Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for April 14, 2007 MARION SCHOOL BOARD RACE

A person running for school board with "an agenda"?

Shocking? More the norm than an exception!

Also...if you will excuse a CATty comment..."$167,000 in legal fees over the last four years"? Cairo should be so lucky! (If the truth were known, Cairo has probably "met or exceeded" that standard in the past year-and-a-half...with a fraction of the financial resources that Marion has! Yet, we plead financial hardship...)

From the Southern Illinoisan...

Marion School Board candidate explains lawsuit

BY JOHN D. HOMAN, THE SOUTHERN

MARION - Jan Bowman-Marsh said she's disappointed that some Marion residents are up in arms about her candidacy for the Marion Unit 2 School Board because her husband, Robert, has an ongoing lawsuit against the district.

Marsh is one of five candidates seeking one of four open seats on the board in Tuesday's general election.

"A lawsuit has never been my style," Bowman-Marsh said. "I decided to run for school board because I would like to work in our existing governing system as a voice for diversity, healing and growth."

Bowman-Marsh said that should she win the election Tuesday, she has worked it out with her husband to drop the lawsuit, perhaps paving a way for a more amicable relationship with Superintendent Wade Hudgens, board members and district employees.

Hudgens said the district has spent $167,000 in legal fees over the last four years.

"We've had to defend ourselves against a frivolous lawsuit," he said. "This is something we are hoping to put behind us, but the Marshes continue to request motions with the court that keeps the case alive."

The lawsuit stems from an incident that occurred in November 2003. Robert Marsh alleges that Hudgens organized assemblies so that the schools could feature an evangelical speaker named Ronnie Hill, pastor of Ronnie Hill Ministries in Fort Worth, Texas.

Marsh's lawsuit asserts that, in connection with the assemblies, student supporters of Hill were planning to distribute tickets to evening pizza parties that would be held at the Cornerstone Community Church. Prior to eating, however, the students first had to listen to a sermon by Hill.

The Marshes have a daughter who was a fourth-grader at Washington School at the time. In short, the suit alleges that the school district was endorsing religion by permitting Hill to speak.

Earlier this year, the court dismissed the case, citing a lack of evidence. Robert Marsh and his attorney Richard Whitney of Carbondale filed a motion for reconsideration of the judge's ruling and asked for additional time for discovery. The case has since been transferred to a new judge for reconsideration.

Separation of church and state

"The point of my husband's lawsuit has been missed by many people," Bowman-Marsh said. "It has never been about a student or a teacher's individual right to religious freedom, prayer or witnessing," Bowman-Marsh said. "It was about the superintendent and the board abusing their authority and refusing open discussion about using the public schools to bring in Ronnie Hill Ministries.

"The point of the anti-drug assembly was to invite people to a pizza party, which was really an evangelism service of their particular denomination. My husband has said all along that there is nothing wrong with an evangelism service and there is nothing wrong with giving pizza tickets to your friends and neighbors, but the school system is required to remain neutral."

If elected, Bowman-Marsh said she would strive to smooth over relations with Hudgens and the board.

"I've never said that I want to get Dr. Hudgens removed as superintendent," she said. "People who say those kind of things don't know me. They don't know my heart. I'm truly sorry that taxpayer money has been spent by the school district toward this lawsuit, but it took two parties to keep this going."

Hudgens said that should Bowman-Marsh get elected, he and the board would proceed to operate in a legal and ethical manner.

"I would hope that a board candidate would run to serve all the children and taxpayers of the district, but based on comments I've heard from people in the community, I believe she may have an agenda."

Bowman-Marsh said she was encouraged to run for the board by teachers and community leaders.

"I've actually been considering this for the last year or more," she said. "I believe there are other issues this district faces that are bigger than this lawsuit like this district's financial profile."

Bowman-Marsh added that her husband and Whitney are in the process of preparing a letter to the board's attorney stating that prayer during graduation ceremonies has never been an issue with them.

Also running for school board are Michael D. Simmons, Richard McFadden, Richard D. "Dick" Sanders and Todd Goodman.