Hune Explains School Board Conflict Law to Brighton BoardHune Explains School Board Conflict Law to Brighton Board

2/12/13 - State Sen. Joe Hune of Hamburg Township gave a presentation to the Brighton Board of Education at its meeting Monday night, discussing provisions of the so-called Conflict-of-Interest bill, which was passed in January and signed into law. The law, which he sponsored, says that school board members may not vote on an employee contract if they have a relative who is employed by the school district and would be impacted by the contract. A “relative” is defined as a spouse, sibling, child, adopted child or in-law. It does not include students who are children of the board member. Brighton teachers’ union President Ellen Lafferty had several questions she had prepared for Hune, including how his receipt of thousands of dollars from the insurance industry wasn't a conflict considering his position as chair of the Senate Insurance Committee. But she was cut off by Board President Miles Vieau who said Hune's presentation did not include taking queries from the audience. However, later in the meeting board member Beth Minert, a retired Brighton teacher, asked Hune another of Lafferty’s questions: Why the bill did not also include city and village councils and county and township boards and was directed only at school boards. Hune said the measure was patterned after the law which governs intermediate school districts. He said a bill which would address potential conflicts of interest on other bodies such as city councils and county boards of commissioners may be introduced in the legislature the future. At the public comments portion of the meeting, two district residents stated the law was needed, citing the need for greater transparency on local school boards. But Brighton High School teacher Arnella Park said she resented comments by Howell school board Trustee Mike Maloney when he testified before the Senate Education Committee that an overly-generous teachers’ contract approved in Brighton in 2009 was part of the reason for Brighton’s financial difficulties. He said two members of the Brighton Board at that time who voted on the contract had children who were teachers in the district. But Park said the fault with the deficits that accrued in Brighton over several years were not the fault of any board members but of a former superintendent, presumably referring to former Superintendent Jim Craig. (TT/JK)