The board voted in February to launch the inquiry after Obeng filed a complaint and former board chair Mark Porter accused school commissioner Jeff Wick of racial bias at a board meeting in January.
Acting chair Stephanie Seguino said the probe was held up because one person refused to be interviewed. That individual spoke with the private investigator late last week.
Commissioners received the report late Sunday afternoon and decided to hold an emergency board meeting at 8 p.m. that evening. The meeting went on for three and a half hours, concluding just minutes before the terms of half of the board members’ expired.
The public was informed about the meeting only three hours in advance. Board members argued over whether they could legally convene an emergency meeting about an anticipated report.
Vermont’s open meeting law states that emergency meetings may be held “when necessary to respond to an unforeseen occurrence or condition requiring immediate attention without public announcement as long as some public notice is given as soon as possible before the meeting.”
Under state open meeting law, special meetings must be warned 24 hours ahead of time.
Wick and Kathy Olwell protested the meeting. Wick said district attorney Joe McNeil advised the board against holding what was tantamount to an illegal meeting. Olwell said “each board member was setting themselves up for a $500 fine.”
Obeng didn’t attend, nor did McNeil.
Questions about the legality of the meeting didn’t deter the commissioners from going ahead with an hour-long public session, which was followed by a two-hour executive session.
In a statement, the board said it had an obligation to review the report that it commissioned. “We, as a Board, also needed the opportunity to talk together and to bring closure to the investigation and that was the goal of this meeting.”
Ultimately, however, the commissioners didn’t release the report and passed the decision off to members of the new board, which will meet on Tuesday.
Acting chair Seguino read a statement following a more than two-hour secret session, explaining that the meeting was held as an attempt to heal relationships.
“The board had the equivalent of a restorative practices session that was much needed,” Seguino said.
Wick said he “was very happy with the meeting and that it was very productive.”
Commissioners Seguino, Liz Curry, Kat Kleman and Anne Judson convened the meeting at district offices on Colchester Avenue. Mark Porter and David Kirk participated by phone. Ryan McLaren, Mark Barlow and Susan Marie Harrington were absent. Two incoming school board members, Mike Fisher and Clare Wool, attended the meeting and waited for the executive session to be completed.
“We affirmed our commitment to equity and inclusion,” Seguino continued. “We recommend that the new board invest in implicit bias training that is managed by the superintendent, with a trainer chosen by the superintendent.”
Seguino said a slate of six new school commissioners set to be sworn in Tuesday will decide whether to release the report to the public. Kleman, Sequino, Kirk, Harrington, Porter, Judson are all leaving the board.
VTDigger has filed a public records request for the document.
Daniel Troidl, an independent investigator who is a former Vermont State Police officer, conducted the probe for the district.
Burlington resident Christopher Hood, who has children in the district, expressed his anger with the board’s decision to hold the emergency meeting.
“This looks like a hatchet job,” he said. “I look forward to the new board coming in. There’s a lot of desperation in the air.”
Title VII Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin and religion.
