The U.S. Supreme Court. (Courthouse News photo/Jack Rodgers)
WASHINGTON (CN) What authority does a board of elected officials possess to censure its members? The issue will be front and center before the U.S. Supreme Court this year.
On Monday, the nation’s high court accepted a petition from the Houston Community College System Board of Trustees outlining the body’s issues with David Wilson, a member of the board. After what the board’s brief outlined as “an increasingly chaotic series of events” set in motion by Wilson, members voted to censure his conduct.
That conduct related to Wilson’s insatiable appetite for lawsuits, the other board members write. They say he filed multiple suits against the board he was elected to represent, leaking confidential information and encouraging others to join him in litigation. Wilson cost the board $300,000 between four lawsuits he filed by 2017.
FORT BEND COUNTY – As the coronavirus pandemic continued to rage last summer, months away from a vaccine, there were many sides to the argument of whether or not schools should reopen for students. Compelling points of views were made and seen at various school board meetings in our area.
The concept of returning back to campus became the biggest decision for school boards.
However, at the FBISD virtual meeting back on Sept. 2 when that topic was being discussed, the actions of the board were out of the public’s eye despite Superintendent Charles Dupre announcing at the beginning that one of “the hallmarks in Fort Bend ISD is transparency in decision making.”