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Teachers say investigation found board member created hostile work environment; board votes to censure and seek his removal
Summary
The Freeburg Elementary Teachers Association told the board an outside investigation found one complaint against board member Jason Baker to be founded; the board then voted unanimously to publicly censure Baker and to forward a recommendation for removal to the Regional Office of Education.
The Freeburg CCSD 70 Board of Education faced a formal personnel confrontation after the Freeburg Elementary Teachers Association presented the findings of a neutral third-party investigation and the board voted to censure a member and seek his removal.
At public comment, Paula Mull, speaking for the teachers' association, said an outside attorney conducted interviews and concluded that one complaint against board member Jason Baker was "founded." Mull told the board the association had voted that "Mr. Baker has lost the confidence of the teaching staff" and that his conduct "has created an uncomfortable work environment" for employees. The association asked the board to adopt protections including requiring administrators to be cc'd on electronic correspondence between Baker and any teacher, requiring administrators to be present for face-to-face conversations, and requiring phone conversations to be on speaker with an administrator present for the duration of Baker's tenure on the board.
The board later moved on two formal actions. First, a motion to publicly censure Jason Baker for his interactions with staff passed on a roll-call vote. Recorded votes showed Mr. Smith, Mr. Shy, Matt Trout, Mr. Stein, Mr. May and Miss B voting "yes." The board then voted on a separate motion to forward a recommendation to the Regional Office of Education seeking Baker's removal from office; that motion likewise passed by roll call with the same recorded "yes" votes.
The motions, as recorded in meeting minutes, do not include an on-the-record response from Jason Baker in this session. The board's actions follow the association's request for "swift and decisive action" and its statement that prior attempts at informal remedies and trainings had not resolved the identified problems.
The motions are formal board actions: the censure is a public reprimand recorded in the board's minutes, and the referral to the Regional Office of Education initiates a process outside the board's direct authority. The board adjourned after completing additional personnel and administrative business.
What happens next: the recommendation to the Regional Office of Education is an external referral; any action by that office would be processed outside board meeting procedures and was not part of the record in this meeting.
