The group this summer collected signatures of those calling for resignations by board President Theresa Dunaway and Vice President Anne Zakkour and printed the signatures in the local newspaper.
The organization claimed that the two “have demonstrated a voting history that appears to not be working in and for the best interest of students, Tipp City Exempted Village School employees and the overall health and vitality of our schools and our community.” Dunaway and Zakkour have repeatedly said the claims were not true.
Staub, who owns Staub Manufacturing Solutions, said Monday that board leadership refused to stepdown and has continued to allegedly “abuse its authority and mismanage its business.” With those refusals, the “community has no choice,” but to initiate the recall process, he said.
The Concerned Citizens posted a website online that includes information on the recall and how people can sign petitions calling for the board leaders’ removal through the legal process in Miami County Common Pleas Court.
The petition excerpts shown on the website allege Dunaway and Zakkour “inappropriately moved into executive session during public meetings; moved into executive session for improper reasons; or discussed improper matters during executive session.”
The petition also alleges that they without full board approval “expanded the scope of legal services provided to the district and/or requested legal services different from what were approved by the board … Which unnecessarily increased legal fees.” Other allegations include the two board officers engaged in inappropriate conduct related to district day to day operations.
The Concerned Citizens said they will hold petition signing sessions starting this weekend.
“We need you to sign this petition so that we can be heard and that an impartial third party can review all of these allegations,” Staub said in comments before the board.
“The concern I am having is you have a lot of inferences in generalized terms without real specifics … I don’t see any proof, any evidence,” Zakkour said in response to his comments.
“We will just have to find out, won’t we,” Staub replied.
Zakkour challenged him to “be man enough … open enough” to put the claimed evidence on the table. “There are no facts, that is the problem,” she said.
Board member Joellen Heatherly asked Dunaway to stop the exchange so the meeting could continue.
Later in the meeting, the board again briefly discussed a proposed censure of the full board.
The censure was proposed this summer by member Simon Patry and defeated in a board vote. Later, the board voted to ask the Miami County prosecutors to investigate allegations in the censure document. That review is underway.
In the censure proposal, Patry said he thought there were “serious offenses that are occurring by some of the members of our board … serious violations of our bylaws, our policies, our code of ethics and the Ohio Open Meetings Act.”
Heatherly and fellow board member Corine Doll asked if it was time for the board to move beyond the censure allegations and discussions.
Doll said the board could have a fresh start in January when two members elected in November replace her and Heatherly. Both chose not to seek re-election.
“We need to leave this censure discussion and turn our courtroom back into a board room,” Doll said.
About the Author