Hit with concerns about hostile learning environments, Beaverton board votes to investigate another of its members

For the

second time in two weeks

, the Beaverton school board has voted to hire a neutral, third party investigator to look into community complaints filed against one of its members.

This time, the complaints, all filed anonymously, were directed at outgoing school board member Susan Greenberg. They allege that she created a hostile environment for students and staff by authoring an

op-ed

in a Beaverton newspaper that criticized teacher union support for

lesson plans

on Palestine that Greenberg said were “divisive and one-sided” and could expose Jewish students and staff to antisemitism.

Copies of the complaints were provided to The Oregonian/OregonLive in response to a public records request.

“The harm is that Jewish and Muslim students/staff/families experience fear and a sense of being unsafe, as well as division. More generally, all associated with Beaverton Education Association or Beaverton School District experience fear of retaliation based on false accusations,” one complainant wrote.

The vote was 4-2, with board members Tammy Carpenter and outgoing board member Ugonna Enyinnaya voting no, citing free speech concerns. Greenberg recused herself from the vote.

The scene from a rally in support of Tammy Carpenter, a Beaverton school board member facing a third party investigation. On Thursday, the district voted to launch a second investigation into one of her colleagues, outgoing board member Susan Greenberg.

Provided Photo

Carpenter and Enyinnaya were the only board members who voted no in the previous instance.

In that case

, the complaints were against Carpenter and alleged that she’d created an unsafe environment for Jewish students and staff via comments on her personal social media account that cast the state of Israel as the perpetrator of ethnic cleansing and genocide for decades.

Carpenter’s Instagram profile notes that her views are her own but identifies her as a Beaverton school board member and faculty member at Oregon Health & Science University, where she is an adjunct assistant professor of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine.

Neither board chair Karen Perez nor the school district have yet specified the costs or the timelines of the investigations. The investigator will report back to board members, who will then be faced with deciding whether to take action against one of their own.

School board members in Oregon cannot be removed from their positions except by a voter recall. But they can be censured or formally reprimanded by their colleagues.

The Beaverton

school board’s standards of conduct policy

states that “board members will treat fellow board members, staff, students and the public with respect while posting online or to social media.” It also requires that “board members will treat other board members, the superintendent, staff and the public with dignity and courtesy and will provide an opportunity for all parties to be heard with due respect for their opinions.”

Unlike before their previous vote to hire an investigator to consider the complaints about Carpenter, board members each spoke Thursday evening to explain their decision.

“While multiple members of our community let me know directly that they were very upset by Director Greenberg’s op-ed, and it is not an op-ed that I would write, I respect the right of Director Greenberg to do so, and we should not let the ire of a dozen or so people on either side of an issue silence our voices or stifle the free speech of others,” Carpenter said. “We are in a unique position in that we can’t be fired from the board. If we are afraid to use our voices, then how can we expect others to feel safe doing so?”

But her colleague, Melissa Potter, said the district’s policy was at the root of her yes vote.

“Our policy says that when there is a complaint against a board member, we can and we may ask a third party to examine the situation and determine if board policy was followed or not followed,” Potter said. “I think it is a much healthier step to ask that a third party do [this] so that I am not trying to examine the situation on behalf of a fellow board member.”

Reached earlier this week, Greenberg said she felt that the board’s focus should be on children and their education and not “on some political agenda.”

The dual investigations have

sparked

debate

in Beaverton, with teachers, students and parents speaking out in defense of both board members.

— Julia Silverman covers K-12 education for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach her via email at jsilverman@oregonian.com

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