By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
To some it was a minor issue. To others it veered too close to infringing on constitutional rights.
St. Joseph School Board members have agreed to a set of ethics rules to comply with the Missouri School Improvement Program, but not without dissent. Two members voted against the code of conduct, suggesting it could infringe on their First Amendment rights of free speech.
Board member Kim Miller doesn’t view it as an infringement, saying it simply restricts what a member can say if speaking for the board as a whole.
“The concern is always, as board members, sometimes we’re asked to not speak on topics if we are representing the school board itself,” Miller tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline.
Miller says board members can always express their own opinion about board action. They aren’t free though, according to Miller, to say whatever they want if speaking for the St. Joseph School Board.
Miller says the code does not restrict how board members express their opinion of board policy.
“We are elected by constituents who want to know what our thoughts are on different things that are coming before us as a board and as a community,” Miller says.
Board member Whitney Lanning says some members previously pushed to have the board president speak for the board, but that never took effect.
“If that’s what we agreed to, but that’s not what we’re going to do, and that gets a little murky, then let’s just go forward and let’s talk about our own opinions and we’re seven different people with seven different agendas,” Lanning tells Birr during her appearance with Miller on the KFEQ Hotline.
Lanning denies the disagreement on the issue had anything to do with the board’s silence after Superintendent Gabe Edgar pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor drunk driving charge earlier this year.
“I think as a board we’ve been really clear about the expectations and Dr. Edgar has been completely compliant and completely working forward,” Lanning says. “That has nothing to do with this.”
Lanning says the move by the board was a simple compliance measure with state requirements.