Residents and parents object to proposed bylaws they say would curtail trustees’ access to district records

Public commenters at a Rochester Community School District Board of Education meeting on Oct. 1 criticized proposed updates to the board handbook and bylaws that they said would restrict individual trustees’ access to district documents and compound the district’s legal exposure.

Several speakers tied the changes to recent actions against a trustee and said the edits — brought forward on the agenda as item 8.5 by Trustee Gupta — would shift requests for existing documents away from individual trustees and require requests to be made through the full board or routed to the board president rather than directly to the superintendent. "These updates appear to result in further impediments beyond censure by ensuring Trustee Lacui has highly restricted, extremely limited access to information needed to perform proper due diligence," said Shelly Brown, a taxpayer and district resident.

Longtime resident and former board member Mike Reno warned the board that earlier litigation had exploited internal bylaws, citing what he described as the district’s past "Shaner" case and urging caution. "You literally handed him the legal theory, the Shaner Gambit," Reno said, arguing the proposed language risked repeating a pattern that had previously cost the district significant sums in legal exposure.

Other commenters echoed concerns about transparency and the timing of the proposal. A speaker who identified concerns about repeated punitive measures said restricting a trustee's access "is not how Democratic boards function" and cautioned that consolidating access risks more legal challenges and diverts taxpayer dollars from classrooms.

Board materials cited during public comment include the proposed board handbook edits and the district's standard routing procedures; speakers urged the board to explain how the changes would work in practice and to clarify whether the language was intended to address specific conduct or to alter routine oversight. Commenters also referenced prior use of FOIA to obtain information and questioned why a trustee had been censured if the same material had already been released publicly.

The meeting proceeded to other business after public comment; the agenda lists item 8.5 as proposed by Trustee Gupta. The transcript does not record a final vote or formal board action on the bylaw changes during the provided segments. The board is scheduled to consider new business items later in the meeting.