Former Rochester trustee asks who moved lawsuit to federal court

A former Rochester Community Schools trustee asked during a recent school board meeting how the district decided to move a lawsuit filed against it from state court to federal court.

Mike Reno’s question during the public comment period of a Feb. 23 board meeting prompted trustee Shelley Lauzon to say that other members of the board kept her in the dark about the decision.

Reno, who served as a trustee in the early 2000s, told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email that he wants to know who authorized the district’s attorneys to request a change in venue for a lawsuit that trustee Carol Beth Litkouhi filed against the board and its members in their official capacity. Litkouhi sued after fellow board members censured her in November for disclosing discussions of a possible tax increase. Her lawsuit does not name Lauzon as a defendant.

Reno told CapCon that he later asked the district in an email who made the decision. The former trustee said that he is not seeking private details about the district’s legal strategy, only basic information about who authorized the move.

The board’s legal counsel asked trustees not to discuss or comment on the litigation because the case is still active, Michelle Bueltel, board secretary, told Reno in an email.

“The irony is hard to miss,” Reno told CapCon. “In a case born out of improper secrecy, the board is again trying to keep secret the most basic questions about how the board acted.”

Board member Lauzon told CapCon that she still does not know how things developed.

“Prior to last week, I was not included in any discussions or decisions about this lawsuit, including the change from (state) to federal court,” Lauzon said in an email to CapCon. Lauzon voted against the censure motion at the Nov. 10 board meeting.

Lauzon was told that no meetings took place about a venue change and that the board was not comfortable speaking to her without an attorney present, she told CapCon. The district and its lawyers have still refused to answer basic questions about governance, she said.

“As a duly elected board member, it is my right to be informed and involved,” said Lauzon. “Excluding me also excludes the voices of the community I was elected to represent.”

The board did not say who made the decision to request a venue change, Lauzon said, nor why it was made without a public meeting.

The district did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Litkouhi sued the board in state district court Feb. 3 after the board censured her and removed her from all committee assignments. Her lawsuit alleges that the board violated her First Amendment rights after she wrote an op-ed for The Detroit News to tell the public about discussions district officials were having about a possible tax increase.

The move from state to federal court will cost the district more money, said Derk Wilcox, senior attorney at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and Litkouhi’s attorney.