District officials, including at least one school board member and the school’s legal counsel, had asked Murphy not to take the oath of office, citing what they believed was an illegal conflict of interest under state statute. The unprecedented challenge drew statewide interest as it played out inside school board chambers and in the Legislature.
In the end, the Legislature amended state law regarding school districts’ labor contracts so that spouses of custodians, along with spouses of teachers, are specifically identified as having no conflict of interest that precludes them from serving on the school board.
Murphy, who took the oath of office in January over the district’s concerns and has been acting as a school board member ever since, called the experience “eye-opening, almost shocking.”
“I fulfilled all the qualifications to run for office,” she said. “I was not a felon, I was 21 years of age, I was an eligible voter and I had lived in the district for at least 30 days.”
Murphy called the school district’s challenge an “intimidation tactic” to get her to give up her seat on the board, and she thinks she knows why some board members and the school’s attorney targeted her.
“It’s because I’m married to a custodian, and I’m thinking it was because of my labor endorsement,” Murphy said. “I felt I did nothing wrong, and for me to not take that oath of office would be admitting they were right.”
The Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union agreed. The MN-ACLU took on Murphy’s legal representation, helping her fend off threats from the school’s attorney that she or other board members could be prosecuted if Murphy was allowed a seat on the board.
Murphy’s attorneys also resisted the district’s efforts to resolve the dispute in a hearing before a retired judge, who would sift through Murphy’s financial records and other personal information.
Murphy said the proposed hearing gave her the feeling district officials “wanted to make me out to be an evil doer, that they had caught me trying to line my pockets, like I had run for the school board for my own monetary gain, not to do something good for the community and the school district I live in.
“The whole atmosphere and the whole tone changed the day that the ACLU notified the school board it was taking my case,” Murphy added. “They knew it was over.”
Meanwhile, the Minnesota AFL-CIO and other labor groups began pressing legislators to clarify state law.
It was an easy sell. Legislators from both parties overwhelmingly supported the bill, introduced by Rep. Paul Gardner and Sen. Don Betzold, and Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed it April 4.
The legislation allows school boards with a majority of disinterested members to “direct the school board member spouse to abstain from voting” on a contract with his or her spouse’s bargaining unit. The legislation also directs the school board to “set out the essential facts of the contract at the meeting the contract is approved.”
Michael Moore is the editor of the Saint Paul Union Advocate
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District officials, including at least one school board member and the school’s legal counsel, had asked Murphy not to take the oath of office, citing what they believed was an illegal conflict of interest under state statute. The unprecedented challenge drew statewide interest as it played out inside school board chambers and in the Legislature.
In the end, the Legislature amended state law regarding school districts’ labor contracts so that spouses of custodians, along with spouses of teachers, are specifically identified as having no conflict of interest that precludes them from serving on the school board.
Murphy, who took the oath of office in January over the district’s concerns and has been acting as a school board member ever since, called the experience “eye-opening, almost shocking.”
“I fulfilled all the qualifications to run for office,” she said. “I was not a felon, I was 21 years of age, I was an eligible voter and I had lived in the district for at least 30 days.”
Murphy called the school district’s challenge an “intimidation tactic” to get her to give up her seat on the board, and she thinks she knows why some board members and the school’s attorney targeted her.
“It’s because I’m married to a custodian, and I’m thinking it was because of my labor endorsement,” Murphy said. “I felt I did nothing wrong, and for me to not take that oath of office would be admitting they were right.”
The Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union agreed. The MN-ACLU took on Murphy’s legal representation, helping her fend off threats from the school’s attorney that she or other board members could be prosecuted if Murphy was allowed a seat on the board.
Murphy’s attorneys also resisted the district’s efforts to resolve the dispute in a hearing before a retired judge, who would sift through Murphy’s financial records and other personal information.
Murphy said the proposed hearing gave her the feeling district officials “wanted to make me out to be an evil doer, that they had caught me trying to line my pockets, like I had run for the school board for my own monetary gain, not to do something good for the community and the school district I live in.
“The whole atmosphere and the whole tone changed the day that the ACLU notified the school board it was taking my case,” Murphy added. “They knew it was over.”
Meanwhile, the Minnesota AFL-CIO and other labor groups began pressing legislators to clarify state law.
It was an easy sell. Legislators from both parties overwhelmingly supported the bill, introduced by Rep. Paul Gardner and Sen. Don Betzold, and Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed it April 4.
The legislation allows school boards with a majority of disinterested members to “direct the school board member spouse to abstain from voting” on a contract with his or her spouse’s bargaining unit. The legislation also directs the school board to “set out the essential facts of the contract at the meeting the contract is approved.”
Michael Moore is the editor of the Saint Paul Union Advocate