GM board members spar over misconduct allegations

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC

What was ostensibly a review of the board’s ethics code and behavioral norms following complaints about the actions of at least two members of the Green Mountain Unified School District board turned into a tense discussion of a single member’s creation of images that he emailed to one other board member and to himself using his school email address.

The complaints from the public have apparently centered around two board members’ reactions to the Chieftain controversy, either criticizing on social media those private citizens who have been fighting to have the name jettisoned from the high school or creating images to skewer the efforts to defend it.

The member who some tried to censure, Steve Perani of Cavendish, survived the censure vote but was excoriated by several board members and defended by others.  A censure would only have signified the board’s disapproval of the member’s actions or speech. It does not remove the member or take away voting privileges. School board members are elected officials of their respective towns.

Although the meeting of Thursday, Nov. 30 started calmly enough, the review of the “VT Code of Ethics for School Board Members” was unusual because it is normally looked at and signed by members as part of the board reorganization after Town Meeting Day elections in March. In the chair for the fifth consecutive meeting, Vice Chair Adrienne Williams read the code aloud, then passed it around for signatures. Board Chair Deb Brown attended by Zoom.

Superintendent Lauren Fierman explained the action by saying, “It seemed to me that given some of the discussion that has happened around some – not just one person’s – but multiple board members’ behavior, that it might be a good idea for everybody to be reminded of the things we’ve all agreed to and to look at it again.”

Brown, made a motion to have a discussion of “emails that were sent around … inappropriate emails” by one member, referring to Perani.

Board member Lisa Sanders of Cavendish questioned if that should have been added to the agenda but Williams said it was part of the “code of conduct” discussion.

Asked what the purpose of the discussion was, Brown replied, “They went out and people are upset by them and we need to address” the emails. Those emails — using the TRSU email server — contained images and text that some board members deemed offensive while others said they were satire concerning the current Chieftain branding controversy.

Contrary to Brown’s assertions, the images were not widely shared by Perani, their creator, who sent one to fellow board member Josh Schroeder of Chester,  and the rest to himself on his TRSU email account. The email to Schroeder included the line “I illustrated your statement.”  In interviews Tuesday, neither Perani nor Schroeder said they could recall clearly when that “statement” occurred.

The images became public when they were posted on Facebook by Chester resident Roy Spaulding, who had obtained them through a public records request for emails sent among school board members within a specific timeframe.

The most widely disseminated image showed a swastika with a stylized single feather headband on top. At the bottom of the image are the words: “200 years ago this might have been okay, but the world has changed. The Chieftains name, swastikas and racist actions have to go.” Perani said he made the image in response to a comment made in an executive session but could not pinpoint what date and there are no minutes or recordings of such sessions.

Perani told The Telegraph that he is passionate about issues around racism and that creating those images, but not publishing them was a way of blowing off steam. Another image skewered the idea of rebranding the Chieftain name by showing a kilt-clad Mel Gibson in the movie Braveheart with the line: “Are we all supposed to be Scottish now, or what?” According to the email records, Perani sent that only to himself.

“I am deeply sorry that I used a public email account to send what was essentially a private message,” Perani told The Telegraph. Perani characterized his action as “stupid.”

The board voted to have the discussion, which was kicked off by Chester board member Jeff Hance, who read a prepared statement and said that he was shocked at Perani’s emails and his outbursts at meetings. Hance said he has stood by when Perani was “yelling and screaming at other board members to intimidate them” and he would not tolerate it in the future.

“Your behavior gets so hostile that a few of our female board members felt threatened by you and now we have police presence at our board meetings,” said Hance.

Brown then said she had hoped for an apology from Perani, but failing that she made a lengthy motion to censure him.

“We make people a mascot and we’re fine with it,” countered board member Kate Lamphere of Cavendish, “but Steve uses satire and he’s racist. We are racist, we are using a racist mascot and name for our school. The hypocrisy is too much for me.”

Brown said that it was not one email, but several. “We need to take a stand and say that’s not OK. If a student did this they would be expelled.”

When the vote was taken, the motion to censure Perani was defeated 5 to 4.

Conduct of board members questioned

Board member Lisa Sanders of Cavendish said, “If this is a conversation about how all of the board members are conducting themselves, I just want to say that in the very short time I have been on this board I have been yelled at, I’ve had fingers pointed at me, I’ve had emails I thought were condescending and people have cursed. I completely agree that the goal should be calm, respectful conversation but I find that this is not the only incident that goes beyond this policy.”

And in introducing the ethics review, Fierman alluded to more than one member against whom complaints had been lodged for inappropriate behavior, but the board did not have any motions at the ready to censure, rebuke or even admonish any other members.

The Telegraph, however, has learned that a complaint was made against Andover board member Scott Kendall for comments he has made on social media apparently regarding those individuals who made complaints that the district was violating its mascot/branding policy and also appealed the GM board’s decision that they did not violate the district’s policy to the Agency of Education.

In an email to Brown and the rest of the board titled “Scott Kendall’s Public Harassment & Targeting of Me Must Stop,” Chester resident Carrie King asserted that Kendall had posted misleading information regarding a school matter on his Facebook page, leading to hostility toward her in the community.

“Mr. Kendall’s targeted harassment feels like an attempt to limit my willingness and courage to express myself and therefore disrupt the upcoming AOE mascot appeal hearings,” wrote King.

Two days later, Brown responded that she had spoken with Kendall and that while he is under no obligation to censor his speech, he had taken down the posts.

“Because of the apparent unwillingness of the board as a whole to deal with conduct issues, there will be no further action at this time” wrote Brown.

A few footnotes

A meeting can vote to have a member leave the room during discussion of censuring  that member under Robert’s Rules of Order. At the same time, a board has to give that member time to speak “briefly” in his or her own defense. While Perani spoke to the motion, Williams pushed him to finish or stop.

Also, when a member is under a pending censure motion, they lose voting privileges and so it was not proper for Perani to vote. Removing him from the count would have created a tie and the motion would still have been defeated unless Williams had voted as the chair to break the tie.

Finally, a student who would make a controversial drawing would likely not be expelled from school. According to Fierman, “In general, expulsions don’t happen for a single occasion of inappropriate behavior unless it creates an imminent danger.” But Fierman also noted that every incident has its own distinct circumstances.