SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) – In a short but very tense emergency South Bend Community School Corporation board meeting on Friday evening, the board unexpectedly rescheduled its vote on whether to place Superintendent Dr. Todd Cummings on paid administrative leave.
Dr. Cummings has come under fire for his decision to not cancel school last Thursday, Feb. 6, when road conditions were icy. A student ended up in the hospital that day after falling on the sidewalk and breaking his wrist. Board members also tell us there were numerous bus slide-offs and teacher callouts.
The vote on Dr. Cummings was supposed to take place on Friday evening after the emergency meeting was called earlier this week. The agenda released for the meeting called for that vote, along with a second vote for a temporary superintendent “if needed.”
But Friday’s meeting ended almost as soon as it started, as new board attorney Peter Agostino requested a motion to recess the meeting and move the two agenda items to next Wednesday, Feb. 19.
All board members voted to reschedule the meeting except for Bill Sniadecki, who appeared pretty upset — much like a lot of members of the community who were in attendance.
“What are you trying to hide from the public?” shouted one attendee.
While the motion to recess was on the floor, Sniadecki said he wanted to postpone the agenda items, but not the meeting itself. When Board President Jeanette McCullough told him the whole meeting would be moving to Feb. 19, Sniadecki responded, “No. That’s not what we’re supposed to do. That’s not what I was told.”
“What are we here for then?” Sniadecki asked just before the vote.
We tried getting answers about why the meeting went to recess, but board members were not allowed to talk to media due to “legal issues.”
Wednesday’s rescheduled meeting is set to take place at 5:30 p.m. at the Brown Administration Building (737 Beale Street).
You can watch Friday night’s meeting, which lasted about three minutes, on the district’s YouTube channel.
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