South Bend school board may censure its own vice president

SOUTH BEND -- Boil it down and the question is, is South Bend school board Vice President Bill Sniadecki guilty of misconduct or is he being chastised for a history of calling out board members and the school district's administration for their misconduct?

Board President Roger Parent has scheduled a special meeting at 4 p.m. Nov. 9 for the board to answer that question.

The lone item on the agenda is a resolution to censure Sniadecki.

It's a move that would strip him of his title and duties as vice president, but allow him to remain a voting member of the board through his term, which is over at the end of the year.

Superintendent Carole Schmidt, along with Parent, board Secretary Michelle Engel and board member Maritza Robles met with The Tribune on Wednesday morning to discuss the potential censure of Sniadecki and the evidence they say justifies it.

Sniadecki was unaware of the move to censure him, and the district's investigation into his conduct, until a reporter asked him about it later in the day.

The background

Last month, Sniadecki publicly questioned the legality of an executive session of the board.
Afterward, Parent and Engel called a news conference asking for Sniadecki to step down as vice president and issue an apology.

He did neither.

Parent said Wednesday that he and Schmidt then decided to conduct a "deep and broad" investigation into Sniadecki's conduct as a board member.

One example of alleged misconduct they cite is a November 2011 incident in which Schmidt said Sniadecki dropped off an envelope for her -- when she was still the interim superintendent -- at the administration building marked "confidential."

Inside, she said, was a list of the 20 questions that would be asked of the candidates for permanent superintendent, a position for which she had applied.

As soon as she realized what it was, Schmidt said Wednesday, she sealed it up and had her office staff put it away. She did not look at the questions, she said.

She says she also didn't tell anyone about the letter except for an attorney who works for the school corporation.

On Wednesday, Sniadecki denied ever having delivered the interview questions to Schmidt in advance.

As for Schmidt, she said it never occurred to her at the time to tell any of the other board members.

"There was already controversy surrounding the (superintendent) search," she said, so she figured "no harm, no foul."

A copy of the envelope provided by Schmidt in which Sniadecki allegedly delivered the interview questions has a return address in the left-hand corner of the superintendent's office and a metered stamp in the right-hand corner dated 9-12-2008, though it's not postmarked.

During his eight years in office, Sniadecki said, he's dozens of times delivered mail to the superintendent marked "confidential" in an effort to ensure that he or she would personally open it rather than an office staff member.

At 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, The Tribune requested to inspect the envelope in which Schmidt said Sniadecki delivered the interview questions on Nov. 2, 2011.