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Union representative alleges board member's aggressive conduct during public interactions
Summary
Joe Sauer, director of membership services for Racine Educators United, used public comment to allege a board member excused aggressive behavior toward the union president and questioned who should avoid interacting with the board member; the chair interrupted to note the work session's public-comment rules and limited comments to agenda items.
During the public-comment portion of the April 13 Racine Unified School Board work session, Joe Sauer, who identified himself as director of membership services and organizing for Racine Educators United, raised concerns about the conduct of a board member toward the union president.
Sauer said, according to his prepared remarks, that "board member Coey has made it clear that the president of Racine Educators United... 'should have known' not to say hello to him in public and that his aggressive behavior, using profanity, calling her names, yelling, and flicking her off was a natural response." Sauer asked rhetorically which other union members should "know not to approach board member Cohen" and said REU (Racine Educators United) had been instrumental in passing two referendums, including what he called the largest in Wisconsin history.
The chair interrupted to remind the speaker that the work-session public-engagement period is limited to topics on the work-session agenda; Sauer replied he believed his remarks were relevant and asked that the alleged behavior be clarified "quickly and correctly." The transcript records no board response beyond the chair's procedural clarification and no formal complaint was filed during the work session.
Sauer's statements were delivered as public comment; they represent his allegations and were not independently corroborated in the session. The chair noted the board reserves the right to respond to questions or comments as appropriate and the public-comment period at the work session was constrained by time and topic rules.
