School District Weighs Additional Legal Resources

BRADENTON –  The topic of providing additional district funding for legal resources to the Manatee School Board came up twice at Tuesday's meeting.

 

Board members voted to purchase $100,000 worth of legal services from Blalock Walters, P.A. that would provide the school board, including the superintendent, with personal counsel in legal matters regarding performance of their positions. 

 

District Attorney Mitchell Teitelbaum advised that the goal of the contract was to allow the district's superintendent to obtain counsel with the firm - "routine counsel, specialized counsel, on an as-needed basis, which goes beyond my personal expertise as well as (board attorney) James Dye," Teitelbaum said. 

 

Board Vice Chair Dave Miner made two motions - to amend the item by having it reflect that the engagement attorney [main contact] be Cliff Walters, who is the head litigation attorney in the firm, and that the client addressed in the item be designated as the school board, which Teitelbaum had advised was ultimately the client in the contract. Both motions passed unanimously before the vote on the item passed unanimously as well.

 

Later in the meeting, Mr. Dye addressed the board on whether they believe the district should provide funds for legal resources to board members. A recent EEOC complaint filed by district investigator Troy Pumphrey against Miner and a subsequent letter from Pumphrey's attorney to Mr. Dye, and possible but not active litigation against the Vice Chairman was what provoked the subject matter. 

 

Dye advised that the policy issue raised by the situation is whether any litigation "that arose from (a board member's) status as an elected official" should allow said board member to be provided with financial resources for his legal counsel in the matter.

 

Speaking in support of the policy, Miner argued that people who run for public office should not have to face litigation related to their actions in office with their own personal monetary funds.

 

"Regardless of merit, if someone files a lawsuit, [a school board member would] suddenly have to pay out of their own pocket, maybe more than their annual salary for that position," he said, suggesting that such a situation may deter people from running for office. He added that enabling the policy suggested "is self-serving, good precedent, and good policy."

 

After several minutes of deliberation, board member Karen Carpenter asked Teitelbaum of his opinion of the matter. The district's attorney responded by advising that the board, as stated by board policy 2.17, "shall provide legal services for any school board member or employee who is sued for any action arising out of or in the course of employment by the district. That's the standard."

 

A motion to officially recognize that the district should provide Miner with financial resources in the event of needing legal counsel passed 4-0 after discussion's end, with Miner recusing himself in order to avoid a potential conflict of interest.