EVERETT — School Board President Ed Petersen said Friday there’s only one person to blame for the violence that broke out at a school board meeting earlier this week — fellow board member Jessica Olson.
“The violence was initiated by Director Olson,” he said. “In fact, the rest of us are the victims.”
Olson gasped at Petersen’s statement. She accused him and the three other board members of telling “absolute lies.”
The comments came at the close of a two-day planning meeting of school board members. It was the first time the group had attempted to discuss the fracas that led to police being summoned to district headquarters Tuesday.
Petersen said he wanted to discuss what he called “the elephant in the room.”
The brawl involving Petersen, Olson and board member Kristie Dutton broke out during a closed-door, executive session of the school board. They were meeting to discuss an annual review of Superintendent Gary Cohn.
On Friday, Dutton said she felt “threatened and intimidated” and blamed that, in part, on a long history of actions by Olson. She also claimed that she “never touched” Olson during Tuesday evening’s encounter.
Olson countered that Dutton “grabbed me with both hands” and used profanity.
There were no apologies from any of the board members.
Tempers flared during the executive session when Olson said she wanted to discuss the specifics of the review process, rather than just a draft of the review, which had been written by Petersen. She also insisted that that part of the discussion, regarding the standards by which Cohn would be evaluated, should be kept public.
Olson turned on a video camera and began recording. The other board members objected. See the video.
When Olson refused to stop taping, Petersen stood up and swiftly reached across the conference table toward Olson’s recorder. He said his aim was to turn off the machine. Olson believed he was trying to grab it away.
Olson and other board members said the meeting was over, but nobody got up to leave and the arguing continued. When Olson set down a copy of a draft performance review for Cohn, Dutton, seated two chairs away, suddenly lunged across the table and grabbed the paper.
In a police report, Olson said that she picked up Petersen’s copy of the report and that Dutton then went after her, trying to wrest the document away. Petersen has acknowledged he also was involved in the struggle, although he has insisted his restraining of Olson was only to separate the board members.
Olson and Dutton both had scratches. Olson also was left with bloodied fingernails, one which was bent back at a 90-degree angle.
On Friday, Petersen said he wished he had simply ended Tuesday’s meeting rather than trying to go ahead with the performance review.
“I really should have taken charge,” he said.
Petersen also prepared a written description of what occurred. The document, called “The Facts,” placed all blame for the fight on Olson.
Friday’s recounting of what went awry came as the board tried to determine how to finish Cohn’s performance review.
The discussion was mediated by Jeff Turner, a human relations consultant from Seattle. He repeatedly prevented board members from interrupting each other.
As she had done Tuesday, Olson again said that she wanted Cohn’s review to include what she acknowledges is her minority opinion. She has made no secret of her dissatisfaction with Cohn’s performance.
Petersen said that traditionally, the board president writes up a summary of the comments from all board members. The fireworks on Tuesday were touched off by the draft Petersen had prepared. Olson said it ignored her concerns.
On Friday, the board agreed to seek an opinion from the state attorney general on whether a school board’s performance review of a superintendent needs to also reflect the minority point of view.
Olson is “asserting she has the right,” Petersen said. “We’ll find out if she has that right.”
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
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