MISHAWAKA, Ind. — The Penn Harris Madison School Corporation issued a no trespass order to a parent who initiated a State investigation into the school district. That investigation by the state revealed PHM was indeed breaking open door laws. This also comes a day after the school board had the parent, Andy Rutten, arrested during a board meeting for peacefully attempting to address the board about PHM’s finances.
“You are being advised that you are not to enter the property of Penn-Harris-Madison Schools which includes attending events, activities or functions associated with Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation.” The letter, dated April 26th, states.
At PHM’s Board of School Trustees meeting on April 25th, the board had Rutten arrested by a St. Joseph County Deputy for peacefully attempting to address the board about its financial situation.
Rutten was addressing the board with information he had gathered and was attempting to show numbers and statistics to members at the time. During his presentation, a board member or administrator had taken up much of the Ruttens allotted 3 minutes to reply to one aspect of the concerns. Immediately after, the Rutten requested more time to discuss another point of concern.
Board President Chris Riley denied Rutten’s request for time. As Rutten calmly insisted that he be able to continue to present to the board, Riley called a St. Joseph County Deputy over to intervene. Rutten was subsequently placed in handcuffs and arrested.
PHM BREAKS THE LAW
The arrest and trespass warning comes only weeks after the State of Indiana came down with a ruling showing the school district broke the law in regard to how it holds public meetings. Rutten made the complaint that lead to the ruling.
The State of Indiana released a scathing report in March, condemning the Penn Harris Madison School Corporation for blatantly breaking public records laws after an investigation by Indiana’s Public Access Counselor (PAC).
In a 9 page report by the PAC, the state lays out the complaint, Indiana’s laws and the violations committed by PHM Schools.
In January, Rutten submitted a public records request for information regarding PHM’s Superintendent Advisory Council (SAC). PHM claimed the SAC was exempt from Indiana’s Open Door Law — which requires meetings of certain public bodies be open to the public. PHM erroneously stated that since members of the SAC are appointed by the Superintendent and not an elected body, the meetings did not need to be open to the public.
The SAC has been responsible for pushing Critical Race Theory tenets into PHM schools through Diversity Equity and Inclusion initiatives. All of their meetings have been held in secret due to PHM’s violations.
The SAC consists of “members of P-H-M’s administration, teachers, staff, parents/guardians, students, as well as the greater community,” according to the website.
In the conclusion of his report, the Public Access Counselor wrote, “it is the opinion of this office that the Superintendent’s Advisory Council for Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation is subject to the Open Door Law.”
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Someone PLEASE run for school board!!
Also consider invoking Indiana Code § 5-8-1-35, which gives the power to any member of the public to take action when a school board member conducts themselves in violation of law, or is guilty of repeated malfeasance or gross negligence of duty. All it takes is a petition to the court that has jurisdiction over the school board. I would say the former confirmation of legal violations, now coupled with a gross overreach for simply not allowing a parent to speak when their allowed time was consumed by a board member meets that threshold.
The law states: “When an accusation in writing, verified by the oath of any person, is presented to a circuit court, superior court, or probate court, alleging that any officer within the jurisdiction of the court has been guilty of {among others}: (2) refusing or neglecting to perform the official duties pertaining to the officer’s office;
Continued… quoting further from IC § 5-8-1-35:
the court must cite the party charged to appear before the court at any time not more than ten (10) nor less than five (5) days from the time the accusation was presented, and on that day or some other subsequent day not more than twenty (20) days from the time the accusation was presented must proceed to hear, in a summary manner, the accusation and evidence offered in support of the same, and the answer and evidence offered by the party accused.
(b) If after the hearing under subsection (a) it appears that the charge is sustained, the court must do the following {among others}:
(1) Enter a decree that the party accused be deprived of the party’s office.
I can’t even find the words right now!! The backlash from PHM over the TRUTH of their wrong doing being uncovered is DISGUSTING! And towards Andy to boot… Wow, just wow! Do they really want to open up this can of worms?? Banning him from all PHM properties? Especially at the end of the school year?! Not too smart. This should be a wake up call, if nothing else. I stepped away from all of this for a few months, but I’m definitely back now!
The more I look into to this, the more I think I may be wrong. I can admit when I’m wrong. I’m staying neutral for now. I grew up in PHM & I’ve never known of anything fraudulent to ever be a concern. As far as CRT goes, I’m still torn. I think Dr. T needs to weed out some bad seeds working in higher positions in the district.
This is unacceptable. Part of me wanted to wait to see if school board changes would make me feel more comfortable with my children attending their schools, but NO. It’s time for private schooling.