The South Bend Community School Board has voted to censure one of their own and strip him of his title.
With a 4 to 2 vote in an executive session Friday, Vice-President Bill Sniadecki was stripped of his title and prevented from holding any other school board offices for the remainder of his time on the board. He is still a board member.
Before the vote, Sniadecki said, "No matter what they do to me tonight I'm going to keep doing what I do."
Sniadecki and Board President Roger Parent have been at odds for months. It began in September with Sniadecki accusing the board of violating Indiana's "Open Door Law" by discussing possible school closures during a closed executive session.
In a memo, Parent said Sniadecki's behavior at board meetings has been "very disruptive." Despite this Sniadecki had a lot of support at Friday's meeting. One after the other people stood to speak their mind, all of them in support of Sniadecki. One person said, "out of all you sitting there Bill Sniadecki is the only one I've seen out in the neighborhoods trying to help people."
Not only did they not want Sniadecki censured, they said the whole issue was a waste of time. One person in the crowd said, "We have aides right now being laid off we have para professionals that aren't doing their job we have mentally handicap students in classrooms in numbers they should not be in but yet we sit here trying to censure Bill Sniadecki." While another audience member said, "Guess what? Our kids are what's important here not a political issue or a squabble or a thorn between you and Mr. Sniadecki."
More than once the passion in the crowd boiled over. School Board President Roger Parent had police escort two people from the meeting after he said one verbally attacked him and another kept speaking out of turn.
After the meeting and the 4-2 vote to censure him Sniadecki said he's disappointed by his fellow board members saying, "if they want to be on this board they need to do what they're supposed to be doing and focusing on the kids." But he said this won't stop him from doing his job. "I'm gonna continue to do what I'm doing they can do whatever they want to me. I've never had a special agenda and I'm never gonna be," said Sniadecki.
Sniadecki just won his re-election bid on Tuesday. The crowd at Friday's meeting said that alone should have shown the Board that the public supports Sniadecki.
Every Board Member except Sniadecki left quickly, exiting out a side door. Superintendent Carole Schmidt left with them.
