Complaints have been filed with the Freedom of Information Commission against the Hampton Elementary School Board of Education regarding their conduct during a June 21 Special Meeting. The complaint alleges, and the minutes confirm, that the school board voted on three matters not included on the agenda of the special meeting, which listed only “Discussion on Future Planning”. These included a vote to approve a three month leave of absence for Superintendent Samantha Sarli; a vote to hire an interim superintendent for a rate of $1000 a week to fill the two-day position Sarli currently holds; and to approve a starting salary of $110,000 for a new principal, $7000 more than the salary of the retiring principal, Sam Roberson, who spent the last seven of her 38 year career at Hampton Elementary serving as the school’s principal. Roberson’s ending salary was $103,049.
According to the Freedom of Information Act, while additions to the agenda are allowed in regularly scheduled monthly meetings, only the items listed on an agenda can be discussed at a special meeting, which must state the date, time, location and the specific purpose. Additionally, the complaint alleges that the agenda item for executive session, “personnel matter”, lacks the specificity the FOI Act requires so that the public, though not permitted in a closed executive session, is aware of its purpose. “The school board forgets that agendas are posted for the public’s benefit”, the complaint states.
A second complaint, filed earlier this year with the Commission of Human Rights and Opportunities by the former secretary alleging discrimination in the school, was filed shortly after her dismissal the day before Thanksgiving last year. According to the complainant, that factor evinced a showing of malice. Equally problematic were false claims by school officials regarding due process rights, the board’s hiring of a non-minority person to replace a person of color at a significantly higher rate, and the fact that two school board members were named to testify as witnesses for the former secretary.
One of those members, Juan Arriola, reported that when he was first apprised of racial issues in the school, he requested that the Minority Recruitment Committee, which never actually convened as it lacked a charge, be changed to Minority Recruitment and Retention, a decision unanimously approved by the board. However, when the charge for the committee was finally drafted, Arriola objected in that not a single item mentioned the issue of retention, which he claimed, from past examples as well as the current situation, was the problem. This objection led to Arriola’s dismissal from the committee by Chairman Rose Bisson. Additionally, Superintendent Frank Olah’s commitment to meetings with the NAACP and school officials were never scheduled either. Sarli replaced Olah last August.