Bacon's Rebellion

Stifling Discussion in Hanover

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by

Dick Hall-Sizemore
in , , ,

A story in today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch caught my eye. It revealed what seems to be an outrageous action by the Hanover County School Board.

The story deals with the controversy over the recent resignation of the school superintendent. One school board member, in an e-mail exchange with a county resident, blamed the other school board members for the resignation and lamented that it was a “great loss for Hanover.”

I do not intend to get into the merits of the controversy. What I find outrageous is the statement that “board members were asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement regarding the separation.” 

Who asked them to sign an NDA? Aren’t Hanover County residents entitled to know what their school board members think about major developments affecting the schools, such as the resignation of a superintendent?

It is common for elected officials and chief administrators to decline to discuss “personnel matters.” However, that is a discretionary decision. An NDA is another dimension. Members of governing bodies should be free to discuss publicly any aspect of the business of the public body.

RWH

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14 responses to “Stifling Discussion in Hanover”

  1. walter smith Avatar
    walter smith

    well…who asked for the NDA?
    The fired/resigned or the Board member or members or the County attorney?
    NDAs in employment separations are routine. Then you have FOIA limitations on releasing employee files.
    What would your solution be? Required disclosure of all? Put the politicians in jail for an NDA? Oh, wait, that’s already been ginned up…
    You people will hate the world you are creating over criminalizing things like NDAs into election (fake) crimes. Many years ago Congress had a brouhaha over many sexual harassment claims settled secretly with taxpayer money.
    I don’t know a thing about the Hanover situation, but NDAs in employment separations are absolutely routine. I oversaw hundreds…all had NDAs.
    Just guessing… is the one Board member complaining from the Dem side? I know there was a big fight in Hanover over school boards recently.

  2. kls Avatar
    kls

    Knowledge is power

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      So’s a photo taken a flagrante delicto…. Everybody got damned cellphones.

  3. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Wait?! Current board members were asked to sign an NDA concerning the exit of the superintendent?

    An “I’ll resign, but you can’t ruin my chances elsewhere” kind of thing? Dr. Swango?

    Something just been buried. Meh, these are all elected people… local politicians. It’s a shallow grave. Something’s gonna start stinkin’ and soon.

    1. Lefty665 Avatar
      Lefty665

      Hanover's one of the few remaining appointed school boards.

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        Hmm. Well, deeper grave.

        1. Lefty665 Avatar
          Lefty665

          He'd been there for 9 years. The local gossip is that he was fed up with lunacy from several of the school board members and essentially told them to take this job and shove it. The NDA may have been to keep the loons from compounding the damage.

  4. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    Who wrote the NDA? One might assume that the people in charge of the county and it's employees including the CA are the elected BOS, right?

    So, one way to do this is take a vote of the BOS to direct the CA to write the NDA but we don't even know that so perhaps that vote was taken in closed
    session? I don't know if this is one of the reasons that is allowed for closed session votes.

    Sorta interesting all this talk lately about transparency, accountability and " Democracy Thrives in Sunlight", and seemingly, we're seeing more of this in governance these days. We've had this lack-of-transparency thing going on for the last few years in Spotsylvania from a prior election and even
    though a new election, closed sessions are still quite lively.
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1fa291949d9becee2b231d6072b94d358666a11e2e21cea02ee95d7626e7c01a.png

    https://www.fredericksburgfreepress.com/2024/07/31/spotsylvania-school-board-holds-heated-final-meeting-before-new-superintendent-begins/

    From what I understand, this Superintendent was well-liked until the School Board election and different folks elected. As they say..elections..consequences. But unless there was some "good" but "undisclosed" reason for his firing, he'll find a another slot. Stafford County is looking for one right now.

    1. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      But unless there was some "good" but "undisclosed" reason for his firing, he'll find a another slot.

      Even if he was fired for good cause he'll probably still get another superintendent position.

      1. LarrytheG Avatar
        LarrytheG

        Maybe depends on the reason. Some can be problematical. In the case of Hanover, up until this point, he was well-liked and popular but when he resigned he said that the current board was going in a different direction and time for him to leave.

        "“I recognize that the School Board has new goals and objectives it wishes to achieve. To accomplish this, a new leader is needed to work with the Board in these future endeavors. With that in mind, I wanted to share with you that I offered the School Board my resignation this afternoon,” Gill wrote in the letter."

        1. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          It makes me wonder why anyone thought a Non-Disclosure Agreement was needed.

          1. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            yep. I was not even aware that governments could invoke NDAs in general. Could they do that
            for all positions? So, for instance, all this stuff going on in Richmond, could be kept secret with
            NDAs?

          2. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            yep. I was not even aware that governments could invoke NDAs in general. Could they do that
            for all positions? So, for instance, all this stuff going on in Richmond, could be kept secret with
            NDAs?

  5. Carter Melton Avatar
    Carter Melton

    My experience in issues of corporate/organizational governance is that you DON'T WANT every board member out freewheeling and discussing board business. Corporate law in Virginia requires a duty of confidentiality, and if you want to meet the duty of confidentiality, not to mention avoiding conflicting facts flying around, the board needs to speak with one voice, and it is usually a designated spokesperson. This in no way implies that public bodies shouldn't be transparent when appropriate (ie: ex personnel issues).

    Sounds as if the folks in Hanover (or at least their attorney) might be concerned about a wrongful discharge legal action coming back at them.

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