Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON (WMAL) – The Prince William County School Board voted 4-2 Wednesday to censure chairman Ryan Sawyers. The effort was led by school board member Alyson Satterwhite who said Sawyers publicly released emails should have only been seen by board members.
“These were multiple and egregious violations, and I felt like it was in the best interest to protect the integrity and professionalism of this board that this move forward,” said Satterwhite.
Sawyers said he wasn’t surprised because the board often takes up matters involving him, with some members even calling for his resignation.
The board spent a lot of time arguing about whether the item could be added to the agenda for discussion in executive session last minute.
Sawyers said they had more important issues involving students to talk about in closed session.
“Let’s have at it. You guys want to have at it, you guys want to censure me, send me a certified copy. I’ll hang it on my wall with pride next to the recall petition,” said Sawyers.
He added censuring him doesn’t matter because it wouldn’t do anything. He left before the vote was taken.
Board member Loree Williams cast one of the dissenting votes.
“I believe that this has been an occurrence that has been commonplace on this board, especially with closed session information being released to the public, and I feel at this time if we are going to censure one we should take a hard look at all of ourselves and not be so divisive,” said Williams.
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