Chester school officials owe public an explanation

Conducting public business behind closed doors no longer is an occasional occurrence for the Chester County school board. It has become standard operating procedure.

For the third time in a row Monday, the board met primarily behind closed doors and covered little business during the public portion of the meeting. Board members presumably discussed employment matters but that can’t be verified because no one other than the board, its lawyer and Superintendent Agnes Slayman were in the closed meeting.

Slayman is at the center of this mysterious chain of events. Several weeks ago, she took a personal leave from her job with no explanation as to why. Board members also have refused to comment on why she took off, whether she was on paid leave or whether her job is in jeopardy.

Slayman resurfaced last week, returning to work at the Chester County district office. And she was present at Monday’s board meeting – but still not talking.

When asked by a Herald reporter to answer a few questions, she refused. When asked why, she said, “Because I don’t want to.”

This is an elected public official who refuses to answer questions regarding issues that could affect the education of thousands of children in Chester County. And the same can be said of the equally tight-lipped board members.

Nearly 100 people were at Monday’s meeting, many of them parents of Chester County students, who had hoped to address the board about a variety of concerns during a scheduled public meeting. But most had not been informed that they had to sign up to speak a week in advance of the meeting, so they left, with only about a third of them remaining until the end of the meeting.

Those people had to leave without having their questions answered, too.

A number of parents have told The Herald that they have attempted to email or call the district office with questions but have received no response.

The pressing question last week was, “Where is Agnes Slayman?” The question now is, “What the heck is going on behind closed doors that the public is not being informed about?”

When Monday’s so-called executive session ended, the board reconvened and voted to gather more information about an ongoing employee grievance. But no details were offered.

Residents have received no official word about what that grievance might be. Nor have they been told why Slayman took leave for several weeks and what circumstances prompted her to do that.

This information vacuum inevitably will be filled with speculation. Do these mysterious actions on the part of the board have anything to do with charges of grade tampering in the district? Is Slayman being represented by an attorney? Why did she go on leave in the middle of a dispute about security on school campuses and at high school football games?

Board members are elected officials whose job is to serve the public. Slayman is a public employee who serves at the pleasure of the board.

They all owe the public an explanation. Their refusal to tell constituents what’s going on is appalling and perhaps illegal as well.

To say the least, this has to erode confidence that the board and superintendent have the public’s best interests at heart.

This story was originally published September 23, 2015 at 8:09 AM with the headline "Chester school officials owe public an explanation."