Reis Resignation Update

On Monday, July 18 ISD 200 School Board Director Mike Reis officially resigned from the ISD 200 School Board. Prior to his resignation, on July 15, Mike Reis shared the following with school board members and local media, “I have officially filed a complaint with the Federal Government regarding all of the Board members (including the Superintendent) that have violated my civil rights guaranteed by the Constitution. I will be pursuing this to the fullest extent…” School Board Director Brian Davis sent an email to media on July 19, “I also have been asked for responses to recent posts regarding Director Reis in the media. From what I have seen, there is a great deal of community support of the Board and Superintendent McDowell helping focus us on the future work to be done. As to his recent claims that the censure is illegal, the United States Supreme Court unanimously issued a decision earlier this year that clearly does not support his claims. The Board was well-within its legal rights to respond to Mr. Reis’s inappropriate conduct with a censure…What the resolution actually says is that the time, place, and manner restrictions on Mr. Reis’s requests for information will be reviewed periodically. The time, place, and manner restrictions are not the same as the censure itself”. As previously reported the terms of the censure were reviewed once between May 2 and July 13, failing to keep pace with the 30-day review schedule approved by the board. KDWA replied to Chair Davis for comment related to his email sent July 19, asking if he can provide any insight as to why the terms of the censure were not reviewed every 30 days. “Your inference that the censure was to be reviewed every 30 days is factually incorrect. If you report this, you are misstating the facts of this situation. Please read the resolution itself. It is included in the minutes from the May 2 meeting. The censure and the “time, place and manner” memorandum are not the same document. In item#4 of the censure resolution, it states: “Given the issues outlined above, the School Board hereby formally authorizes Superintendent McDowell with input from Chair Davis to work with the District’s legal counsel to place appropriate and reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on Mr. Reis’s communications with District staff. The time, place, and manner restrictions will be revisited on a 30-day cycle by legal counsel, Superintendent McDowell, and Chair Davis.” The time, place and manner memorandum which was drafted separately, states that Mr Reis will be notified IF there are any changes. There have been two meetings where the time, place and manner criteria were discussed. No changes were made and therefore there was no obligation to notify him of anything”. KDWA has followed up on this correspondence. KDWA also reached out to Mr. Reis for comment, he replied that, ” I appreciate?the station, reaching out. But at this time, I really don’t have anything to say. I will reach out when I do”. The Board will be asked to accept the resignation and declare a vacancy at its next Board meeting. To find a link to the resolution and to read the entirety of Chair Davis’s media release see KDWA.com.

Link to the Full Resolution here.

Email from Chair Brian Davis 7/19/22:
Good afternoon –
I can confirm that I received a resignation email from Mr. Reis. The Board will be asked to accept the resignation and declare a vacancy at its next Board meeting. I also have been asked for responses to recent posts regarding Director Reis in the media.
I hope those who watched what took place at the April 27, 2022 and May 2, 2022 School Board meetings understand why the Board felt it necessary to issue Mr. Reis a censure. From what I have seen, there is a great deal of community support of the Board and Superintendent McDowell helping focus us on the future work to be done. As to his recent claims that the censure is illegal, the United States Supreme Court unanimously issued a decision earlier this year that clearly does not support his claims. The Board was well-within its legal rights to respond to Mr. Reis?s inappropriate conduct with a censure.
Turning to Mr. Reis’s suggestion that the censure itself would be revisited by the Board, the Board’s censure resolution does not say the Board will revisit or remove the censure. What the resolution actually says is that the time, place, and manner restrictions on Mr. Reis’s requests for information will be reviewed periodically. The time, place, and manner restrictions are not the same as the censure itself. The resolution is publicly available on the District’s website as part of the May 2 special meeting minutes for community members who would like to read it for themselves.
Finally, as to Mr. Reis’s comments about the restrictions on his communications with District administration, the reasonable time, place and manner restrictions imposed on Director Reis remained in effect as originally outlined in the letter issued to him following the May 2 special meeting. Mr. Reis was allowed to submit reasonable information requests to Superintendent McDowell. Any statement to the contrary is false. Mr. Reis separately has the right as a private citizen to make data requests under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act to the same degree as any other member of the public can make a data request. On top of these avenues for Mr. Reis to request information, Mr. Reis had been receiving Board packet information and updates just like all other Board members do. He was able to participate in Board meetings and ask questions about the items discussed at the Board level although he chose to miss a number of them. Mr. Reis did not specifically identify any information he felt he needed to carry out his duties as a Board member that he didn’t already have access to. In Mr. Reis’s resignation email, he referenced not having access to his School Board email account. I do not know what he is referencing as the District did not disable his access to email. Now that Mr. Reis submitted his resignation effective yesterday, he no longer has a need for his School Board email and District administration will be disabling his access.
I will continue to work with the board to ensure that we do our best to act on behalf of our community and collaborate effectively together.
Brian K. Davis
Chairperson
ISD 200 School Board

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