The trustees approved a settlement Tuesday night that includes an $11,000 payout and Perrino “shall be allowed to speak at a meeting of the West Chester Twp. Board of Trustees about the topics mentioned in the complaint.”
The township also agreed within a year to remove the word “disrespectful” from the section of their rules and policies about meetings that reads, “ respectful, professional presentation is expected by all participants. The use of profane, disrespectful or threatening language or gestures will not be tolerated.”
Miller resigned as Lakota’s superintendent in January, citing a hostile work environment caused by school board member Darbi Boddy, after months of turmoil. There were two separate investigations into Miller’s alleged inappropriate behavior, claims that were deemed unfounded.
On Dec. 20, 2022 Perrino started addressing the trustees during the second public comment section of their meeting saying, “everyone’s heard the buzz, we know about the superintendent, we’ve got some failed leadership in our area. We came here tonight because the leadership that we have in place is failing us.”
At that point Trustee Mark Welch stopped her and the three trustees had a conversation about whether they should allow her to continuing speaking, since they have no control over the schools. They told Perrino she was free to email or talk to them individually to discuss her concerns.
Perrino said “we’re going up the ladder here of leadership” and “this is something that effects the township, the whole community.”
They agreed with that statement but Trustee Lee Wong said “it’s better to email us because this (meeting) is really concerning township matters.”
Welch said they are “sympathetic” but “there’s really nothing the township can do with regards to that matter. It’s not our business, it’s not our purview, they operate as a separate entity.”
Trustee Ann Becker said they can talk about it individually and might be willing to talk with school board members individually as trustees but “we try to keep this meeting as business of the township.”
In her lawsuit, which was filed after Miller resigned as superintendent in January, Perrino pointed out that the trustees have allowed others to speak about non-township business.
“One previous speaker made a presentation about the Hindu Festival of Colors during public participation and the many contributions the Hindu culture has made to society,” the lawsuit reads. “The board was not responsible for the Festival of Colors.”
The lawsuit claims the trustees censored her speech because her comments were “disrespectful” to Lakota, with whom they have a $2 million school resource officer contract.
“The board just wanted to protect itself from facing disrespectful criticisms of its business partner, and it wanted to insulate itself from facing any criticisms about how it chooses to continue in that relationship,” the suit reads. “The board cannot restrain speech related to its business relationships merely because it finds speech disrespectful or otherwise offensive to itself or business partners, so the board applied its rules to Perrino in a manner that discriminated against her viewpoints.”
Welch told the Journal-News he couldn’t comment about the settlement at this time. The other trustees could not be reached comment.
Perrino’s attorney Matt Miller-Novak said they are pleased with the outcome of the case.
“They were reasonable, the parties worked together to resolve our differences,” he said. “I think they are going to clarify their rules moving forward which will help the public, it’s a positive outcome.”
Lakota had to defend its own federal lawsuit involving restricted public comment during school board meetings pertaining to the situation with Miller and settled with resident Diane Hughes last November. According to the settlement, Hughes was to be paid $637 by Lakota and the district also agreed to cover the plaintiff’s legal fees totaling $15,000.
She filed suit in September after the school board wouldn’t allow her to speak about the allegations against Miller. As a result the board changed its meeting policies so no one is allowed to say anything, good or bad, about school employees. After many boisterous meetings they have also moved some of the board’s public comment opportunities to a “listening session” prior to board meetings.
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