Board candidate protests district guidance that he step down from boosters

Rich Glisson, a candidate in the upcoming West Clermont school board election, used the public-comment period on Sept. 8 to say district officials told him he should no longer be a member of the West Clermont High School Athletic Boosters.

"My name is Rich Glisson. A candidate for West Clermont Scribe Board," Glisson said before describing a call he said he received from "higher ups" in the district telling the boosters that he should step away because of a conflict of interest. He told the board he had consulted the Ohio Ethics Commission and believed that, because he is a candidate and not a district employee, no conflict existed.

Glisson said his role with the Athletic Boosters is unpaid and volunteer, and that he planned to step away from official booster duties "under protest" to avoid immediate disruption to student-athletes and volunteer colleagues. "It would be unfair to the student athletes or my fellow volunteers to deal with the fodder of my defiance to the district's attempt to silence my voice or reduce my visibility to the public," he said.

The board did not respond with a substantive reply during the public-comment segment, and no district representative provided a statement to the meeting transcript about the district's direction or the Ohio Ethics Commission guidance mentioned by Glisson. The candidate's assertion that he had consulted the Ethics Commission was presented as his statement to the board; no independent documentation or a district explanation appears in the meeting record.

The meeting proceeded to its scheduled agenda items after the public comment period, and Glisson said he would step back from booster duties while maintaining that the district's request was incorrect.