Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com


The Brighton Board of Education voted 4-2 at its meeting Monday night to censure Trustee Andy Storm for comments he made at the previous meeting, on Jan. 29th. Since Storm was the subject of the possible censure, he was not permitted to vote. The censure motion was on the agenda as a “board member discipline" matter.

There are no penalties associated with the censure resolution, nor does any action resulting from such a motion prevent the censured member from speaking or voting. Rather, it’s considered more of a public reprimand and a formal statement of disapproval.

The lengthy resolution, made by Board Vice President Alicia Reid, was that Storm “improperly disclosed and misrepresented confidential information provided to the board in closed sessions by the Title IX auditor, made false accusations and statements regarding other board members, administration and staff, made false allegations regarding serious safety violations in school buildings, and violated his fiduciary duty to the school district."

Reid said, in her words, "These violations undermine the ability of the board as a whole to effectively function as a governing body, create a hostile environment for district employees, foster false public perceptions of safety violations in district buildings, erode trust in the district’s leadership and expose the district to legal libilities and penalties for unlawful disclosure of confidential information.”

Myers said that had confidential information been released from the closed sessions the board would have also been guilty of violations of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, subjecting it to various penalties and punitive action.

Storm consistently denied the allegations made in the censure resolution, and then went on the offensive by introducing a motion of his own. His resolution would have censured Board President Roger Myers for a variety of alleged improprieties and infractions such as denying board members the right to make motions in debate, denying their right to speak and other allegations.

"Here we have an ambush - a totally retaliatory ambush," responded Myers, stating that he was not given the opportunity to review the allegations in advance of the meeting, unlike the courtesy Storm had been given.

When he was finished with his lengthy resolution, Storm was told he couldn’t make the motion because it wasn't on the agenda - unlike the censure item regarding him, which was. However, Storm was told he could make a motion to amend the agenda to include the censure item, but that failed on a 4-3 vote. Storm then amended his censure resolution against Myers to make it a “for future action” item to be on the agenda at the next regular meeting on March 11th, which failed on a 4-3 vote.