Readin’, Ritin’, and Running Amok
Newsflash: a Sussex County elected official doesn’t like to follow the rules and takes matters into their own hands. No, I’m not talking about Wyatt Earp Sheriff Jeff Christopher, I’m referring to Cape Henlopen School Board member Sandi Minard, (pictured 5th from the top).
Minard is a teabagger. She won her seat in 2010 when the incumbent decided not to run and she was unopposed (note that there were 4 candidates for the at-large seat and none of them decided to contest Minard). From her brief bio:
Sandi is an active member of the Delaware Family Policy Council and the Education Concerns Chair for the 912 Delaware Patriots. Mrs. Minard will be the Board representative on the following committees: Arts, Technology and DSBA Legislative. Mrs. Minard is employed by Jack Lingo Realtor, Inc. as a Webmaster.
It’s interesting that she’s serving on the Technology committee, seeing she was in the forefront of the fight against the technology referendum a few years ago that would have funded the technology needs for the school district for many, many years. But I digress.
It seems as though Minard decided to take matters into her own hands last month when she went on to a school bus and ordered the middle schoolers already seated to get off the bus. Yep, someone who is not an administrator pulled kids off of a school bus, no reason given.
A former Cape school bus driver says a school board member removed students from his bus Jan. 12 and would not let him drive his route because of Internet postings he made, some of which he says have been posted for years.
“They really have no basis to do what they did,” said Tighmir Sayles, who until Jan. 12 drove a bus route for Mariner Middle School.
Sayles said Transportation Supervisor Vanessa Moore was at the school during afternoon dismissal because she was going to follow him along his route – a standard evaluation procedure for bus drivers that Sayles said did not seem unusual. While he waited for students to board his bus, Sayles said, school board member Sandi Minard unexpectedly got on his bus and told students already on the bus to get off. Sayles said he didn’t understand why she removed the students and says Minard said nothing to him.
About 15 minutes after what Sayles said looked like a heated exchange between Minard and Moore, the students got back on the bus. Sayles said Moore took the bus driver’s seat about 15 minutes later and drove the students home, with Sayles in the passenger seat. Moore did not respond to calls for comment.
Minard has been tolerated by her peers on the board. She demanded that they get new history books for the district because the books currently used refer to BCE and CE (Before Common Era and Common Era) instead of BC and AD. She has also falsely accused the business director of not giving the board a complete accounting of the budget and expenditures each month. What was apparent was that she didn’t understand what was being explained to her.
During the 2010 election, Minard was reported to have driven by the homes of all the GOP committee people in the 14th, 36th, 37th, and 41st districts to see if they had signs promoting Urkel and COD. She reportedly took down the names of those who didn’t and wanted them expelled from the GOP committee.
Sayles, in his defense, added more details to his side of the story via Dan Gaffney’s Facebook page. It makes for some interesting reading.
Now, back to Minard. If she does this with a bus driver, what’s to stop her or any other board member from yanking a teacher out of the classroom because she doesn’t like the way they’re teaching? Her actions remind me of a former DC school board member who set up an office in a high school for himself and basically tried to run the school.
Minard is no better than Christopher. Come to think about it, she’s one of his biggest and loudest supporters, after St. Bodie Girl and Don Ayotte. Yeah, I keep wondering what they put in the water down here that makes these people act so crazy. Thankfully I drink bottled water.
Tags: 9/12 Patriots, Cape Henlopen, Education, Sussex County, Sussex County Republicans, Tea Baggers
This young man was treated like an immediate and serious threat to the children on the school bus, but I’ve seen no evidence that anyone was endangered by him. All I’ve ever heard is parents whine that he is too strict and writes up their children, including Minard’s kid.
Her quote about the driver and the children’s safety was completely out of line in the absence of any evidence that this driver was a threat.
Minard started attending school board meetings as a disgruntled parent, disgruntled because she felt the district did not do enough to alert her to the fact that her son was failing out his senior year of high school. The schools all send out mid term grades 4 times a year and report cards 4 times a year, IMO she was just a bad, inattentive parent blaming the school for her own shortcomings.
Minard is also the person that falsely accused Ron Sams of a conspiracy when he moved the SCGOP meeting place. She and Bill Colley successfully drove Sams out of office, and when Bruce Fitzgerald stood up in the March 2011 meeting to read emails into the record proving Sams was telling the truth, Fitzgerald was forcibly removed from the meeting by none other than Sheriff Christopher.
So Minard is used to lying to get her way, and having her lies spread by Bill Colley and covered up by thugs like Jeff Christopher.
The driver was also a vocal opponent of Christian prayer in public school, and knowing Minard and her cohorts in Sussex it wouldn’t surprise me if that played a role in her outrageous removal of the students from that bus.
My advice to the bus driver is to sue Minard for her actions and her public comments.
OK – Minard is a nut – not doubt about it
but so is Sayles….
how do I know – I know because MY kid rode that bus, was terrified of him and my kid is a quiet, polite well-behaved highly achieving child
My kid never had a write up, no disicplinary problems in school, EVER – an academic achiever etc…known for polite and respectful behaviour
so my kid LIVED IN FEAR of this driver – so much so that we took out kid OFF that bus and personally drove them to school every day so save our child the suffering…
Came home several times with complaints – about what the driver said and did to other kids – the constant calling of Mariner kids stupid and useless, Sussex TEch kids are better – threatening physical violence against pre-teen and teenage girls, some with sexual conotations and overlays….
I was ready at one point to get on that bus myself and put Sayles thru the window, and do to him what he threatened these kids with.
Minard is a nut – no doubt about it – she is
but Sayles is another one – and in the long run more dangerous than Minard
SO that said – seeing as I have no love for either one of them – regardless of her ulterior motives – I am glad she did what she did – in the end – she saved me a trip to prison for what I was about to do to that a**hole
TRUST ME!! – I am so glad he is gone – is is dangerous and unstable – and should NEVER be allowed near kids – That I know for sure
If the driver was a threat to the children’s safety then the district should have fired him properly. Minard has absolutely NO authority to remove children from a bus or to remove the bus driver. Her out of control, wild west antics are exactly the type of behavior that is exhibited by Sheriff Christopher and cannot be tolerated from any elected official.
We are a nation with laws, we are not a nation ruled by the torch and the pitchfork.
It’s funny how people get on here under anonymous names making comments about this driver. If you guys hadn’t noticed, he’s gay. So why would he be making sexual comments to female students? From what I know about him, he is a highly respectable person. He would never make sexual comments or threats to students. And if you say that he did, offer some proof and don’t hide behind your computer!
wow some parents much really think their children can do no wrong they will believe any lie that child will throw at them. as far as Anon a mouse goes who ever they are, he/she is clearly a liar. It sounds to me like he/she was rejected by Sussex Tech and his/her child just didn’t want to ride the bus cause he/she had to do what they were told, come on even if you got every student on that bus to say the bus driver did and said all those things it would still be a LIE
Please leave Anon e mouse’s children out of this conversation. Not only is it inappropriate, it weakens your argument… altho, I’m not exactly sure what your argument is.
Minard crossed every line imaginable. As far as I can tell, she had no authority to do what she did. That is the point.
Hey folks why the up roar after all it’s Sussex County what else did you expect???
School board members have NO AUTHORITY to do anything unilaterally, they can only act on something with a quorum of board members and they certainly have NO AUTHORITY to remove a driver from a bus company that is a contractor for the district. The driver was a bus company employee not a Cape employee.
Minard needs to be removed from the Board immediately, she is a direct threat to the district, its students and its employees.
Board members set policy. They do not have day-to-day administrative functions. Minard overstepped her “authority” and is thumbing her nose at her detractors.
*sigh* Another toy public official downstate.
“Board members set policy. They do not have day-to-day administrative functions. Minard overstepped her “authority” and is thumbing her nose at her detractors.”
I thought officials can’t both make and enforce the law at the same time. Does this board member have a DeLuca problem? Slightly different context from the Salter ruling but the principle is the same.
WTF???????????
Of course I believe my child. My child was not written up by Sayles, my child witnessed what Sayles did and said to other children and was afraid it would happen to them..My child had no axe to grind, therefore no motive to lie.
my child knows the penalty for lying is severe and until my child gives me a reason to doubt what they say, I will believe them.
Both of these folks are dangerous, and Sayles sexual preference is absolutely irrelevant to me – or my child. Threatening a child with duct-taping their mouth shut is unacceptable under any circumstances, threatening a child with physical violence is unaceptable under any circumstances as well.
I do not believe in corporal punishment for my child, it has not ever been necessary, as a result I have a well-mannerd polite respectful child that any school they have been in has been glad to have them. Complete this with academic achievement and this makes me a proud parent that believes in their kid, especially a child that reports to me the injustices vistied on other children by an adult in a position of authority- because my kid was well parented they understand what is and is not appropiate behaviour by adults, and reported this to me, as a child should.
I am lucky, and to those who defend Sayles and think I just give my kid a pass simply because I believe anything my kid says is someone with an agenda to promote – the agenda of an unstable, abusive individual who cannot conform their behaviour to acceptable standards
and for the record, my child has never applied to Sussex Tech, therefore could not be rejected by Sussex Tech, That school is not even on the radar – so that blows that arguement out of the water, just like Sayes sexual preference is not on the radar either.
Do I like Minard, NO, I do not nor do I support Sayles either
but hey, even a stopped clock is right twice a day
He was a new driver. If there were issues with his temperament, he should have been written up and given the opportunity to change his inappropriate behavior. Was that done?
If what he posted on the internet, as Minard contends, was so inflammatory as to warrant his immediate and dramatic removal, why was the district dragging its feet with the ongoing investigation?
And finally, it was Minard who asked for the investigation into the driver to begin with and got it. This is from a letter to the Cape Gazette from a former board member:
“If she has a problem with the speed of an investigation, she only had to convince three other board members in a meeting to direct the school administration to come back with a report and recommendation within a few days. This latter type of action is quite common, and we did it many times. Taking action on your own is unacceptable for a school board member.”
Ms. Minard should have been an actress, her political theatrics in Sussex are well known. She is out of control and mad with power and she needs to be removed from the school board and kept away from our children.
It only gets better: http://capegazette.villagesoup.com/column/columnpost/letters-to-the-editor/204949.
My guess is that the school board meeting on the 23rd is going to be a lot of fun.
Oh MJ, it will.
Isn’t this how you got into trouble?
Tighmir – just some advice – stay off the blogs, don’t comment on Gaffney’s FB page, don’t post anything (you do have a lawyer, correct?). Minard will get what’s coming to her.
Anon e mouse:
I should of made my self more clear. The point I was trying to make was all any of us have right now is hearsay. I never said your child was rejected by Sussex Tech i was talking about you, Not because I believe you ever applied. You just made it seem like you have an Ax to grind with Sussex Tech. I am friends with one of the bus drivers friends, i got to read the blog and video that seem to upset Minard so much, there was nothing there that would even indicate he was a danger to the children. All i can do is go by what information i have,the rest is just hearsay and Minard’s actions prevented a proper investigation from taking place, this took away the right for him to defend himself. Call me foolish if you want to but i believe everyone should get that chance
Tighmir,
Listen to MJ. Don’t make any more comments on blogs, or to any reporters, etc. Get a lawyer right away, and follow his or her advice to the letter.
Having watched the lies & prior actions my Sandy over the years in the Rep. party, than the school board, her inter-actions with school parents at Cape ..see the problem was never her & her lack of FAITHFUL parenting role..so thus must be the schools. Not knowing the bus driver, but knowing some of the staff at MMS–outsanding to say the least–her actions shows her contempt for law & order. What a shame for the Delaware 912 folks. I am also told she has not been given a voice in the Rep Partt. Wonder if she supports Glenn now–he is still chair of them, ,yet violates the role of chair & uses the role to promote himself…Go Mr. Lopez..