School board VP says superintendent, not board, turned down Clinton

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By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Mar 27, 2008 at 3:00 PM EST

Story Updated: Mar 27, 2008 at 3:00 PM EST

Editor's note: Ann Rosen is vice president of the South Bend Community School Corp. Board of School Trustees. She provided this letter to the Tribune as an explanation regarding the corporation's denial of a campaign appearance by presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton at Washington High School.

Thursday, March 27, 2008.

The decision to decline the Clinton campaign’s request to hold a political rally at Washington High School was not a Board decision.

I first heard from the SBCSC administration about this request last night at about 5:30 P.M. I was asked for my opinion; I was given no details about the visit. The call was made not by the superintendent, but by the secretary. Essentially, I had a few minutes to respond.

What I said was that I do not make decisions on the spot, that I had reservations, but that I wouldn’t say no. For me, without background knowledge or details about the rally, or discussion with fellow board members, this was the only responsible response.

The next communication I had was a written statement from Dr. Zimmerman, read to me over the phone by the secretary at 6:45 P.M. That statement said that Dr. Zimmerman had told the Clinton campaign staff that we could not host the political rally at Washington High School, that “the Corporation has a long-standing practice of not hosting or promoting political events in the schools during the school day, and the logistics of organizing the event will result in too much disruption to the student instructional day.”

I assumed that this statement would also be given to the press. In fact, it is my understanding that the superintendent did not speak with the press last night, or provide any written statement.

The next thing I knew, some news stories last night and today implied that this was a board decision. The public needs to understand that the only way for a school board to make a decision is in a public meeting with a public vote. Individuals act as a school board only when they are together in an official meeting. In this instance, there was no meeting, public or otherwise, and there was no vote. This decision was made by the superintendent and if people have questions, I suggest they contact Dr. Zimmerman.

Ann Rosen

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