Attorney Mary Rice interviewed me for nearly two hours this afternoon. She was cordial and as we went into the office behind the School Board dias for our session I sang a few bars of the Association’s “Along Came Mary.” She told me it came out in 1967 which I don’t doubt because it was her name. I set out three old tape cassettes and started them telling Mary I had no idea how to use them so I hoped one of them would record our conversation. She put her singleton down and we commenced.
I was handed a form letter to sign saying I understood that this was part of an investigation. It asked me to keep everything discussed confidential and I explained that since it only asked rather than demanded I planned to make anything we discussed public. She said that was up to me.
She explained that she was strictly neutral. I’d like to think so but Mary was clearly not my attorney however neutral she acted in our interview. Art Johnston’s attorney says her firm helps our attorney, Kevin Rupp, to investigate errant school board members. We’re paying them but they work at Kevin Rupp’s discretion. I presume their loyalty is to Kevin.
How neutral is Kevin? Like the Superintendent I think he is loyal to whoever constitutes the majority on the Board. That’s who will extend his contract into the future. That may not be Art and me who in any case constitute a painfully small minority.
Kevin has his own material interest in this investigation. He is paid handsomely by our District to advise us and negotiate our contracts. He is thick as thieves with the Superintendent and already once condescended to deprecate my knowledge of the law at a school board meeting. He’s managed to negotiate our teacher’s salary to the fifteenth highest in the State previously. I still don’t know how it will rank after his most recent efforts where he did not advise the Superintendent to let me participate despite our District policy listing me as a member of the negotiating committee.
Kevin may have as much reason as the Superintendent to keep me the smallest minority possible long into the future. Mary was a very nice thorough person but excuse me for some unease with her assurance of neutrality.
Sorry Mary. That’s how I look at it. You did tell me you are aware of my blog and I think suggested that you had taken a peek at it. I’m not sure how you phrased that but I’m not sure I’ve got the endurance to live through those two hours of interview again to catch your exact acknowledgment of that fact.
