Addison school board member sues district over removal as president

ADDISON — An Addison school board member is suing the district, some current and former board members, and a former superintendent over his removal as board president in April 2022.

Scott Williams, who was elected to the board in 2020, was elected to be its president in January 2022, his lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit says. He says the board adopted a resolution in April 2022 to remove him as president and censure him. The lawsuit states he was removed without cause and the reasons given are “a guise to conceal Defendants’ objections to Williams’ honest and diligent efforts to assure that District affairs are conducted transparently, ethically, and with appropriate seriousness and diligence when considering complaints by faculty, students, and families of violations or potential violations of law and District policies and complaints of sexual harassment.”

The lawsuit names the district; current and former board members Josh Perry, Michael Murphy, Jennifer Frost, Andrea Woodring and Kim Ford; and former Superintendent Steve Guerra as defendants. Guerra retired at the end of the 2021-22 school year.

“Defendants deny that there are any events that give rise to any viable cause or action relative to the allegations contained in the Plaintiff’s Complaint and expressly deny any liability and/or damages in connection with the allegations contained in the Plaintiff’s Complaint,” the defendants’ answer to the lawsuit says.

Because of the defendants’ acts, the lawsuit says, Williams “has suffered mental anguish, physical and emotional distress, humiliation and embarrassment, and loss of professional reputation.”

Both Williams and the defendants have requested a jury trial. Williams is seeking compensatory, punitive and exemplary damages and injunctions mandating that he receive his constitutional due process and prohibiting further acts against Williams depriving him of his constitutional rights and retaliating against him.

The defendants’ answer says Williams has failed to set forth a claim or cause for action or prove deprivation of a federal or state right and violated his obligations as a school board member by disclosing confidential information from a board meeting closed session. It also says the defendants acted without malice and followed their obligations under law.

Because board officers can only be removed for cause, Williams’ lawsuit says, he has a property interest in the board president position. The answer to the lawsuit says this and many other claims are factually and legally untrue. It also says he does not have a claim to the position because he did not request a name-clearing hearing with the school board before filing the lawsuit.

Williams also claims the board violated his due process rights under the U.S. Constitution by not providing him with a notice of the allegations against him prior to the April 25, 2022, board meeting when the resolution removing him as president was passed. The lawsuit says that before that meeting no board member had suggested he resign as president or suggest his conduct warranted censure.

“Rather, during the April 25th meeting, the Board entered a closed session, during which a thick packet of written materials was presented to Williams and other Board members,” the lawsuit says. “On information and belief, that package of material was compiled by or under the supervision of Defendants Guerra, Perry, and one or more of the other individual defendants.”

The defendants deny these allegations “in the manner and form alleged.” They also deny any liability or damages in connection to the allegations.

The lawsuit says Perry made a "rambling” presentation of allegations against Williams during the closed session, many of which “were false or concerned conduct which was not misconduct and not a basis to remove Williams for cause.”

“The allegations included conduct by Williams as a private citizen, before he was elected to the Board, in making inquiry of law enforcement officials regarding their prior investigation of Defendant Guerra for his inappropriate conduct with female students at the District’s high school,” the lawsuit says. “The District had disciplined Guerra for that conduct, and Williams’ actions as a citizen making inquiry into Guerra’s inappropriate conduct and the law enforcement response were protected activity under the First Amendment and not a permissible basis for subsequent removal from his office after election to the Board.”

The defendants deny these allegations “as being inaccurate, incomplete or otherwise untrue,” the answer says.

At the end of the closed session, the lawsuit says, Guerra “confiscated” the packet of material. When the board returned to open session, board secretary Ford read a resolution of censure and removal into the record, the lawsuit says. The resolution had not been presented to Williams and contained allegations that were not discussed in the closed session. Some of the allegations discussed during the closed session were not included in the resolution, and WIlliams was not given an opportunity to respond. He also said the decision not to present him with a copy of the resolution was premeditated by the defendants

The defendants said the allegation that Guerra confiscated the packet is untrue and repeated their defense that they have an obligation to keep the proceedings of the closed session private but also deny the other allegations as inaccurate, incomplete or untrue. They say the claim Williams was not given an opportunity to respond is untrue.

Williams had to file two Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain the packet of information presented during the closed session, the lawsuit says, and has not yet been provided with an audio recording of the closed sessions or the notes he claims that Perry used during the closed session.

The defendants’ answer says they are unaware of a recording of the closed session, the allegation about notes Perry might have used is untrue, and that seeking materials from a closed session runs “afoul of the obligations set forth by the Michigan Open Meetings Act which governs the operation of the Defendant Board of Education as a whole.”

Williams is represented by attorney Jeffrey Herron of Detroit. Attorney Gregory Mair of Saginaw is representing the district, board members and Guerra. A scheduling conference is scheduled for Feb. 14 before District Judge Sean F. Cox.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Addison school board member sues over removal as president