Two school board members and a trio of local residents requested Jan. 13 that Morgan Hill Unified School District’s governing body adopt a resolution to “censure” embattled Trustee David Gerard.
Gerard once again heard residents’ pleas calling for his resignation in the aftermath of the November 2015 release of tawdry emails he authored targeting his colleagues on the board and district leadership.
However, this was the first time that the action of censuring him was brought up at a public meeting. A censure is defined as a formal reprimand by a legislative body to one of its own members. It is considered “the ultimate show of disfavor” by a governing body to one of its members, according to Interim City Attorney Gary Baum when asked for his interpretation of censure.
“(It means) we are as dismayed with you as we possibly could be,” explained Baum, who also noted that the targeted member is entitled to a degree of due process in a censure proceeding. “It is the maximum penalty a board can do against one of its own.”
Similarly, in October 2014, the Santa Clara Unified School District’s board voted to censure one of its own—Trustee Chris Stampolis—following years of accusations that he harassed and threatened district staff, according to multiple news outlets.
At Tuesday night’s MHUSD meeting, former board president Don Moody, local business owners Brad Ledwith and Mike Cox, as well as Jenny Redfern and Mary Cox representing the local chapter of the American Association of University Women, were among a baker’s dozen demanding Gerard step down from the dais.
“Mr. Gerard, your actions and your words prove that you do not know the difference between what’s right and wrong,” Cox said. “We need someone on the board who knows that difference….Please resign today.”
A Morgan Hill Times Public Records Act request in October 2015 revealed that Gerard had been using his district email account to have ongoing and disparaging conversations with others in the community. In those emails, Gerard made offensive comments about Superintendent Steve Betando, Board President Bob Benevento, Board Vice President Ron Woolf, Trustee Donna Ruebusch and Amy Porter-Jensen, a former trustee who has since resigned from the school board. Gerard also egged on community activists to continue their efforts to try to remove Benevento from the board.
The final three public speakers Jan. 13—Kathy Sullivan, Carrie Knopf and Tracy Newquist—introduced and read their proposed resolution of “censuring, revoking assignments and requesting the resignation of board member David Gerard.”
After the six-member board completed its general business agenda and were asked for new business topics, Ruebusch and Woolf requested the district include an agenda item for the Feb. 1 school board meeting with a resolution to censure Gerard.
“One of the things that I’ve heard in the community repeatedly is if a district employee or student did any of the behaviors that were revealed in the emails, the student would be likely suspended from school and the staff member would be under severe disciplinary action,” said Ruebusch, noting that she had already begun to draft her own version of such a resolution.
Woolf immediately showed support for Ruebusch’s request.
“I think it is our obligation representing this community, representing the parents, the students, all of the agencies that a resolution or similar resolution be presented to the board of trustees,” Woolf said.
Woolf and Ruebusch, along with Benevento, have been on one side of many key issues before the board, while Gerard and Trustees Gino Borgioli and Rick Badillo have been on the opposing side. The board has been deadlocked 3-3 on motions such as selecting a new board president and vice president for the current year, appointing a new seventh trustee to the governing body and whether to pursue certain forms of litigation in several court cases.
Gerard did not comment on the censure issue at the Jan. 12 meeting and only listened as his colleagues discussed it.
At the same meeting, the board voted 6-0 to allow for a consolidated election June 7 for voters to elect the seventh school board trustee who will serve out the remaining six months of Porter-Jensen’s term.
