Suit against city of Rochester, school board chief sets scheduling hearing for August

Rochester school board chair Shane Downs looks on as Susan Rice testifies before Strafford Superior Court Judge Andrew B. Livernois on Friday. (Rochester Voice photos)

DOVER - On a day that Rochester officials released a June 24 settlement agreement with former superintendent of schools Annie Azarloza, the school board's chairman was in Strafford Superior Court facing accusations that he violated New Hampshire's Right to Know law while dealing with matters surrounding the ex-school chief's ouster.
Rochester resident Susan Rice brought the lawsuit against the City of Rochester, and the chairman of the school board, Shane Downs, who also serves as a patrolman with the Rochester Police Department.
In her court filings Rice accuses Downs of going into nonpublic meetings some 20 times in the months since Feb. 13 when the city placed Azarloza on paid administrative leave. Rice alleges Downs went into 14 of those nonpublic meetings improperly.
In her complaint against the city and Downs she also accuses him of using a threatening preamble prior to public comment that asserts anything a citizen says could result in litigation.
"I want everyone to know that this action I'm taking is not about attacking character, it's about attacking conduct," Rice told The Rochester Voice after Thursday's hearing.
Rice said part of her original court filings included an injunction over Azarloza's anticipated firing, but said now that she has agreed to a full buyout of her two-year contract, "that is now moot."
Many critics of Downs believe that as a Rochester Police patrol officer, he had no business signing a memorandum of understanding between the Rochester Police Department and the school department that gives deference to police in how to handle all "criminal acts" in Rochester schools.
A petition for Downs' removal accuses him of "pushing for criminal charges against special needs children--a step that is not only harsh and unjust but fundamentally misconstrues the role of educational leadership. This also violates Federal laws," the petition states.
The MOU was passed on a voice vote at the school board's March meeting after Downs said it had been sent down by the state and the school board could do nothing to change it. "There's nothing we can do about it," he said prior to getting a unanimous voice vote to approve the MOU.
Part of the MOU states that all school and disciplinary policies "are not intended to nor shall it usurp the mandates and responsibilities of the School Resource Officer, the Rochester Police Department and the Attorney Generals Office."
The MOU was signed in March by Rochester Police Chief Gary Boudreau, Downs, and Rochester Schools Assistant Supt. Allison Bryant, who recently resigned to become the assistant superintendent in Exeter.
Many in the Rochester school community see Downs' position as having a clear conflict of interest, but Boudreau told The Rochester Voice in June that he doesn't see it that way, because Downs is not a school resource officer.
An online status conference on Rice's lawsuit is scheduled for Aug. 5 followed by a final hearing after which Strafford Superior Court Judge Andrew B. Livernois will render his decision.