Date: Fri, Dec 8, 2017 at 7:19 AM
Subject: Formal complaint against two Anne Arundel County School Board Members
To: charlene.necessary@maryland.
Dear Office Of the Attorney General of the Maryland State Department of Education,
I'm filing a formal complaint against two Anne Arundel County School Board Members for bullying and harassment.
Patricia Nalley
Terry Gilleland
As public servants and school representatives their pattern of behavior over the past several months has been shocking. For example, Patricia Nalley at a previous board meeting referred to me, my family, and members of my community as "those people". and continued to aggressively state that we probably deserved to have the police called on us when we quietly and politely tried to attend our school's PTO meeting.
Yesterday's behavior was especially egregious. My 10 year old son gave a public testimony at the school board meeting on Dec. 6, 2017. Afterward I watched Terry and Patricia lean toward each other and snicker and roll their eyes to each other while looking at my son. He was aware of their actions and it made him feel very uncomfortable. I was watching in horror and shock and couldn't believe they could be so blatantly rude toward my son and the public. Not to mention the fact that they would be whispering to each other and not listening to the next person's public testimony. Their actions were clearly meant to intimidate me, my family, and my 10 year old son.
Because I can read lips, I know that what they were whispering back and forth to each other was about my son and mocking the fact that he is a "homeschooler" . Not only were they totally disrespectful by intentionally whispering and snickering during somebody else's testimony, they were harassing my son based on his age and the fact that he is homeschooled and probably because the topic of his testimony was not to their liking. This kind of discriminatory, bullying behavior is unacceptable. My son, who bravely came to express his concerns in a kind and respectful manner, was met with disrespectful and hurtful behavior. He has been taught to respectful listen to others thoughts and ideas by giving them eye contact and never to whisper and laugh in front of anyone because it is extremely rude and hurtful. He was as surprised as I was that school board members would behave in this way. He was expecting to be listening to and he also thought that the board might be able to help him and take his concerns seriously. The fact that he is homeschooled in Anne Arundel county had nothing to do with his testimony. Nor should he have to feel bad about that.
I'm expecting a formal apology to myself and my son from the board.
Thanks,
Parent of Child
