Is School Committee Targeting Legal Counsel That Identified Conflicts for NEA Leader?
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
In 2017, legal counsel for the South Kingstown School Committee identified the potential for conflict with NEA leader Sarah Markey (pictured) -- now the newly elected committee is taking up the question of legal counsel at Tuesday's meeting.
The agenda posted for the school committee meeting on Tuesday lists an item to "discuss and act on the appointment of legal counsel to the school committee" -- after Markey bypassed two legal opinions from the school committee's counsel 2017 and continues to assert that she is not in violation of Rhode Island ethics laws.
As GoLocal reported, two different law firms warned the town of South Kingstown that Markey, who is a union organizer for the National Education Association, will be in near constant conflict as a member of the town’s school committee. She earns more than $166,000 in total compensation annually as an organizer for the union, according to the website unionfacts.com.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTWhile new school committee chair Stefanie Canter on Monday denied the move to address the committee legal counsel has anything to do with the previously issued legal opinion, Sara Rapport -- the partner for current counsel Whelen, Corrente, Flanders, Kinder and Siket, who wrote the letter -- when reached said she was unaware that the appointment of legal counsel was on the agenda for Tuesday.
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"[The item] is on the agenda because we have legal counsel with two separate firms -- one for gen education and one for special education," said Canter. "Because I'm new, I'm looking why they're separate. With the evolving needs of special ed -- they need more specialized legal guidance."
Canter noted that lawyer Andrew Henneous has represented the special education side of the school committee's legal representation.
"What are the pros of having it separate. and what would be a 'pro' of having a more singular source of [legal] interpretation -- the law is always an interpretation," said Canter. "It would be more prudent to have a single source, and [Henneous] has the union experience."
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The conclusion of Rapport's letter in 2017 identified that Markey would be impaired in "participating fully" as a school committee member.
Rapport, when reached, said she had not spoken with committee members about the agenda item -- or what could transpire.
"I cannot comment on the basis for the Committee’s decision, or impending decision, as I have no knowledge of its basis," said Rapport.
The closure of Wakefield Elementary -- which the school committee approved in 2017 but Markey and others ran to keep open -- is one of the items that was identified as a potential conflict for the NEA employed Markey under "facilities reconfiguration."
Canter said the basis of the decision to revisit the issue of legal counsel was not related to Rapport's six-page letter sent to Town Solicitor Michael Ursillo in October 2017, when Markey was seeking appointment following a committee vacancy - in which Rapport said due to Markey's NEA position, she would be unable to fulfill "most, if not many of her duties" on the committee due to conflict.
READ: Union Leader Defies Multiple Legal Opinions About Potential Ethics Issues
"You have to remember you have a school committee that's brand-new elected," said Canter. "I'm not coming with prior experience working with [the current legal counsel] or the process to request the legal interpretation. I'd say it's doubtful [the question of Rapport's opinion] would even be something that would be brought up during the discussion [at the meeting]."
Post-Election Politics
As GoLocal first reported on November, "Councilman Questions Impartiality of NEA-Employed School Committee Member:"
A member of the South Kingstown Town Council is questioning how a new member of the South Kingstown School Committee employed by the National Educational Association of Rhode Island (NEARI) will be able to be impartial when it comes to considering matters including the budget and potential school closures.
Democrat Bryant Da Cruz, who was re-elected to the town council in 2018, said he was approached by Democrat Sarah Markey in 2017, who he "considered a friend" when she approached him in 2017.
"I want what’s best for the town. [Markey] is a friend, she asked if I’d support her... but I said I don’t think I could because her NEA employment would be a conflict," said Da Cruz.
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