Olathe school board member previously censured for yelling resigns with 8-minute speech

Olathe school board member Brian Connell, who was censured and barred from serving in leadership positions earlier this year, resigned on Thursday.

In a wide-ranging and emotional speech during Thursday’s school board meeting, Connell stepped down from the board he has often been at odds with. He said his resignation is effective Jan. 7.

“I have found myself in a place that doesn’t uplift. It breaks down, at least for me,” Connell said. “And that’s OK for me to choose something different.”

Connell won a seat on the board in 2021, along with board member Robert Kuhn, on a conservative platform, running against mask mandates during the height of COVID-19 and pushing for more district transparency.

The board voted 5-2 this past spring to censure Connell over what they called his pattern of outbursts, yelling and storming out of meetings. Members removed him from committee assignments and prohibited him from serving in leadership positions. And they directed district staff to enforce security measures “they see fit.”

That came after a May meeting when Connell, while pressing for answers on the formation of a committee he felt he was left in the dark about, interrupted and shouted at fellow board members, then walked out. Later, the board president sent an email to families that said Connell’s behavior did not meet the board’s standards of acting as “role models of courteous and respectful public discourse.”

At-large board member Joe Beveridge said at the special meeting later that month that it was the second time Connell “stormed out of a meeting and fourth time he has screamed and yelled at a board member during a meeting, including referring to a fellow board member as ‘missy’ while he screamed at her.”

Connell has apologized and defended his behavior, saying he has a right to free speech and to excuse himself from meetings. He previously told The Star in a text that it was an “ambush-style” meeting and the censure was a “planned, coordinated and well orchestrated attempt at character assassination.”

Multiple times, he has requested that the censure be revoked.

After previously denying that request, earlier in Thursday’s meeting, board members agreed to allow Connell to once again serve on committee assignments, an important duty for a board member, as that is where policies and other decisions are workshopped. But they put off a decision on allowing him to serve in leadership positions.

But by the end of the meeting, Connell was resigning. Over about eight minutes, Connell drew from his childhood experiences, moving around as a kid and “reinventing” himself in school, including being in the gifted program in 4th grade and in the high school musical.

He talked about his work mentoring a middle schooler and how he’s given him the advice that “we make choices of who we’re around.”

“When you’re brand new, the most accommodating, the most friendly kids, are the kids doing drugs,” Connell said. “If you’ve got 20 bucks and got marijuana, you were in the in-crowd. ... I reminded this little boy, he gets choices. And I remembered what I told my kids growing up, that choices define us. You can walk away.”

Connell said he’s been at a “crossroads” but ultimately has decided it is best for him to leave his role on the board.

While his tactics have often made him unpopular among fellow board members, he has kept his promise to push for greater transparency, including last summer when he shouted over board members as they debated whether to stop livestreaming meetings. The board president asked Connell multiple times to control himself.

Connell was objecting to a proposal the board considered to end its pandemic-era practice of livestreaming board meetings, and instead record them to be posted online a few days later. After months of debate, the board agreed to continue livestreaming and start recording public comments again.

And some in the community feel as if Connell has made more of an effort than others to reach out and elevate their concerns. A handful of parents with special education students, for example, have previously told The Star that Connell was the only board member they felt had listened to their struggles fighting for better services.

Many have worn yellow T-shirts to show their support for Connell at board meetings.

But his behavior has also garnered critics.

Board member Julie Steele previously said Connell has spread misinformation or made false accusations of the board several times, “refused to participate in a significant portion of our annual evaluation” and “threatens board members by saying, ‘I warned you and you better watch who you pick a fight with.’

Board members argued that Connell’s behavior escalated to where staff members said they felt unsafe.

A user even created a TikTok account called “BrianConnellFails,” posting compilation videos of times where Connell has lost his cool.

On Thursday, Connell said that his family has felt threatened by some in the community. He asked that the two new members joining the board following this fall’s election, Will Babbit and Claire Reagan, be treated with respect.