PELHAM — The School Board's vice chairman said the panel's success or failure in improving education rests on its presentation of a unified front on proposals that go to the public for a vote.
At last night's meeting, Vice Chairwoman Deb Ryan said she wanted to know what the board could do to police violations of any board policy prohibiting members from attacking positions staked out by a majority of the board.
The board's lawyer, Dean Eggert, said free speech rights guaranteed by the Constitution protect dissent and the board is limited in the action it can take against members who oppose majority positions.
"The First Amendment will always trump ethics," Eggert said.
He said the board can set ethical standards on what is proper, in terms of publicly opposing a majority board position, but the board is limited to doing no more than censuring the individual.
To do more, such as removing a member from the board, would be a violation of law, not of ethics policy, he said.
Specifically, Ryan referred to two instances involving board member Linda Mahoney last year. In one case, Mahoney spoke out in a newspaper story against the new high school proposal on the Town Meeting ballot.
In the other instance, Mahoney spoke at a court hearing, opposing the district's petition to seek a Special Town Meeting on the new high school.
A majority of the board supported both endeavors, but both failed.
The public narrowly defeated the high school, failing to give it the necessary 60 percent majority.
A Hillsborough Superior Court judge denied the district's petition for the special meeting.
"It's better to present a unified front," Ryan said.
She said many people in town do not know the ins and outs of the board's debate over issues, they just hear that the board is divided so they are less likely to vote in favor of the proposal.
Ryan also wanted to know if the board could hash out differences off camera.
Eggert told Ryan that state law requires the decision making to take place in public.
In New Hampshire, the law heavily favors openness, Eggert said.
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