And Yet Another Lawsuit
January 2nd, 2008Okay, so I’m no Nostradamus, but my theory that it wouldn’t be long before Mr. Cornelius Moriarty launched a lawsuit against the district was dead-on accurate.
Mr. Moriarty, having found himself no longer the chair of the budget committee, prompty launched a lawsuit against the school district, the superintendent Dr. Dassau, the school board chair Ms. Colline Dreyfuss, and the vice-chair of the budget committee Mr. Eric Stanley.¹ Mr. Moriarty initially sought an injunction barring the board from meeting at all, but this was denied.
An expedited hearing is scheduled for January 8. It’s open at Keene District Court. I wonder if the Freshmen working on Civics could be excused to go see it? The legal process in action…
The heart of the suit? That the board erred when they removed Mr. Moriarty because they didn’t follow Robert’s Rules of Order. For a man who’s been criticized for not following proper parliamentary procedure and for being a bully, this amuses me to no end.
My world drips with irony.
I’m not going to go into the details of the suit—it’s a question of fact for a judge to decide. Mr. Moriarty’s contention that this was a “joint” meeting will need to be decided by a judge, and then it’s a question of whether or not the rules were followed. I’m reasonably certain they were, but I wasn’t there.
The truly awful thing—the real reason this is such a tragedy—is we have yet another legal action in the school district. There’s the action coming from Sullivan, the lawsuit with the MDEA and I feel like there’s another I’m forgetting somehow.
It’s an awful lot for one school district to handle. I wonder what we could do if we could decide to put this much energy into getting the best education for our kids? Wouldn’t that be a marvel? Imagine if our kids got as much attention as our lawyers did…
Many of these legal actions seem to have Mr. Moriarty and the Monadnock Taxpayer’s Association as their source, or at the least involved. Rather than a tool for anything resembling a redress of wrongs, the lawsuit has become a weapon wielded against the schools, a way of making sure that no action is easy and any progress or change is endlessly delayed and frustrated. It certainly isn’t doing anything to create a place where a student can learn well and where our kids are served.
I’m wondering how long the voters of the school district are going to continue to accept this kind of behavior from their elected officials? How does any of this help the kids, how does any of this help the district? We’re talking about a man who no sooner was elected than obstructed, no sooner obstructed then complained of failure, no sooner complained then sued, and win or lose he achieves his first purpose.
If the people of the Monadnock School District want their schools to achieve their purpose, then they need to start looking at the kind of people they elect to that goal. How does any of this serve any purpose other than to cost the district money? It in no way changes the opinion of the majority who voted him out of his position, and in no way does anything but confirm the stated reason for removing him in the first place—that he is a bully who uses force to get his way.
They say actions speak louder than words. What do Mr. Moriarty’s actions reveal about his real intentions towards our student’s education?
The complaints are here and here.
1 I feel exceptionally bad for the last, as from what I understand, he was one of the most vehement against removing Mr. Moriarty in the first place. I’m also wondering why the superintendent (who has no vote) and the school-board chair were included. The former has no vote, the latter was a member of the audience, not chairing the board meeting. However, in lawsuits one casts the largest net possible, and the truth rarely matters. ↺
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Budget Committee, Education, Monadnock Regional School District, Monadnock Taxpayer’s Association, School Board
