RCOE Discusses Censure, Journey Fund Restrictions For Trustee Bruce Dennis

The Riverside County Office of Education (RCOE) final week mentioned, however took no motion, relating to each the censure of and restrictions on funding for board-related journey for Trustee Bruce Dennis.

“My personal opinion is not an ounce of travel budget as long as I’m breathing,” Board President Kim Joseph Cousins mentioned at the September 3 meeting. “I want to be very clear, there is a legal precedent associated with him going somewhere and misbehaving, and we’re going to get sued, and I’m not going to be part and parcel to that.”

Dennis was censured final summer season on account of a criticism filed by Board Secretary Sandra Martinez accusing him of sexual harassment, unprofessional conduct and making a hostile work atmosphere. In addition to the censure, the board voted to take away him from his position because the board’s California School Boards Association delegate and droop his discretionary journey and convention funds and skills till additional discover.

Trustee Ray “Coach” Curtis mentioned he introduced the merchandise ahead to not take away the censure, however to solely reinstate Dennis’ discretionary journey and convention funds forward of the California School Board Association (CSBA) County Board Conference held final weekend in Monterey, California.

“The censure is forever,” Curtis mentioned. “The travel and conference [fund suspension] was put together by the ad hoc committee and was set indefinitely.”

Dennis, who known as his censure “absolutely the right action,” mentioned that attending skilled conferences was a part of his obligation as a board member to remain up to date on new developments in schooling and to enhance his means to serve within the position. He additionally famous that he’s continued to attend native occasions with out problem.

“In the last year, I have been invited to events within my trustee area,” he mentioned. “Any request I’ve made of [Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Edwin Gomez] to attend an RCOE event, I have been allowed to attend it with absolutely no issues and no escorts, no conditions. If I can be trusted to [attend] those district and county events, I think I can be trusted to go to CSBA.”

Dennis, who mentioned he was an advocate for girls, mentioned he had “worked like hell,” over the past yr to deal with the behaviors introduced up within the criticism and as a part of the investigation into the criticism.

“I have learned through this that things that may have been allowed early in my career are no longer allowed, even a simple compliment,” he mentioned, noting that he wouldn’t resign from his seat. “I just stay away from everything now.”

However, Trustee Jamie Azpeitia-Sachs mentioned that the truth that this merchandise was on the agenda, coupled with remarks from unnamed trustees that the scenario had “gone on too long,” despatched a “chilling message” to victims and survivors and mirrored a broader problem within the group’s tradition.

“A culture of sweeping harm under the rug when it gets uncomfortable, a culture that protects reputations instead of repairing relationships and a culture that hopes silence will make the problem disappear,” she mentioned. “Harm doesn’t disappear simply since you’re uninterested in listening to about it.

“Another thing that we need to do is demonstrate through action, not [public relations], not optics, that this board supports those who speak up, not those who attempt to silence them,” she continued. “This is a systemic issue, and if you still cannot see that, then, disrespectfully, you are a part of the problem.”

For Azpeitia-Sachs, an affordable lodging could be to have Dennis have entry to funds for particular trainings and conferences, however not be given the whole $12,000 funds to make use of at his discretion.

Dennis mentioned that the conferences he needs to be allowed to attend embody the county, CSBA and Association of California County Boards of Education annual conferences and even urged that he be supplied with a $6,000 discretionary journey funds.

However, Trustee Elizabeth F. Romero felt that even having Dennis at these occasions representing RCOE was not one thing he needs to be doing.

“For me, this has always felt very crummy just to even have someone who’s been accused of perpetrating in this way to still be allowed to be in spaces in close proximity, one to the victim and two to other people who could be potentially harmed,” she mentioned. “And so that, from the onset, has been uncomfortable, especially going to schools and doing those visits outside of the confines of what we’ve authorized as this board.”

Cousins went even additional, stating that having Dennis attend occasions as a consultant of RCOE with the monetary help of the group has the potential to place the workplace in danger.

“If I know the individual has violated people’s spaces and has [created] a hostile work environment, and I have notes and emails from people indicating it’s still going on to this day with no apology, therefore, in my mind, if I give any kind of money, and I send that individual and they have similar interactions with people [at an event] that I paid for them to go to, that puts this organization at risk again,” he mentioned. “He’s free to go wherever he wants to go, just not on RCOE’s dime.”

Since the merchandise was solely on the agenda for dialogue, no motion was taken, although Cousins advised the board that if two members despatched him a word about what they needed to carry again earlier than the board, he would put it on a future agenda.