Republican Town Committee Chair Criticizes School Board Chair's 'Failed Leadership'

The political spat involving , a Republican member of the Board of Education who has become the center of controversy recently after allegations surfaced that she sent harassing Faceboook messages to another member of the school board, continued Thursday after the Chairman of the Republican Town Committee released a statement criticizing Board of Education Chairman Chris Pattacini for . 

Republican Town Committee Chairman Matt Galligan sent the following statement to Patch Thursday: 

Board of Education Chairman Christopher Pattacini’s recent actions “removing” Board Member Merrill Kidd from her position on the Board of Education’s sub-committees steps outrageously outside the bounds of his authority and represents an affront to the trust placed in Mrs. Kidd by the voters of Manchester. After his failed attempt to force the resignation of Kidd, Mr. Pattacini is now consumed by embarrassing her and overturning the will of the voters who put her into office. He has proven to be a Board Chairman who is hopelessly ineffective and one who is given over to the politics of any situation amid false claims of bipartisanship.

Sub-committee meetings of the Manchester Board of Education are open to the public in the same manner as the regular Board of Education or Board of Directors meetings. Mr. Pattacini has taken the drastic step of pressuring Mrs. Kidd into not attending “any sub-committee meetings for the time being.” As the so-called leader of the Board of Education, Mr. Pattacini shows serious lapses in judgment. Calling for any member of the public to avoid an open meeting is a direct contradiction to the transparency that we see at other levels of Manchester Government. Unfortunately, Mr. Pattacini has proven so inept at consensus-building among Board members that he must now seek to shut out any and all who disagree with his leadership. It is dangerously presumptuous for Pattacini to assume that he can dictate which taxpayers bear witness to the work of the Board.

The Manchester Republicans have sought a legal opinion on the Chair’s authority to remove a standing committee member under the by-laws and were advised as follows: “The bylaws (of the Board of Education) give the Chair (Pattacini) the authority to appoint committee members at or promptly after the annual organizational meeting, but they do not give the Chair any authority to remove a sitting committee member once appointed.” The opinion continued, “The Chair cannot change the composition of the standing committees until the next annual organizational meeting (of the Board of Education) in November of 2012. In my opinion the Chair has exceeded his authority.”

The Manchester Republican Town Committee contends that Mr. Pattacini had no right to arbitrarily remove Mrs. Kidd from any of her sub-committee appointments. In doing so, Mr. Pattacini has continued to show that he has no ability to lead, just to create chaos. Quite obviously, the Manchester Democrats are more concerned with stoking the political fires than with addressing the urgent needs of Manchester Public Schools. Mrs. Kidd and the Manchester GOP are eager to get on with the real problems that face our school children, and not with the political circus that Mr. Pattacini has fostered.

Pattacini sent an email to Board of Education members Wednesday stating that he had removed Kidd from the four subcommittees she served on "effective immediately." 

Kidd told Patch Wednesday that she still planned to attend the subcommittee meetings anyway and maintained that she had  no intention of resigning.  

In an email response to Galligan's comments, Pattacini said Thursday that "it is unfortunate that the Republican Town Committee leaders seek to politicize this issue."

"The issue is related to the behavior of a particular board member and has no bearing on the political affiliation of that member, or any other," Pattacini said by email. "My goal is to protect the interest and legitimacy of the board and to ensure that it conducts its business in a proper, productive manner." 

The next meeting of the Board of Education is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 27, the first time the school board has met as a whole since the allegations against Kidd surfaced.