BENNINGTON — A lawsuit alleging violations of the open meeting law by the Mount Anthony Union High School Board is edging toward a trial date in Superior Court if no settlement is reached.
The suit was filed in March by six residents, including two Bennington Selectboard members. The plaintiffs are board members Jeanne Connor and Jeannie Jenkins, as well as Mary Gerisch, Laurie Mulhern, Nancy Sanford and Eileen Zazzaro.
The suit followed a complaint making similar allegations about meetings in 2015 that led to the selection of Glenda Cresto to succeed longtime MAU Principal Sue Maguire.
The plaintiffs are asking a judge to declare that the board violated the law and to order it to comply, including concerning executive sessions and the posting of meetings and agendas. They also want Cresto suspended pending a new, more transparent hiring process.
The board chose Cresto, previously assistant principal at Richford Junior Senior High School, in April 2015 at Superintendent James Culkeen’s recommendation after a controversial hiring process. She was chosen over the other finalist, then-Assistant Principal Michael Molloy, who had strong support among teachers and staff members and within the community.
Gerisch, a retired lawyer, said Tuesday that Judge John Valente is unlikely to order Cresto’s suspension and a new search, given the passage of time since the hiring. Gerisch added that when filing the complaint, “we thought (board members) would settle this,” essentially by agreeing to follow provisions of the open meeting law in the future. But that has not happened, she said.
“The point of this is transparency,” Gerisch said. No monetary damages are sought from the school district.
Both Gerisch and Amanda Lafferty, of Stitzel, Page & Fletcher, of Burlington, which represents the school district, said last week they have asked the judge to delay a March trial schedule to allow a June start.
Gerisch said that could allow for a possible settlement. Currently, there is an effort to establish a set of agreed-upon facts, she said.
Gerisch said the plaintiff group is concerned that the school district might have to defend itself at trial, significantly adding to the legal bill, and hopes that can be avoided.
The MAU board says it didn’t violate the law.
The allegations in the suit include that the MAU board improperly called an executive session in April 2015 and improperly posted a special meeting of the board on April 7, 2015. The suit says that special meeting also had an agenda that “did not accurately reflect matters to be voted on, describing an ‘update’ as to the principal search, not a ‘hiring’ of the principal.” The suit also says the agenda was not amended that night “as the first order of business.”
The plaintiffs also claim a non-board member — a member of the Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union Board — was allowed to attend an executive session. In addition, they say the public and a search committee made up of community members and others, which had recommended hiring Molloy, were not told a decision on the hiring was to be made during the April 7 session.
The MAU district is part of the supervisory union.
The board and Culkeen came under intense criticism after the April 7 decision to hire Cresto. During a meeting the following month, attended by more than 40 residents and officials, the superintendent said in part, “I can definitely see where it’s thought that there’s a lack of transparency, but believe what you will, it was unintentional.”
Culkeen said the search committee’s job was to put forth up to three candidates for the position, and he would then make a recommendation to the board.
Regarding an accusation that Culkeen had called Molloy hours before the April 7 executive session to tell him he would be named the next principal, Culkeen told those at the May meeting that he had called Cresto several days before to tell her she was his choice. But after speaking with several board members, he said, he had come to believe they would not accept Cresto’s nomination.
Culkeen said he then called Molloy to say he would recommend Molloy to the board, although he also told Molloy there were at least two board members who would not support his candidacy, and that it was not definite that his nomination would be accepted.
Later that day, Culkeen said, he spoke before the board in executive session, and it became clear the board would support his original choice, Cresto. Culkeen said he changed his recommendation at that point and recommended Cresto for the position.
Contacted Thursday, Culkeen said he was advised by the SVSU attorneys not to comment while the suit is pending.
MAU Board Chairman Timothy Holbrook could not be reached last week for comment. Connor and Jenkins, both former school board members, also could not be reached. They were both elected to the Selectboard in March.
