More News

The Frederick County school board member who surprised her colleagues Monday by publicly accusing another member of lying to the public acknowledged Wednesday that she may have violated the board's own guidelines for behavior.

But she's not backing down, and will be happy to talk with her colleagues about it.

"If that is the way the board decided to interpret this, we should talk about it," said Bonnie Borsa, one of the staunchest supporters of the behavior guidelines. "I'd be delighted to have that conversation with the whole board."

At the school board's meeting on Monday, Borsa confronted fellow board member Donna Crook, and questioned the accuracy of public statements Crook has made throughout the year.

Crook said Borsa's move was a diversion tactic to direct attention to her now that the public has been following the school board's decisions more closely. "This is a distraction," Crook said. "Mrs. Borsa is trying to shift the attention to me and make feel like the bad guy. ... This is just another attempt to control me."

On Monday, Borsa listed specific examples of Crook's alleged lying, and said she transcribed two radio talk shows to prove it. "This is an issue of public concern," Borsa said on Monday. "It is not an attack. .... I think we need to have an evaluation of the accuracy of comments that are given to the public."

On a radio talk show on July 21, for example, Crook said that at a convention in San Francisco in 2003, then-school Superintendent Jack Dale used a school system credit card to buy alcohol.

That was untrue, according to Borsa, who said she has receipts from that trip that don't indicate any such purchase. School system employees are allowed buy alcohol at social events, but they have to pay for it themselves, Borsa said.

Borsa also disputed Crook's claim that it was Crook who after this trip asked the school board to develop a formal alcohol policy for employees. Borsa said she has the original policy that was created years before 2003.

Borsa also confronted Crook about statements Crook has made on radio about the new central office building. During another radio show, Crook stated that the building would have "private poopers."

That is untrue, Borsa said. The new central office will have common bathrooms on each floor and a unisex bathroom for the superintendent, the legal services department and other school system employees who will be housed on the top floor of the building, Borsa said.

"The public has confidence in you," Borsa told Crook at the meeting. "I think the public deserves to hear why you made those comments. There is a constant pattern of error in those statements."

Borsa also questioned why on April 15 Crook chose to participate in a political rally outside the school system's main building and chanted against the school board, while the rest of the school board was inside discussing the budget.

Crook defended her statements and requested to see copies of Borsa's transcripts and receipts before finally leaving the meeting on Monday.

A day after the meeting, Crook said she was still trying to digest Borsa's allegations. "I wasn't expecting that at all," Crook said. "The accusations [Borsa] made last night are not founded, they are not proven. I don't think I did anything wrong."

Crook said she clearly remembers seeing school system- issued credit cards being used to purchase alcohol at a school officials' trip to California. She said Dale may have paid the school system back for these purchases, but Borsa said they still would have shown up on the statement.

Crook also said that she had informed the board that she may not be able to attend the April 15 board meeting, when she participated in one of the "tea party" rallies in Frederick.

Crook also said Borsa used the phrase "personal poopers" out of context. That phrase belonged to radio talk show host Blaine Young, who used it repeatedly before Crook repeated it in one of her comments, Crook said.

Borsa's public accusation surprised most board members, and may have violated one of the guidelines, or "norms," that board members have established for themselves. The norm encourages board members to "avoid surprises by articulating concerns in advance" of public meetings.

Violating the norms carries no punishment.

Borsa said she only warned board president Jean Smith that she planned to raise the issue, and agreed that her actions could be interpreted as violating the norms, though she said she did nothing wrong.

"I think that as public officials, we need to be able to speak our minds," Borsa said. "I don't think that the norms are against that."

But Borsa also said she would understand if the board sees it differently, and wants to have a discussion with her. She also said she has "absolutely" no regrets about her comments.

The board norms are a set of rules that the school board developed to address issues related to the roles of board officials and define the responsibilities and appropriate behavior for members.

Among other things, they advise board members to be on time for meetings, attend professional training, "publicly support the decisions of the board as a corporate body," avoid presenting surprises to staff and other board members, and "articulate concerns ahead of time."

Crook, meanwhile, said she feels Borsa's comments violated the norms. "You could see by my face that I was caught by surprise," she said.

Crook also said that because board members could be seen as school system employees, and therefore deserve the same privacy that the school system gives to personnel issues. According to board policies, personnel issues can only be discussed in closed session.

E-mail Margarita Raycheva at mraycheva@gazette.net.