Petition: Board needs appointment redo

A petition is now circulating in the Wrenshall school district to block an appointment to the school board made Aug. 16. The hasty vote-in of Bill Dian to replace new school principal Michelle Blanchard — made with no discussion among board members — rankled enough people with its lack of transparency to get the petition going.

The petition states that the board “selected a candidate who was interviewed privately by the board chair and a few school board members rather than holding a public interview process or even discussion of candidate qualifications and experience.”

State law allows the public to seek a recall of an appointee if a petition with 5 percent of eligible district voters is submitted within 30 days of the appointment. That means 164 signatures will be needed.

Lisa Clarke will not be signing the petition despite getting the movement going in the past week. That’s because she is a Carlton resident with a child who attends school in Wrenshall. She said the appointment last week reeked of “politics” and that she was “concerned with how our current board is not following a proper and ethical process during official meetings.”

She said there should have been an open discussion at last week’s meeting about the three people who showed interest in the open seat. She said the board needs to be more transparent about “important decisions that will often impact our students’ future.”

The Minnesota School Boards Association confirmed this week that the Wrenshall board followed the letter of the law when it came to making the appointment. The Pine Knot News erroneously cited state statute from five years ago stating that the appointment process requires a public hearing. It no longer does, after a change by the state legislature.

There remains a question of whether the board adhered to open meeting laws that prohibit decision making outside of a public forum. At least three board members discussed the Dian appointment outside of official board business.

Mark Anfinson, an attorney who provides legal advice to Minnesota newspapers and who specializes in open meeting law, said the board actions do drift into violation territory.

“The process that was used here certainly suggests that the (open meeting law) was violated,” Anfinson said. “It’s hard to believe that there was some kind of spontaneous, independent consensus reached among the board members.”

He said Dian’s comments after the appointment meeting come close to providing a “smoking gun” after Dian said he was told he had enough votes for the appointment before the meeting took place.

The lack of any public discussion about the appointment is also suspect, Anfinson said.

Board chairman Jack Eudy admitted last week that the process of the appointment didn’t go as planned. He said there was every intention to conduct interviews of candidates. But he said he got caught up in the moment as new board chairman when Alice Kloepfer made a sudden motion to appoint Dian.

Kloepfer did not return phone calls seeking comment this week.

School board member Nicole Krisak had signed the petition by Wednesday and said “this board made a mistake and the petition lets us fix it.”

Krisak was reported to have been a “yes” vote on Dian, but the vote came so quickly she didn’t have time to utter a clear vote as she wondered what was happening at the moment.

”The public needs to have confidence that we can make decisions in an open and reasoned way,” Krisak said. “I felt blindsided by the way it happened. I thought we had agreed to interview candidates and choose the best person based on that.”

Clarke said the petition is being disseminated among volunteers in the district and that she’s already received many messages via the email address the group is using to connect people to sign the petition: [email protected].

Signing events are also planned for 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 28 at the Deerfield Park pavilion in Wrenshall. A similar meetup will take place at the park 4-7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 1.

Clarke said the petition drive isn’t a reaction to Dian.

Signer Carla Gamradt said the effort “isn’t personal, it just gives the board a chance at a do-over.”

Clarke said it’s the process that is concerning and there is a growing fear that an inexperienced board is forgetting that it serves the public interest.

“A number of members on this board seem to have an agenda that is politically driven and do not have the best interest of our children at heart,” Clarke said. “This type of behavior is unacceptable. I will support and advocate for our students always.”