Hartland school board rebukes members over comments made on local podcast

HARTLAND — The Hartland school board Monday rebuked a pair of members after they made comments on a local podcast in February that many in the community found offensive.

Board President Chris Costa asked the board Monday to approve a resolution regarding Glenn Gogoleski's and Greg Keller's comments, calling them "inappropriate and irresponsible" and stating their opinions as individuals do not reflect the board as a whole.

The resolution passed, 4-3. Gogoleski, Keller and Michelle Blondeel, who campaigned for office with the other two as part of the "Clean Slate," voted no, while Costa, Kristin Coleman, Cindy Shaw and Meghan Glabach voted in favor of the resolution.

Also at the meeting, district parent Cori Charboneau presented the board with a petition calling for the district to require background checks for school board members, in response to the podcast. Charboneau reported the online petition on Change.org had 1,067 signatures by the time she printed it out on Monday.

Gogoleski and Keller responded by saying they support background checks as a safety measure, with Gogoleski adding that he signed the petition.

The controversy began February after Gogoloski and Keller appeared on a multi-hour podcast that also featured former school board candidate Robert Merwin. During the podcast, Gogoleski said he planned to enter school buildings unannounced, they discussed poor discipline in schools and suggested they would physically restrain students, and Gogoleski spoke about his wife, a school employee, telling him about incidents with students in the district.

The district has already launched an investigation into whether student privacy rights were violated following complaints from parents over comments Gogoleski made on the "This is My Brain" podcast Feb. 19.

RELATED: Hartland schools investigating after school board members' comments spark concern

Near the end of the podcast, Merwin referred to an incident that happened at Hartland Farms Intermediate, where Gogoleski's wife Jeannine Gogoleski is a school secretary, while they were discussing how schools handle discipline when a student has a "meltdown."

In response to his comments, some parents called for district Superintendent Chuck Hughes to investigate whether Jeannine Gogoleski had been sharing federally protected information about students with her husband and whether it constituted a violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

Monday, Gogoleski defended his comments and into detail about an incident Hartland Farms Intermediate in which students and teachers were injured by a student. He read from a police report with names redacted.

He argued that information about the incident came from many sources, including letters from parents, police reports that are public through the Freedom of Information Act, teachers who have left the district, conversations with law enforcement and confidential school board documents.

"Do you really, really feel that Hartland schools have things buttoned up so tight that the only way information can come out it through various sources, either internally or in the shadows or whatever? You can get a police report," he said.

Coleman, the board vice president, took issue with Gogoleski sharing information about the incident.

"Even though it's word of mouth and it's word on the street, and people have this information, it does not mean it's not confidential information," Coleman said. "It’s not intended for public consumption."

During the podcast, Glenn Gogoleski talked about planning to enter every school in the district unannounced and wanting to spend time in the school offices "to see the kids that are the problems."

He made a comment about "grabbing" students "by the scruff of the neck" as a form of discipline that caused some parents alarm over him entering schools.

Gogoleski said some people misinterpreted his comment about grabbing students by their necks.

Hughes said earlier this month in a district's newsletter a possible FERPA violation is being investigated and responded to some concerns from parents. He said he spoke with Gogoleski about parents' fears of him entering schools and his comments about grabbing students. He said Gogoleski assured him he would follow protocols for visiting schools and would not touch children.

Hughes declined to say if Jeannine Gogoleski had been placed on leave, after word that she had been spread on social media.

Monday, Keller called the situation "manufactured hysteria" and "cancel culture."

What was said

Much of the three-hour podcast, which was hosted by Jeremy Scott Gibbs, focused on theories about "indoctrination" of students and criticisms of school curriculums and administration. Speakers also criticized how schools handle LGBTQ issues and the teaching of race issues.

Merwin commented on how teachers and administrators "can't lay a hand on him," and started to mention something he said happened at Hartland Farms Intermediate.

The board members have also heard complaints from people about not stopping Gibbs from using a derogatory term to refer to a student. Keller said during Monday's meeting that he did not hear the derogatory term at the time.

Board approves resolution

"In light of the fact that Michigan law requires that we act as a board, and only take action collectively, we are concerned regarding the community's interpretation of recent actions and comments of Glenn Gogoleski and Greg Keller in a podcast on 2-19-2023, as single members of our board," a portion of the resolution Costa presented states.

"As such, we, the board of education, publicly state that the comments and actions made in the above-mentioned podcast were inappropriate and irresponsible. The board of education members mentioned above did not think through the possible negative consequences or impact this would have for our educational community and NOT speak for the board as a whole.

"The Hartland Board of Education affirms its commitment to comply with the Revised School Code, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act," the resolution states.

Contact Livingston Daily reporter Jennifer Eberbach at jeberbach@livingstondaily.com. 

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Hartland school board rebukes members for podcast comments