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Scott McGee recall, Mashpee School Department, Massachusetts (2016)
| Mashpee School Department School Committee recall |
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| Officeholders |
| Recall status |
| See also |
| Recall overview Political recall efforts, 2016 Recalls in Massachusetts Massachusetts recall laws School board recalls Recall reports |
An effort to recall Scott McGee from his seat on the Mashpee School Department School Committee was started in December 2015, but it was ultimately abandoned. Recall supporters questioned his relationship with the superintendent, who was under investigation at the time the recall effort started.[1]
The other school committee members voted to remove McGee from his position as chair of the board on January 20, 2016. They said they were following up on public concerns that he was too close to Superintendent Brian Hyde. He had served as chair since 2013.[2]
McGee had been a member of the school committee since 2010, when he was elected to serve a one-year term. He was twice re-elected to his seat, and his term was set to expire in 2017.[1]
Recall supporters
The recall effort was started by Carla Riley, the town coordinator for the Indian Education Department. She said McGee was "way too close" to Superintendent Brian Hyde, who was on paid administrative leave due to criminal trespass charges at the time the recall effort against McGee started. Hyde was also investigated due to the trespass charges. Investigators looked into an unannounced visit to a student’s home that occurred on September 29, 2015, according to the Cape Cod Times.[1] Hyde was found not guilty on all charges in February 2016.[3]
After removing McGee from his position as chair of the board, school committee member Christopher Santos said, "We have a duty to do what the public wants and the public deserves." The comment was met with applause from the meeting's audience. With a hole in the board's leadership, the school committee fully reorganized. Members elected Don Myers as the new chair. Member George Schmidt was elected vice chair, and Santos was elected secretary.[2]
Cape Cod Times editorial
The Cape Cod Times published the following editorial criticizing McGee's actions in relation to a report on Hyde's incident:
| “ | We can't think, at least in recent memory, of a more egregious example of dereliction of duty from an elected public official on Cape Cod.
Three-and-a-half months after Mashpee Schools Superintendent Brian Hyde barged into a student's home unannounced, and more than two months after his questionable statements following the controversial visit, Mashpee School Committee Chairman Scott McGee continues to keep the lid on the findings of an independent investigation of the incident. At a Board of Selectmen meeting Monday night, McGee said the findings will not be released for weeks -- at least until a trespassing case against Hyde has been resolved in Falmouth District Court and the School Committee has voted on Hyde’s future status. By not releasing a report paid for with taxpayer money, and by failing to share the report's findings with the rest of the School Committee, McGee is abdicating his responsibility to the citizens of Mashpee. Quite simply, McGee is protecting the superintendent. But is it the role of the School Committee chairman to serve the best interests of the superintendent or the best interests of the district and its students? There is no need for McGee to wait for the court process play out. The court will be ruling solely on whether Hyde committed the charges of misdemeanor trespass and breaking and entering to commit a misdemeanor. The jury will decide, beyond a reasonable doubt, whether Hyde broke the law. Even if Hyde is found innocent of the charges, does that mean he should continue as superintendent? Unlike the court case, the School Committee has an obligation to determine whether Hyde violated any district policies or acted unbecoming of a superintendent, both during the home visit, and after -- during the police investigation. The School Committee simply needs a preponderance of evidence -- not the higher standard of beyond a reasonable doubt -- to act on its own. And does it have a preponderance of evidence against Hyde? First, there was the report of the unannounced visit to the home of Marilyn King. King said that Hyde barged into her home after her mother opened the door and went through the family’s belongings in a second-floor bedroom while checking on the residency status of her 17-year-old daughter. A witness, who was neither a friend nor a family member, corroborated the mother's story. Hyde said he was invited into the house and denies entering the bedroom, but a Falmouth clerk magistrate, after reviewing a report of the incident compiled by the Mashpee police, found probable cause to bring charges against Hyde. Second, members of the School Committee have read the police report, which shows discrepancies between Hyde's testimony and witness accounts. Third, following the home visit, Hyde stated publicly that residency checks were routine. But a public records request by the Times showed that, although 20 new elementary school students were visited by school officials this past summer and fall, there was no record of home visits to 26 new students at Mashpee Middle-High School. On Jan. 6, School Committee member Christopher Santos said it was time to make a decision about Hyde. “We have a great deal of information,” including letters, emails and spoken commentary. “It’s time to stop being neutral about this and decide what needs to happen and where we need to go.” Santos said it was the committee's job to look at the situation from an employer's perspective. Santos said the legal case would establish whether Hyde had permission to enter the home, but it would not look at his conduct and why he was in the house in the first place. Santos gets it. Unfortunately for the school district, the School Committee chairman is unilaterally delaying proper committee review of the Hyde controversy based on the court proceedings. McGee has an obligation to the students and parents of Mashpee to do due diligence, release the findings of the independent investigation, proceed with a full School Committee review of this controversy, and act on Hyde's future regardless of the court outcome.[4] |
” |
| —Cape Cod Times (January 14, 2016)[5] | ||
Recall opponents
After the recall paperwork was started, McGee said "the chair is supposed to be close" to the superintendent. He said he relished "the opportunity to have a discussion about it."[1]
After the other school committee members removed him from his leadership position, McGee said he was "just floored." He also said the other committee members were "being punitive at this point."[2]
Background
Superintendent leaves
In March 2016, Superintendent Brian Hyde signed a separation agreement with the Mashpee School Committee. The agreement gave Hyde $425,000, which was the remainder of his contract that was supposed to expire in 2018.[6]
Mark Gildea, one of Hyde's attorneys, said Hyde was disappointed to leave early. Gildea also said, “Mr. Hyde is grateful for having had the opportunity to have worked in the Mashpee school system for nearly 30 years.”[6]
Investigation into superintendent's unannounced visit
Superintendent Brian Hyde went to the home of Marilyn King, a parent of a district student, for an unannounced residency check on September 29, 2015. King's daughter had been living in Florida and had wanted to re-enroll as a senior with the Mashpee School Department on her return. Hyde called the visit a routine residency check and said he had been invited into King's home. King, however, said Hyde had barged into her home and had gone through her family's things in a second-floor bedroom. Though Hyde admitted to being on the second floor of the house, he said he never went into a bedroom.[7]
King accused Hyde of singling her out after she complained to the media about the difficulties she had encountered trying to re-enroll her daughter in the district. She filed a criminal complaint against Hyde. He was charged for misdemeanors of trespass and breaking and entering and was put on administrative leave.[7]
In October 2015, the Mashpee School Committee hired a firm to complete an independent investigation into the incident.[7] The School Committee received the report from the investigation in January 2015. They said they would wait until Hyde's trial to determine his future with the district. His trial was initially scheduled for January 15, 2016, but it was moved when his attorney requested a trial by jury. The jury trial took place before Falmouth District Judge Mary Orfanello on February 16, 2016.[8] Hyde was found not guilty on all charges.[3]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Laws governing recall in Massachusetts
Riley took out recall papers from the Mashpee town clerk on December 16, 2015. In order to get the recall on the ballot, Riley would have had to return those papers with 25 signatures to the town clerk. The first 10 people who signed the papers would have also had to go into the town clerk's office to take an oath that their information was accurate and genuine. Once that first process was completed, the recall supporters would have had 20 days to collect signatures from 25 percent of registered voters in Mashpee, which would have been a total of 2,517 signatures. If those signatures had been collected and certified, McGee would have had five days to resign in order to avoid the recall election.[1]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Scott McGee' 'Mashpee School Department' recall. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Mashpee School Department, Massachusetts
- Recall campaigns in Massachusetts
- Political recall efforts, 2016
- School board recalls
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Cape Cod Times, "Effort to recall Mashpee School Committee chairman underway," December 17, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Cape Cod Times, "Mashpee school board chairman 'floored' by reorganization," January 20, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cape Cod Times, "Mashpee schools chief Brian Hyde found not guilty on all charges," February 17, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Cape Cod Times, "Editorial: Abuse of power," January 14, 2016
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 CapeCod.com, "Separation Agreement to Pay Former Mashpee School Boss $425,000," March 3, 2016
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Cape Cod Times, "Mashpee superintendent home visit probe to run into 2016," December 28, 2015
- ↑ Cape Cod Times, "Mashpee schools chief now seeks jury trial," January 8, 2016
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