G. Moritz, Editor
Update 2/22/22: A special meeting of the Garretson School Board will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 23 at 6:00 p.m. for personnel issue. The agenda states the school board will enter executive session immediately and is not allowing a time for public comment. Students have posted on social media their intentions to attend the meeting, as it appears that it may be addressing this matter. The agenda for the special meeting is posted below the article.
The Garretson School Board met in regular session on Feb. 14, 2022. Unlike most meetings, there was a very high public turnout for this meeting. There was not an empty chair to be had in the school’s library where the board met, and most appeared to be present due to the recent administrative leave issue regarding Principal Chris Long.
In all, there were twenty-five members of the public in attendance.
On the agenda read this statement: "Public Comments: As a reminder, the board welcomes feedback from the community. Garretson School District policy, South Dakota Codified Laws and Federal law prohibit discussion of specific personnel or student matters at this time."
School Board President Shannon Nordstrom echoed this statement in his opening remarks after the Pledge of Allegiance and welcome to guests.
“We don’t always get a room full of people at our board meetings,” he said. “Thank you for coming on Valentine’s Day to our school board meeting. Obviously, you are people who care and we’ re all together a roomful of people that care about our school and getting the best education possible for our kids. This, however, is not a public meeting, where people would be invited to speak and ask questions of the board but this is a board meeting in public. We have rules in place that we have to follow, in our school manual and school policies. Many people are here for a particular issue and it’s our duty to respect and hear you on this issue, but we can not and will not discuss matters involving student issues and staffing issues. We have to honor our obligations and responsibilities and the board must keep as neutral as possible. One of those roles can be judicial in nature, like a jury, and so this is why we must not speak on certain matters.”
“That said,” he continued, “We do have public comments registered and so acting as spokeswoman for the people gathered here, I want to recognize Tana Clark.”
Nordstrom outlined that typically anyone wanting to address the board is given about five minutes. Clark responded that she’ d timed her commentary and was well under the limit.
“Thank you for allowing us to share some comments with you this evening,” Clark said. “I can sympathize with the difficult decision each of you have to make as members of the school board. Ten years ago, I served on the school board in Garretson. I recall having to make some really tough decisions regarding our school and students. Honestly, I hated it. On many occasions, I wished I had known how other parents and people in our community felt about specific situations we were deliberating about of what their perspective and thoughts were about how certain situations should be handled. Obviously, we were not always able to know those opinions or perspectives before making a decision on many tough matters. This is exactly why a group of us thought it was important and would be helpful for the school board to know that several people in the community believe in and support Chris Long and believe he is someone we need in our school.
“While the specific facts and the decisions related to those facts in this case are ultimately this Board’s responsibility to review and deal with, we circulated this petition, so you know how some people in our community, your constituents, feel about this situation. We have circulated this petition for less than a week and have already collected 107 signatures. This group of signatures represents people who are 18 or over or will be in the next couple of months and live in the Garretson School District. A few of the people who signed the petition are parents of open-enrolled students and do not live in the Garretson School District but they do have a vested interest in the situation obviously because their children attend here. Obviously, the public has a significant interest in this case as well – after all, it deals with our school and ultimately the welfare and development of our children. With that said, I also feel compelled to pass along to the Board the thoughts and concerns of many in the community that have been made known to me in numerous recent discussions. These concerns are related to the processes that have been utilized in this case. Obviously, personnel matters require and need to involve a great deal of privacy – that is understandable. However, taking this level of action should come with a great deal of oversight and carefully applied discretion. I would respectfully remind the Board that the expectation by those you serve is that you review not only the facts related to this case, but to the processes utilized by the school and the board to ensure that they have been fair, professional, and reflect the best interests of the school, the children in our school, and the community of Garretson.
"We plan to continue collecting signatures until February 23rd and we hope this is a helpful tool for you to use in making your decision. In the end, we understand the School Board makes the decision on Mr. Long’s future in our school district, not our petition, but our hope is our community’s voice is heard through this petition. Thank you for your time.”
Board President Nordstrom thanked Clark for her commentary.
“As I said, sometimes the Board has to make decisions in a judicial capacity and we have to be very cautions with what we do and what we say,” he said. “As a matter of respect to everyone here and because you took the time out of your day I will tell you that this issue is not on our agenda at all tonight. I know my time is precious to me as I have a life outside the school board and because time with my family is important to me, I’m sure it’s important to you as well. We do have an executive session scheduled this evening for a personnel matter but it does not concern Mr. Long. Because I want to respect your time, I don’t want to waste it if you are waiting for us to come out of executive session to make any kind of decision tonight.”
Board President Nordstrom also pointed out that most of the school board seats are up for election this year, and that since the people in the room are obviously interested in the future of the school, he encouraged anyone who wanted to to take a petiton, gather signatures and file a petition of election to become a candidate and potentially become a school board member.
With that the school board moved on with their regularly scheduled agenda. Though a few audience members left, most stayed until the end, when the board entered their scheduled executive session.
The crowd did not break up right away, and instead gathered in the school’s main entrance. Tana Clark received new signatures for her petition of support for Chris Long. Most of the people who attended the meeting were frustrated by the lack of answers or closure on this issue.
The Gazette will have a full report on the rest of the meeting in our next issue. However, we will note that after the executive session was held, the only motion made was to adjourn for the evening.
We should also note that GHS students posted a YouTube video in support of Chris Long where students gave testimonials on the positive character of Chris Long.
It can be seen by following this link: https://youtu.be/NefaD1bhFvA
