GIRARD SCHOOLS Attorneys: Suit usurps the voters

The school board believes removal of elected officials is 'not favored in the law.'
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The Ohio Supreme Court should not allow a lawsuit that seeks removal of several Girard Board of Education members to proceed because it takes such matters out of the voters' hands, say attorneys representing the board.
Attorneys Louis C. Damiani and Bruce A. Zaccagnini, of Cleveland, filed a brief with the court earlier this week giving their reasons why the justices should dismiss the case. The 45-page brief states that the board believes the removal of elected officials is "not favored in the law."
"The favored method for the removal of public officials is to allow the electorate to make that decision at the voting booth," the motion states. "The reason for this is clear. Elected officials do not act in a personal capacity, but are fulfilling the mandate of the people who elected them. An action to remove an elected official effectively negates the votes of the electorate who voted that official into office."
Officials at the court did not know when a hearing would take place. Court officials did note that the parents who filed the action will now have 30 days to respond to the board's brief.
Reason for action: Several parents filed the action in September, asking a judge to remove the school board members because they didn't inform parents about reported health problems at the intermediate school. Attached to the complaint was a petition signed by more than 2,000 voters.
Attorney Sebastian Rucci, who represents the parents, could not be reached to comment.
The parents have said they filed the recall petition because they are unhappy with the way the board handled the problems at the school and believe the members should be removed for gross neglect of duty.
The intermediate school was closed May 1, 2001, because pupils were becoming ill. It remains closed while work is done to correct the problems.
If the board is removed from office, the board of elections will have to conduct a special election to fill the vacancies, Rucci has said.
sinkovich@vindy.com