Town Board Supporters Threaten to Drag School Board Into Their Mess

When I spoke at Thursday night's meeting, I made a point of informing everyone that I was speaking as the Town's Conservative Party Chairman. I rarely do so, but felt it was necessary to avoid any confusion over the fact that I am also a School Board member. I do not speak as a School Board member in public except at School Board Meetings. That seems only logical to me. However, it never hurts to clarify. Apparently clarification is sometimes not sufficient.

Just before last night's School Board Meeting, the School Board President came up to me to tell me that over the past several days, she had received several phone calls and e-mails complaining about my comments to the Town Board. Many of these were anonymous (big surprise). She informed me that she told the anonymous ones that she wasn't about to speak with anyone who wouldn't even give his or her name. The ones who did were told that School Board business and local politics were two very separate issues.

Some of these callers also told her that they would be attending the School Board Meeting with the intention of disrupting our business. Of course, nobody ever showed up.

Now, just to clarify where this information comes from, the School Board President and I are on opposite sides of the political fence. We have had disagreements in the past, but I have found her to be honorable and someone who works diligently at her responsibilities. The fact that we often have different views on subjects both educational and political does not mean that I cannot recognize and respect her sincerity in her beliefs and the effort she puts into her duties as President.

As to my responsibilities as a Member of the School Board, I likewise take them very seriously. It has always been my position that elected officials are answerable to the voters. They are our "employers", so to speak, and we must be accountable to them for everything we do in their names. Everyone who knows me or has attended School Board Meetings knows that this is a principle I follow with a great deal of gravity in my elected position. It is for this reason that I find the events of Feb. 1 so distasteful. The members of the Town Board seem to have either forgotten that responsibility or chosen to ignore it.

It is our job as citizens to remind them of their jobs as elected officials.