Langston Stays on Roseville School Board

Roseville School Board member Mona Langston got the public discussion she wanted about a fellow colleague's action at a February meeting, thus abandoning her own thoughts about possibly resigning from the governing body.

Langston is back in the board fold after saying earlier last month she was taking "a temporary leave of absence" because of how the board handled a citizen's complaint against fellow board member Lisa Edstrom.

Langston had said she needed until the end of April to decide whether longer term she wanted to continue serving on the board. Langston's surprise announcement came after the board voted 4-2 on April 10 to reject her motion to review the conduct issue and take possible action at a future meeting against Edstrom for the incident.

But at its April 24 meeting, Langston was back at the board table. Board members voted to reconsider the issue and decide whether Edstrom had violated the board's code of conduct when she left the Feb. 14 meeting to confront a parent who had spoken during open forum.

On the Roseville Issues forum, Beth Kolodjski said she felt bullied and intimidated by Edstrom after speaking at the Feb. 14 School Board meeting. Kolodjski said she filed a complaint with Roseville Police but asked that no action be action; then sent a letter to the School Board asking the directors to discusss the issue and sought an apology.

At the April 24 meeting, the board voted 3-2, with Edstrom abstaining, in declaring that Edstrom's action did not violate the School Board's code of conduct.

Board member Erin Azer said she was willing to revisit the issue because there were concerns that the board had made a procedural mistake at its April 10 meeting in allowing Edstrom to vote on a motion that essentially involved whether Edstrom had violated Policy 210: School Board Code of Conduct.  A related policy, No. 214, spells out how the board should handle violations of its code of conduct.

At the April 24 meeting, Langston asserted the School Board needs to model conduct that it would also expect from studenrts and staff.

"I believe the board member (Edstrom) failed to exercise personal restraint in leaving the (Feb. 14) meeting," Langston contended. "I think we did a disservice to our community in the way this was handled."

While Board chairwoman Kitty Gogins said Edstrom could have used better judgment in handling the situation with Kolodjski, "I don't believe the action was a violation of board" policy.

Gogins said that a board member stepping outside of the room during a meeting doesn't adversely affect the proceeding unless that departure would deprive the board of maintaining a quorum. 

After the board voted 3-2 to not to declare Edstrom's action a violation of its code of conduct, Edstrom said she hoped the issue could now be put to rest.

Edstrom explained she left the board table at the Feb. 14 to talk to Kolodjski because "I understood something negative was said about my child. When I left the (board) table, I did so as a mother. I want to apologize for the time spent on this issue and time away from other issues."