Keene Sentinel – Monadnock’s school board aims to bring civility to its meetings
SWANZEY CENTER — With people still reeling from an overexcited meeting Nov. 18, Monadnock Regional School Board Chairman Eugene M. White 3rd of Swanzey said he’d try to maintain a higher degree of order in the future.
The last meeting “went places that it’s never gone before,” White said.
As detailed in the Nov. 18 meeting minutes, White got into an argument with fellow board member James I. Carnie of Richmond, prompting the board to agree that Vice Chairman Jane Fortson of Swanzey should run the rest of the meeting.
“I lost my temper and the board called me on it and I did not run the meeting from that point on,” White said this morning, adding that he later apologized for his actions.
While the meeting minutes don’t contain specific quotes from the public, White said they were peppered with personal attacks directed at board members — including Monadnock School Taxpayers Association President Richard E. Bauries’ calling a school board member “ugly” and “old.”
This morning, Bauries said he’d told a school board member he should join the grumpy old men’s ice fishing club. Bauries said the same comment had been made to him, in the past, by another school board member and it was a reference to the 1993 film “Grumpy Old Men.”
“The way I said it may have been strong. But, you see, if you don’t do it strong they say, ‘Thank you’ and nothing gets done,” Bauries said this morning of his comments at the Nov. 18 meeting.
But regardless, the meeting — along with the theatrics of previous board meetings — prompted numerous members of the public to speak out Tuesday night.
“I certainly was upset as I heard of what happened here,” Michael Hoefer of Richmond said. “We have an anti-bullying … policy in the school. I think it is very appropriate for the board to follow that here as they work with one another and accept comments from the public.”
Current school board policy about public participation at board meetings said comments should be brief and not contain discussion of personnel issues. But White said the policy lacks teeth and said the policy committee is working on firmer guidelines recommended by the N.H. School Boards Association.