From: Cindy Pangborn <cindypangborn@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Apr 13, 2020 at 8:50 AM
Subject: Answering constituents
To: Margaret Weertz <weertzm@gpschools.org>
Cc: School Board <SchoolBoard@gpschools.org>

Dear Margaret,

This email is in response to the email you sent admonishing me for responding to the email our entire board received from Mrs. Collett.  Please understand that I am not soliciting a response from you or any other board member which would in any way be considered a deliberation as defined under the Open Meetings Act.

First, to your concern that my email to Mrs. Collett which (out of common courtesy) I copied the other board members was just that, an email to Mrs. Collett.  It was in no way soliciting a response from other board members.

While MASB may recommend that board members not copy other board members, it is not the law.  Under the Open Meetings Act, my sending a courtesy copy of a response I sent to a constituent is NOT illegal.  The only thing that may be construed as a violation of the Act was your response to my email because you chose to not address it to me, but instead address it to all board members.  If you want to help generate legal fees as a favor to our general counsel, feel free to ask them to check in to the issue.  They will find that as of this date, there has been no case law in the State of Michigan on the issue.

Much more important to me than the non-existent legal issue with my email to Mrs. Collett is the moral and ethical responsibility to respond to her email.  After all, I work for her.  She is my employer.  She has every right to expect that her elected officials will treat her with the courtesy with which we all wish to be treated.  That courtesy includes a prompt response to her inquiry.

While our Board policy clearly states that the Board President will speak of behalf of the Board, it does not say that you will speak on behalf of each board member.  As long as I clearly indicate in my communications that I am NOT speaking on behalf of the school board, there is nothing “illegal” about my doing my job as a public servant by treating our constituents with the utmost courtesy respect.  If you want to discuss the difference between the respect I want to pay our constituents on camera at a board meeting, feel free to add it to the next meeting’s agenda.

I hope you will respect my position and (in the future) address me if you have a concern about my actions rather than the entire board which potentially turns your communication into a violation of the Open Meetings Act.

Sincerely,

Cindy