It’s time for the three musketeers of misinformation on the Bartholomew Consolidated School Board to take some accountability for their actions.
Earlier this month, Bartholomew County Commissioner Tony London approached the board demanding that BCSC board member Jason Major apologize, and resign from his position as an officer in the local Republican Party, after he and Logan Schulz and Tom Glick made murky and unfounded assertions about a “back room deal” involving London’s company, the teacher’s union and two other school board members.
Major said he had no plans of resigning or apologizing.
But Major should, and Schulz and Glick should apologize.
Major, Glick, and Schulz implied in an earlier board work session that School Board President Nikki Wheeldon and board member Whittney Loyd were involved in the appearance of a “quid pro quo,” or some type of impropriety, although they steered away from explicitly making a specific accusation and instead couched it in a series of hypotheticals, according to reporting from The Republic’s Brad Davis.
Davis described the exchange as an example of the “increasingly fractured dynamic”on the school board, where meetings often turn into political jousting matches, at the behest of Major and Schulz in particular, and an environment of “us versus them.”
London said he “was, and still am, beyond offended by the blatantly defamatory comments made by some members of this (the BCSC) board. It was classless, irresponsible, potentially destructive and most of all, just wrong.”
“Some of you attempted to use me, my wife, and my business as a pawn in your attempt to further your own agenda, and you didn’t seem to care where the chips fell,” he said at Monday night’s board meeting. “Fortunately for me, no one with half a brain believed your nonsense.”
London is completely correct with that statement.
And it should be noted that the school board attorney, Michael McIver said repeatedly that in the specific case of Wheeldon and Loyd, as well as a hypothetical Schulz put forward, that it would not be considered a conflict of interest by definition.
It’s time for Major, Schulz and Glick to apologize to their fellow school board members and to London and his wife. And Major should be leaving his leadership role as secretary to the Bartholomew County Republicans.
None of this is about the role of a school board member, which is to work as a unified body for the welfare of the students who attend BCSC, for the employees who work there and for the community at large.
Major, Schulz and Glick are not representing this type of servant leadership with these allegations — they are hurting the school corporation, the students and most critically, damaging the reputation of BCSC and its ability to effectively educate the students of our community.
By making up hypothetical scenarios of conflict of interest, involving a private local business by making unfounded allegations and assertions that have no basis in reality and attempting to smear their fellow board members with conspiracy theories, they have shown they are not qualified to serve or remain on the BCSC board.
