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SCHOOL BOARD MEETING: Woman alleges
ill treatment
60-year-old says she had heart
attack, blames official
November 1, 2007
By Antonio Planas 
Watch video
(download the video before it's gone)
Read "Woman claims abuse by school
police"
REVIEW-JOURNAL Rose Moore, 60,
talks Wednesday in her Henderson home about an incident at last
week's School Board meeting.
A 60-year-old woman who initially
was denied the opportunity to speak to the Clark County School Board
in a meeting last week said she had to be hospitalized after being
grabbed by police.
The woman, Rose Moore, has gained
support from one School Board member and an official with the
American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, who said trustees
arbitrarily choose who can speak during board meetings depending on
what their message is.
Moore said Wednesday that the
actions of School Board President Ruth Johnson led to her being
roughed up by police at the meeting. The stress of the situation
also caused her to have a heart attack, she said.
Although a witness at the meeting
said she saw Moore being transported by ambulance from the School
Board's meeting place, on East Flamingo Road near Eastern Avenue,
the Review-Journal was unable Wednesday to confirm Moore's claim
that she had a heart attack.
Moore's husband, Rick, said his
wife had a heart attack during the Oct. 25 meeting. The session,
which lasted longer than four hours, was captured by district
cameras.
Moore said she will pursue civil
action against the School Board. Moore could identify only one of
the police officers who grabbed her as working for the district.
"It makes me angry that they would
treat not only me, but anybody, like that," Moore said, speaking
about Johnson. "It just disgusts me."
Johnson did not return calls to her
home Wednesday, but video footage of the event showed the most
heated parts of the meeting began when Johnson denied Moore's
request to speak.
At the start of the incident,
Johnson told Moore: "I'm sorry, ma'am, but you're out of order. You
have not been recognized (to speak), and we're moving on unless the
board would like to do otherwise."
At that point, School Board member
Shirley Barber attempted to recognize Moore as a speaker. Video of
the meeting shows that Johnson either did not immediately hear or
ignored Barber's attempt to recognize Moore. Johnson then ordered
that Moore's microphone be turned off and then ordered a recess.
A few minutes passed, and Moore
could be heard out of the camera's range shouting at police officers
not to hurt her.
After a few more minutes, Moore
came back to the meeting, and Johnson told her to take a seat and
acknowledged the presence of officers. Johnson then said Moore had
been recognized by a board member and would be allowed to address
the board for two minutes.
As Moore approached the board to
speak, she had trouble composing herself. She could be seen gasping
for air and slumping into a chair while grabbing her chest as people
around her scrambled and shouted to call paramedics.
Moore was escorted out of the room.
She came back and addressed the board, expressing her concern about
how a friend's autistic child was being schooled and noting that she
was going to file a complaint with the attorney general's office
over the matter.
Moore said in a Wednesday afternoon
interview that after the meeting concluded, she was taken to Desert
Springs Hospital, where she stayed until about 3 a.m. Moore said
paramedics told her in the ambulance that she was suffering a heart
attack.
Barber said Wednesday that Moore
should have been allowed to speak immediately, as it is board
practice to allow the public to speak if recognized by a board
member.
In the video, Johnson said that
Moore did not sign up to speak before the board meeting. Moore said
she did not sign up but told the School Board secretary at the
meeting that she would like to speak.
A few trustees and those who attend
board meetings said people who have not signed up to speak can do so
if they tell the School Board secretary during the meeting.
Barber said Johnson lost control of
the meeting.
"She does not know how to treat
owners of the district," Barber said of Johnson's treatment of Moore
and the public. "She yelled at her (Moore) like I wouldn't even yell
at a dog."
Barber and Trustee Mary Beth Scow
both said they saw two police officers grab Moore. Barber said they
appeared to be hurting Moore, but Scow disagreed.
"It looked to me like they were
holding her," Scow said of the two police officers. Barber said she
saw Moore driven away by an ambulance after the meeting ended about
8:30 p.m.
Barber and Johnson have a history
of public spats going back years. In one incident in December 2006,
Barber yelled at Johnson, saying Johnson was trying to control her.
At the meeting, Johnson said she had developed a thick skin after
more than 10 years on the board, but began to cry.
In last week's meeting, Johnson
eventually allowed Moore to speak because she said Barber did
recognize her to do so.
Gary Peck, executive director of
the ACLU of Nevada, said the School Board has a history of applying
their own rules as they see fit.
"They seem to use the rules in an
inconsistent fashion to silence those they do not want to hear
from," Peck said.
But Trustee Terri Janison, who was
not at the board meeting but participated during parts of it by
teleconference, defended Johnson. She said that the School Board
needs to regroup and that what happened last week was high emotion
of the moment. Janison said some members of the public treat board
members poorly when addressing them.
"We need to move forward, and we
need to work this out," Janison said. "When these things happen, we
cannot do our jobs to help and advocate for children."
Contact reporter Antonio Planas at
aplanas@reviewjournal.com or (702) 799-2922.
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