr’s that indicate she needs to give up one of the positions. He said he had sent opinions to district offices before the meeting Monday.
One of the requests for Melton’s intervention was filed by city activist Kevin Stewart, and the second by William R. Fuqua, a retired 32-year school teacher who lives in Pontiac and taught in Highland Park.
“How is Ms. Mary Barr allowed to be a trustee and remain a teacher?” Fuqua wrote. “I was under the impression this would be a conflict of interest,” he said, asking Melton for an investigation and telling him to “make sure the district is in compliance with the law.”
Fuqua said Barr should vacate her position just as former Pontiac Councilman Marc Seay did, when he was ordered by Oakland County Circuit Court to choose between his job as firefighter or council member.
Barr was part of a voting bloc that replaced Dorkins with former board Vice President Garrett. On the same night, Barr was voted in as board treasurer and newly elected trustee Caroll Turpin as vice president by the same 4-3 voting bloc of Garrett, Barr, Turpin and Trustee Robert Bass.
In his request for intervention and an attorney general’s opinion, Stewart said “I believe the actions of the Pontiac Board of Education at its organizational meeting and official business meeting held on Monday, Jan. 4, 2010, were in violation of the law and that every action taken must be revisited and considered null and void.”
As of Friday, State Rep. Tim Melton, D-Auburn Hills, had received two requests to intervene. He said his staff was preparing an official request to the state Attorney General’s Office for an opinion on whether the teacher, who was elected to finish out a one-year term, will be legally required to give up one of the positions.
“I want to handle this in the open and above board,” Garrett said. “I don’t like to play political games. I don’t know what all this is about,” he said, referring to attempts of more than one person to file a complaint about Barr’s dual role at the Pontiac Police Department, where complainants said they were told the process had to be started.
The fact that the issue has been raised only after Barr has been seated and officers have been elected makes it a distraction for the board that has so many other issues to work on, Garrett said. He didn’t want to wait until already scheduled meetings next week because he wants to have the issue dealt with before then.
“I am calling a special meeting so we can all get out our differences and decide what we think and what we should do,” Garrett said. “I need direction on moving forward as the current board president. I don’t want to move on my own.”
He said he had asked former President Damon Dorkins Nov. 4 to find out whether the board had any legal responsibility in the matter before Barr was seated and before he became president, but never got an answer. He has asked that copies of all correspondence on the issue be prepared for today’s meeting.
As of now, Garrett said he doesn’t believe the board has a role in such a situation. But he said he was planning to consult with the school board attorney before today’s meeting.
“If any trustee has anything that will help us they should state it now. If they do, they can put a motion on the floor and move on with this.”
Garrett said the issue is a distraction when the board is in the middle of restructuring the district.
“Our kids are at stake,” he said.
In reaction to the call for an attorney general’s opinion, Barr, who was the top vote-getter in the November school board election, said simply, “I respect the democratic process.” She had said earlier that she had met many challenges in her life and whatever challenges she has, she will address. Melton said there are opinions on cases in Michigan similar to Barr’s that indicate she needs to give up one of the positions. He said he had sent opinions to district offices before the meeting Monday.
One of the requests for Melton’s intervention was filed by city activist Kevin Stewart, and the second by William R. Fuqua, a retired 32-year school teacher who lives in Pontiac and taught in Highland Park.
“How is Ms. Mary Barr allowed to be a trustee and remain a teacher?” Fuqua wrote. “I was under the impression this would be a conflict of interest,” he said, asking Melton for an investigation and telling him to “make sure the district is in compliance with the law.”
Fuqua said Barr should vacate her position just as former Pontiac Councilman Marc Seay did, when he was ordered by Oakland County Circuit Court to choose between his job as firefighter or council member.
Barr was part of a voting bloc that replaced Dorkins with former board Vice President Garrett. On the same night, Barr was voted in as board treasurer and newly elected trustee Caroll Turpin as vice president by the same 4-3 voting bloc of Garrett, Barr, Turpin and Trustee Robert Bass.
In his request for intervention and an attorney general’s opinion, Stewart said “I believe the actions of the Pontiac Board of Education at its organizational meeting and official business meeting held on Monday, Jan. 4, 2010, were in violation of the law and that every action taken must be revisited and considered null and void.”
1 comment:
Many people wear multiple hats and are able to multi-task. The interworkings of public service require people with experience to jump in and work collectively with others to move the mountain of tasks forward.
There is a principle of innocent until proven guilty that should be applied here. It is peoples inability to step away from their defensive postures and suspend (examine) their assumptions in the light of day that keeps the (participatory) democratic process from moving forward.
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