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Discord among board members was apparent at Monday's Lansing Board of Education meeting as they tussled over procedure in tenuring High School Principal Eric Hartz.  Board member Christine Iacobucci asked to have Hartz's tenure decision postponed until the June 25th board meeting to allow more time to consider community input from the meeting, including input they anticipated receiving in Monday's meeting.

Hartz was being considered for tenure along with seven teachers.  After controversy at a board meeting two weeks ago, the board received more public input including one anonymous letter.  Iacobucci also challenged a executive session scheduled in the middle of the meeting between community input and the tenure vote.  She said it would be unfair to make the teachers and community members wait, and that holding the session while they waited would put pressure on the board to make a hasty decision.

"Because of the uproar that is in this district we're adding another executive session," said School Board President Anne Drake.  "We will be discussing that in executive session."

Board member Glenn Swanson said that he would not prejudge comments that had not yet been made and the board could decide whether they needed more time to consider when they went into executive session.  Iacobucci questioned whether the board would give all input serious consideration.

"Is the board going to dismantle what it hears in executive session or are we going to seriously consider information we receive tonight, weigh the evidence and reasoning and deliberate before we come to a decision?" she asked.  "Is that what we're leading everyone here to believe?  This would separate out that tenure decision from the other teachers for whom there is no apparent controversy.  I believe this would be a god gesture to both the person involved and our community, showing we are serious about due diligence."

Other board members said they would follow Roberts Rules and seemed to be saying the process laid out beforehand was being followed.  Glenn Swanson said he was not prepared to make a judgement on input the board might or might not receive that evening before receiving it and urged that the executive session remain in place so the board could make the decision after input was received.  He noted that both positive and negative input had been received.

"I don't think anyone here would discount or dismantle the input of this community," said board member Tom Robinson.  "We have taken this very seriously.  We've heard the input from the last meeting, input has come to us via email.  We take all this extremely seriously."

The board voted 6-1 to keep the executive session on the agenda, as well as the decision on Hartz's tenure with Iacobucci dissenting.

Five community members spoke both  in favor of and against a Monday decision.  Opponents cited issues of concern in the high school including low morale and asked the board to postpone the decision for a year to allow Hartz to resolve the issues before a decision was made.  Others supported the Principal saying that he is responsive and caring.  The board left the room to consider the input in executive session.

When they returned they voted 7-0 to tenure teachers Amy Winslow, Erin Martindale, Rhody O'Donnell, Matthew O'Donnell, Matthew Scheffler, Nicole Lamie, and Megan Conoway.  Before the vote on Hartz Iacobucci again objected to the procedure.

"I would just like to say the way I vote next has nothing to do with the person and everything to do with the process and other people," she said.

The board voted 6-1 in favor of tenure with Iacobucci opposed.

After the vote the meeting paused for a celebration for all newly tenured employees with cake and punch.

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