The Philomath School Board will meet for a special session at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7 to listen to citizens who submitted complaints against Chair Erin Gudge over a controversial social media post about the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
In a virtual meeting Monday night that lasted 6 minutes, the board unanimously approved a motion to formally accept two additional complaints against Gudge to bring the total number to eight.
Each of those complainants will be given the opportunity to speak for up to 10 minutes at the hearing, Vice Chair Tom Klipfel said. Following those comments, Gudge will then be given the option to respond.
It’s the second straight Monday night that the board gathered virtually for a short meeting to address the issue — the first six complaints were accepted Sept. 22.
In a separate motion Monday evening, complaints were accepted from two individuals alleging that the board’s process “is inappropriate based on a freedom of speech claim,” explained Klipfel, who was leading the meeting after he had been chosen last week by other board members to schedule the upcoming hearing and establish process rules. “Those two complaints are not to Director Gudge but directed at the entire board and the process by which we are administering.”
The two complaints against the board as a whole will be heard on the same evening but in a separate hearing, which would precede the eight complaints that are specifically against Gudge.
“Because of the nature of the latest complaints about process, we would administer that first and then we would go into the second hearing of the initial complaints against Director Gudge,” Klipfel said. “But we will handle all of that as part of the Oct. 7 meeting.”
It’s uncertain whether Gudge as the chair will lead the hearing specific to the entire board or whether Klipfel will also take the reins on that part of the evening.
Said Klipfel, “We will sort that all out over the next couple of days.”
Klipfel said he anticipated sending emails to all 10 complainants on Tuesday to inform them of Monday night’s decisions and the process that leads into next week’s hearing.
“They will have the option of both giving any additional written comments by the end of this week if they so desire,” he said, “and then of course they’ll have the chance to make verbal testimony for 10 minutes each in the public hearing scheduled for Tuesday, the 7th.”
The board met Monday night for 55 minutes in an executive session “to consider information or records exempt by law from public inspection.”
The venue for next week’s meeting has not yet been determined.
“The location we’re finalizing — we want to make sure we have a good environment for this meeting so we’ll get that determined before those letters go out,” Klipfel said. “I’ll be working with the superintendent on that.”
Gudge published a post on her personal Facebook page with thoughts on why she would not mourn Kirk’s death. She later deleted her comments but screenshots of the post circulated and three citizens spoke at the Sept. 11 meeting calling for her resignation. Several others were at the meeting in support of those speaking.
Gudge chose to hear the complaints in an open meeting. She had the option of requesting that the process take place in an executive session, which are meetings with specific requirements that are closed to the public.
School board members in Oregon can be removed from their seats only through a voter recall. However, the Oregon Constitution (Article II, Section 18) states that a recall petition cannot be circulated until the person elected has held the office for six months (there are exceptions related to senators and representatives).
Gudge was elected in May with the current term beginning July 1.
