CLAREMONT — Citing tensions between school board members during the ongoing Claremont School District budget development, leadership roles shifted on Wednesday.
Board members Frank Sprague and Rebecca Zullo will act as the new chair and vice chair, respectively, until the board undergoes reorganization in March.
Shortly before the board entered a non-public session on Wednesday night, then-Vice Chair Chris Irish motioned for the board to replace he and then-Chair Brian Rapp from their board officer roles. Irish cited the growing tensions between the two members as reason for the changeover.
The motioned passed 5 to 2, with Rapp and board member Alex Herzog voting against it.
“It’s pretty clear that our relationship as a board has become somewhat contentious and perhaps dysfunctional at some levels,” Irish said. “I think much of the responsibility for this stems from a polarizing relationship between board leadership.”
Sprague and Zullo headed the remainder of Wednesday night’s meeting. The newly appointed board officers will hold their titles until the annual board reorganization meeting, following board elections in March.
Superintendent Middleton McGoodwin will preside over the organizational meeting until a new chair is appointed. According to board policies, the appointment of board officers should be “based on qualifications for the position,” rather than cycling through members each year.
The move came in the latter stages of a budget development process marked with frequent tension between the board officers. During a public comment section of a meeting on Dec. 20, Rapp declared a short recess after Irish began responding to a citizen. Rapp cited rules of order that board members should not respond to citizens during time allotted to their responses. Order was restored following the recess.
But tensions hit a peak during a Jan. 3 public hearing on the proposed 2018 budget. After a citizen approached the podium to make a statement criticizing board actions, Irish again responded.
Rapp again instructed Irish not to respond, spurring the then-vice chair to allege that Rapp acted unfairly, not allowing board discussion. The chair called for another short recess, but Irish motioned to overrule the recess, with a majority of the board agreeing. Both members left their seats, disrupting the public hearing for a short time.
The board returned to order shortly afterwards, continuing the public hearing and moving into the regular board meeting. No further incident occurred.
With Irish not in attendance for Tuesday’s joint school board and City Council meeting, Wednesday marked the first time that all members of the board convened following the Jan. 3 meeting.
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