The New York state education commissioner has dismissed one Rochester Board of Education member’s petition to remove another member from office.
Willa Powell filed a petition in April to remove Beatriz LeBron from the board, citing "official misconduct.” She raised the issue that LeBron refused to attend racial bias training as an act of “willful disobedience.”
“I am responding to her behavior,” Powell said. “When her behavior ceases to be disruptive to the effectiveness of our board, then she'll stop being in the spotlight."
Education Commissioner Betty Rosa denied Powell’s application, in part because the state monitor overseeing the Rochester City School District leadership did not file any claim of a violation against LeBron.
“Respondent (LeBron) contends that while she did not attend the racial bias training, she attended and conducted other trainings that provide sufficient instruction in racial bias,” Rosa said in her denial.
The petition also mentioned instances that Powell said violated an ethics code. However, Rosa noted that “numerous actions” described by Powell “took place more than 30 days prior” to the submitted petition and that Powell gave no “good cause for her delay.”
LeBron called the petition a “waste of time” for the school board and the state education department.
“What I didn’t really appreciate is that it’s really time-consuming for myself, for the state, and that it takes away from what it is we’re there to do, which is creating a good system for kids to learn in,” LeBron said. “My hope is that the voters vote her out next year, and I think 24 years is more than enough to be in a failing school district and part of the board majority as a heavy-hitter decision-maker.”
Powell said if LeBron were to violate a directive in the future, a separate petition could be filed.
