HILLIARD, Ohio — Hilliard Education Association President Linna Jordan says the union has voted “no confidence” in three of the district’s board of education members.
“We don’t believe they can carry or uphold the values of the organization and of our district,” Jordan said.
Jordan says members Zach Vorst, Beth Murdoch and board president Nadia Long violated board policy.
“What we are hoping for is that the board members know that we are watching them and their lack of transparency and procedure,” Jordan said.
She claims the tipping point was the meeting on Sept. 12 when a matter was discussed and, instead of taking it to a required second and third reading, President Long put the matter to a pass or fail vote.
“Honestly, on this specific issue, it boils down to religious bigotry,” Lisa Breedlove Chaffee said.
Chaffee is the director of Parents Rights in Education for Ohio. She is also the parent of a 10th grade student in the district. She says the issue that was voted on concerned the policy allowing students to receive off-campus religious training during the school day.
The matter passed 3-2. Chaffee says the uproar is because the union never wanted the matter to pass.
“The issue was not with the vote, itself,” Jordan said. “It was with the last-minute changes in the language.”
Jordan says two of the board members didn’t receive the language on the issue until hours before the meeting and that close to 800 of the union’s more than 1,200 members signed the petition of no confidence.
Those signatures, because of what Jordan calls harassing emails to the teachers, have not been released.
“Until we see those signatures, I don’t believe they exist,” Chaffee said. “If she has any, I believe a lot of them were made in duress.”
Jordan says it’s that lack of transparency and flagrant violations in policy that she says do not represent the values of parents, students and citizens of Hilliard.
Chaffee sees it as an unneeded political game of tug-of-war.
Jordan says they are not asking for board members to resign, but they want matters to be handled by the book from now on.
Long sent a statement on Monday addressing the vote:
“The Hilliard City School District Board of Education has received and reviewed the letter presented by the Hilliard Education Association (HEA) in which some members of HEA proclaimed a “Vote of No Confidence” in three of the Board members.
I appreciate and value the work of all district personnel on behalf of our students. All members of the Board accept the responsibility to improve public education, and we affirm the right of all members of our community to share their concerns.
HEA leaders were offered an opportunity to work with a federal mediator, which was, unfortunately, rejected. The offer to communicate directly over these concerns remains on the table. Our dedication to improving student outcomes and supporting district personnel remains the same.
Board members and district personnel will not always agree on matters before the Board. However, we all support the Academic Commitment Plan with the goal of implementing innovative approaches toward building students’ academic success and fulfilling our vision of Ready for Tomorrow.”
Messages to Vorst and Murdoch were not returned Monday.