Jim Hodgkin, former superintendent of the Winthrop Public Schools, speaks last week during the School Board’s public comment period. Hodgkin called on community members to recall two School Board members for failing to fulfill their elected duties. Screenshot from Winthrop Public Schools video

WINTHROP —  After former Superintendent Jim Hodgkin asked the community to recall two School Board members from office, resident Kerry Wilkins tried to do just that Monday.

Monika McLaughlin Contributed photo

However, Winthrop does not have an ordinance or a section in the town charter that outlines a recall process, and under the state law that prevails in such cases, elected officials can only be recalled if they have committed a criminal act against the municipality.

Therefore, town officials say, Wilkins’ petition is moot.

Wilkins was planning to circulate the petition on the basis of two complaints filed against the Winthrop School Board regarding the behavior of board members Ivy Corliss and Monika McLaughlin. Investigating the complaints has cost the Winthrop Public Schools $48,000 in legal fees.

The petition to recall McLaughlin and Corliss comes after Hodgkin’s speech during the public comment section of the Sept. 4 School Board meeting, in which he alleged the board members were not fulfilling their elected duties and were behaving in ways that he believes are problematic. Hodgkin said the board’s behavior is a reason he resigned as superintendent Aug. 1. The board has since hired Becky Foley as the interim superintendent.

“These School Board members have violated multiple policies (primarily the Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct) and have been the center of two formal complaints that were filed,” Wilkins wrote in the petition. “While not a matter of law, their behaviors have led to an unnecessary cost for the Winthrop taxpayers of over $35,000. For these reasons and other violations of their sworn duties as School Board members, we petition the Winthrop residents to vote to remove them from their current positions as members of the Winthrop School Board.”

Two central Maine towns have recently voted on petitions for recalling a local official, with an effort to recall a Pittston selectman failing while the recall of a road commissioner was successful in Madison.

The process for recalling a municipal official depends on the community. Many municipalities have a charter or ordinance that outlines the process. If not, officials turn to a state statute that says an elected official may only be subject to recall if they are convicted of a crime and the victim is the municipality.

“In this instance, the whole exercise would have no effect because we don’t have a recall ordinance and no recall in the charter and no one is convicted of a crime,” said Anthony Wilson, Winthrop’s town manager, who said he is unaware of any attempts in the past to create a recall ordinance.

Both of the complaints referenced in Wilkin’s petition allege a hostile work environment created by the Winthrop School Board.

Winthrop Public Schools spent $48,000 on legal fees to Drummond Woodsum to address the complaints, overspending the legal fees portion of the budget by $38,000. Listed among the fees are: reviewing emails from parties to investigate; email updates to School Board Chairperson Alicia Lawson; and analyzing legal issues, among other tasks charged by the minute.

Both investigations found the complaints were unsubstantiated to support a violation of policy. The petition alleges the complaints were not investigated properly.

In the complaint filed in February, obtained by the Kennebec Journal, Hodgkin gave several examples that are discriminative in nature, or personal attacks. It also detailed instances where School Board members called administrators on their cellphones with concerns about their children, as well as emails where McLaughlin declined to attend meetings with Hodgkin.

It also alleges that the behavior and comments made by Corliss and former School Board member and current Kennebec County Commissioner Joe Pietroski contributed to hostile or unsafe working conditions with administration and violated policy pertaining to nondiscrimination and affirmative action.

“The Winthrop School Board has failed to follow clearly articulated expectations for conducting business and has failed to follow their own policies regarding ethics and communication,” Hodgkin wrote. “The result is a lack of confidence in the School Board by the staff, administrative team and the superintendent of schools. This behavior has resulted in the creation of a hostile work environment where people feel vulnerable to attacks from individual School Board members in person, in public and on social media.”

The other complaint was filed March 1 by Josh Wheeler, the director of transportation for Winthrop schools, specifically regarding Corliss for a phone call Jan. 30.

Wheeler is Corliss’ former boss, as she worked as a bus driver in the transportation department before taking a seat on the board. McLaughlin is a former employee of the Winthrop Public Schools.

In the heated phone call, a recording of which was obtained by the Kennebec Journal, Corliss reached out to Wheeler to discuss a personal situation and addressed him with several profanities and a personal attack, and told him to resign.

In the call, Corliss said that her child was not picked up by the school bus, but Wheeler said that the child was. Wheeler wrote in his complaint that Corliss spoke to him in a way that would be inappropriate in any situation.

“The more overarching concern, however, is the distasteful and inappropriate manner in which a School Board member chose to handle the situation,” Wheeler said. “From my perspective as both a professional and civilized individual, speaking to anyone the way Corliss spoke to me is not only entirely unnecessary, but also immensely inappropriate.”

McLaughlin and Lawson declined to comment Tuesday.

Corliss said the investigation cleared the board.

“The complaint has been fully investigated and the accusations did not meet the criteria for creating a hostile work environment,” she said. “I look forward to staying on the Board and working with Dr. (Becky) Foley and the rest of the Board to create a more positive climate in the Winthrop School Department.”