School board rejects censure
An unprecedented policy procedure at the Oct. 2 CVUSD school board meeting left both board members and community members perplexed. Vice President Sandee Everett had previously proposed an action item to censure Trustee Betsy Connolly under the premise of social media misconduct. Yet in the third hour of the meeting, when President John Andersen called for a motion on the issue, Everett was silent.
After a moment of confusion, Connolly requested that Trustee Patricia Phelps make the motion for a censure. “I think the purpose of this is to get the discussion on the table,” Phelps said, tearfully obliging. Connolly seconded.
Immediately following, Everett requested that the motion be withdrawn. She was denied; according to board bylaw, this action could only have been valid had it been made at the beginning of the meeting when the agenda was approved.
“This clearly was a political stunt,” Mary Anne Van Zuyle, community member, said. Every community member who spoke during the action item spoke against the censure.
Everett’s original premise for the censure was an alleged misuse of social media by Connolly. According to Everett, Connolly engaged in several discriminatory interactions using a public social media account. Connolly sent out an email that, according to Everett’s claims on the meeting agenda, “disparaged fellow board members.”
Several community members voiced their support for the censure during public comments. “Instead of apologizing for the email, you claimed it was sent by mistake. That doesn’t make it legal or right,” Nikki Jones, community member, said, addressing Connolly. “Trying to silence parents by bullying and intimidation is wrong”.
Others spoke against the proposition. “(Connolly’s) work on this board is focused and makes a difference for our students, parents and community,” Jamie Alberg, community member, said.
One piece of evidence presented by Everett came from a Betsy Connolly Twitter parody account with the handle @dvmmum, which included a post that read, “When a person claims to act on instructions from God, I’m starting to look for a place to hide.”
“I did not find this good behavior. That is why I agreed to put it on the agenda,” Everett said, referring to Connolly’s alleged actions. “I take these kinds of things very seriously. I do not want anyone to feel cyberbullied.”
In their statements, many community members compared the censure of Dunn to the attempted censure of Connolly. “The last time we were discussing a censure, Dunn was censured after he reached out to my employer and threatened retaliation to my employer if I continued to speak at public board meetings,” Jessica Weihe, community member recounted, noting the contrasting parameters of each censure.
