The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Board upholds ban
Mullins needs written OK before stepping foot on school grounds
By Brian Cox, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: April 3, 2008
School board candidate John Mullins remains banned from setting foot on school grounds without written permission following a special hearing March 27 at which the Saline school board voted unanimously to uphold Superintendent Scot Graden's issuance of the prohibition.
Advertisement
"In my mind, the overwhelming evidence shows that Mr. Graden's decision was based on sound judgment," said Board President Lisa Slawson at the conclusion of the hearing.
Mullins was not present, citing a schedule conflict. He requested a continuance to April 21, but after meeting in closed session for 15 minutes, the board voted to deny the request. It was the second time Mullins sought to postpone the hearing, which was originally scheduled for March 11.
Graden has restricted Mullins from school property since Feb. 19, three days after Mullins was involved in a confrontation with Athletic Director Rob White during a state wrestling tournament at Saline High School.
In an incident report, White alleges Mullins shoved him, used profanity, and threatened his children after he approached Mullins about failing to pay the tournament's $5 admission fee. White later sought and received a personal protection order against Mullins, who now faces charges of assault and disorderly conduct stemming from the Feb. 16 incident.
Mullins denies shoving White or threatening his children and has asserted that White staged the clash to discredit and humiliate him and to squash his candidacy for school board.
Mullins challenged Graden's decision, which he calls "arbitrary," and requested a meeting with the superintendent and the school board, but he said he was not prepared to make an official appeal before the board.
"We wanted to exhaust all administrative remedies first," said his wife, Tanny Mullins. "How could they possibly have an appeal without us being there? It should be our decision when we want to appeal. They just don't want us to argue our case."
Graden said because the decision was his as superintendent, Mullins' only option to overturn the ban was to appeal to the school board.
In a Feb. 28 e-mail obtained by The Saline Reporter, Mullins requested an appeal to Slawson.
The e-mail, according to Slawson, triggered the appeals process, but in subsequent e-mails Mullins objected and sought administrative recourse starting with White and proceeding up the chain of command through the high school vice principal, principal, assistant superintendent and the superintendent before appealing to the board. He wanted to "exhaust all administrative remedies."
On March 3, Slawson wrote Mullins, "In this case, you are challenging an administrative decision made by the chief administrative officer. There are no administrators with supervisory responsibility over the interim superintendent, and the decisions of the interim superintendent are not subject to review by a subordinate administrator. Accordingly, exhaustion does not serve as an obstacle to your appeal."
Mullins requested to be taken off the board's March 11 agenda. He was, and the hearing was moved to March 27.
In justifying his decision to ban Mullins from school grounds, Graden outlined his investigation into the incident before the board last Thursday night. He cited district policy on bullying, harassment and hazing, presented White's incident report as well as the Pittsfield Public Safety police report, and provided two eyewitness statements from Kevin Musson and Keith Schmidt, both district employees.
White also testified, giving his account of the encounter with Mullins at the wrestling tournament.
"He put his hands on me and shoved me," White said. "He got right up in my face and said, 'Do you got kids? They'd better watch out.'"
White said he requested a personal protection order for "my protection and my family's protection."
Asked if he was currently fearful of Mullins, White said, "Yes, because of the way it has escalated from verbal threats to physical threats to threats against my children."
Since the ban was instituted Feb. 19, Graden has denied Mullins' written requests to attend second-semester parent-teacher conferences March 6 and the varsity wrestling banquet March 24.
"Your participation in the (wrestling) banquet is a privilege," Graden wrote Mullins in an e-mail obtained by The Saline Reporter. "Your decision to inappropriately interact with the district's athletic director, and to threaten him and his children, disqualifies you from exercising that privilege. This is an unfortunate circumstance, but unfortunately your family cannot enjoy your presence at the banquet because of your behavior."
Graden also denied Mullins' request to attend the final, public superintendent interview held March 5 in the Saline Middle School media center. The following day, Graden wrote Mullins that after further review he could have allowed Mullins to attend the interview because White was not in attendance. Graden was prompted to require that Mullins make future requests to be on school property 24 hours in advance.
Mullins, who unsuccessfully ran for school board in 2004, has a history of disputes with the district. In 2004, the district filed a lawsuit against him and his wife in an attempt to bar them from attending school sporting events. The suit eventually led to an investigation of the athletic department that was highly critical of then athletic director Ed Gall.
The Mullinses were also involved in the controversy surrounding the cancellation of the freshman football season last year after their son was kicked off the team for allegedly swearing at a coach. The Mullinses claimed the boy had been denied water and was dehydrated. The controversy ultimately led to the resignation of former Superintendent Beverley Geltner, who had reinstated their son on the team.
The March 27 hearing, administered by attorney Ray Davis of Thrun Law Firm in Lansing, was attended by more than 20 teachers and administrators, most of whom appeared supportive of the board's decision.
"It would be anything but ludicrous for us to not consider this a serious charge," said Trustee Kim Van Hoek just prior to the board's vote. "This gentleman, in my opinion, has no right to be on public school property."
Staff Writer Brian Cox can be reached at 429-7380 or bcox@heritage.com.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
Staff Blog, "Inside The Newsroom"
TOP JOBS
