The Auburn school board's desire to censor or quiet one of the school board members, Joe Leogrande, who works diligently for our citizens, is an atrocity.

After looking at all the board policies which are on the school district web site,http://district.auburn.cnyric.org/district/policy/, the school board ethics policy or formally called “Principles of Board Members” policy 1340, that was passed recently, will be used to prevent any board member from speaking his mind now and in the future.

One item, letter “D” in the policy requires all board members to go along with decisions of the majority. What happened to dissenting opinions? Another item “N” states that board members should not permit themselves to be swayed by minority opinion and item “M” tells board members they should forget some factions of the public.

Another item “L” requires a board member to resign from the board when they are just in discussions seeking employment in the district. I think once the board member is hired, he should resign, not before he begins an interview process. Another item “F” prevents board members from conducting personal investigations into charges concerning students or personnel. I think board members have a duty to the electorate to investigate and find out if charges are valid, and report their findings to the board and superintendent about any findings. If they will not act, then the board member should go to the press.

Items “P” and “Q” that dealt with board members not being allowed to initiate talks with the press, have been deleted from policy 1340, but will reappear in a Community Relations policy 3110, soon, hopefully allowing board members to talk to the press. Is this a shell game or what? Just keep your eyes on the pea!

John Shaw

Auburn