It appears that any solace for the Milford School Board won’t come any time soon.

The board is still embroiled in a debate over board member conduct, a 99% no confidence vote for the superintendent, and the resignation of a key figure in a controversial text message debate.

Former staffer Jaime Morgan, whose confidential texts between she and now ex-board member Jenni Siegrist went public, has come forward to help explain the mess.

And on August 18, board chair Ron Carvell sent a letter stating that Siegrist had submitted her resignation from the board. This happened during a legal investigation by the law office of Sheehan Phinney, a law firm hired by the Milford School District, to determine whether Siegrist violated any of her duties as a member of the school board.

But, on Aug. 9, per a letter from Sheehan Phinney, “in the midst of the investigation, the District’s legal counsel, attorney Meghan Glynn asked that we suspend our investigation; we did so immediately.”

Per that same letter, “On August 18, attorney Glynn formally notified us that the board, as of August 16, directed her to request that we ‘cease immediately the investigation in Ms. Siegrist.”

These dates don’t add up and it appears the investigation is dead in the water.

Morgan prefaced her remarks to The Cabinet, by saying, “My motivation through all of this is not to blast anybody, not to burn anybody, I want integrity to be there.”

“I just want people to do the right thing. And there’s a lot more stuff going on in the background that people don’t know about.”

At first, Morgan was apprehensive about speaking publicly about the matter of the leaked text message issue.

“Honestly, I feel like this is a giant waste of time to share my story,” she said. “I believe that the board chair Ron Carvell, and the superintendent, Dr. Jessica Huizenga, have an agenda for Milford school district, and they’re not interested in hearing anything but their agenda.”

Morgan asked why she wasn’t contacted with regard to the Siegrist investigation, and also wondered what the cost of the investigation was to Milford taxpayers.

“I think we have two really incredible board members,” said Morgan, referring to Holleigh Ciardelli-Tlapa and Mike Hannon. “I think there are a couple of people who are running who would be incredible on the school board.”

Morgan said is she was still a staff member she’d want someone to push the envelope and get answers to so many of the unanswered questions.

“In the April 15 school meeting, Ron was a different person,” she said. “He came back from a national school board meeting, like a kid coming back from church camp. He was so excited. He was saying these things, and I thought we were on the verge of greatness. And then it all went downhill.”

Morgan added that if the school staff must be held accountable, the board must hold itself accountable as well.

“That’s exactly what Ron said in that April 15 meeting,” she said. “I was blown away. I thought, he’s learning. When I see honesty or vulnerability, there is possibility for greatness.”

Morgan said with regard to the texts, “it’s just a symptom of a greater problem in the Milford school district leadership.”

The Cabinet has a copy of the aforementioned text messages.

For this story, the Cabinet also contacted Suzanne Schedin, Milford Teacher’s Association vice president for comment.

In a statement, she stated: “The Milford Teacher’s Association leadership was shocked when we read that the school board ended the investigation into one of its own school board members, Jenni Siegrist. We expected the board to allow an honest and fair investigation into the matter to reach its natural conclusion. Instead, we are left with even more questions about the matter. In our experience, the school board has not conducted open and fair investigations in the past. When MTA notified the board that 99% of the Milford School District has no confidence in its Superintendent, we asked the board to conduct an investigation into the matter.

The board read a letter to the public in which it stated it conducted an investigation, yet no one mentioned in our extensive letter was contacted by the board. How could they have conducted a fair investigation without speaking to any witnesses?”

“I think this situation with Jenni just shined a light on a bigger problem of ethics,” she said. “Why we need an ethics policy. Why we need board member conduct policies. Why we can’t just do what we’ve always done. They’re saying that about the staff. Well neither can the board. Let’s hold everybody to a higher standard. Absolutely. But that means everybody.”

Morgan said leaders can’t be afraid of having hard conversations.

“Leaders need to be authentic,” she said. “And there needs to be transparency.”

She went on to say, “We need leaders who inspired our staff to do their best, and leaders whose personal agendas do not outweigh their personal integrity.”

Morgan said that she’s been stuck on one question, that being why Milford Strong is Milford Strong.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know why the teachers feel the way they do, because they’ve not been allowed the opportunity to discuss their issues.”

Morgan said she’s been ignored, too.

“I don’t know why Milford school district staff concerns, with a vote of no confidence on May 6, was dismissed entirely,” she said. “And the statement read by the Milford school board, read more like an Academy Award acceptance speech, rather than a letter from Milford school district leadership acknowledging the issue.”

Why all of this has raised more questions than answers, Morgan said she believes that the school board is dragging its feet.

“People give up,” she said. “You just get tired. That’s where I was. And that’s why I quit. Sixteen dollars an hour wasn’t worth it.”

Morgan said there needs to be a big shift.

“The law firm doing the investigation contacted me,” she said. “And I was really impressed by all the lawyers involved, including the Milford school district counsel Meagan Glynn. She was great. But what happened? Why was the investigation stopped?”

On the night that Morgan showed up at the June 17 meeting with her phone, to prove that the texts between she and Siegrist existed, she had been contacted that evening, by members of Milford Strong, urging her to go. Upon Morgan’s entrance, the only thing missing was the ominous organ music.

“Somebody texted me that Ron was saying that the texts were taken out of context,” said Morgan. “I was done at that point. I didn’t even listen to the meeting. I knew they would trash me.”

“Jenni was saying that the texts were all made up,” she said. “And that I was just disgruntled. Nobody ever responded to my emails. And that night, I thought, ‘they’re not going to let me talk.’ And this person who texted me said, ‘if you show, it will remove the question.'”

It might have removed the question, but answers still remain.

“I’ll say it again: Holleigh and Mike are the start of something good,” Morgan said. “Let’s do the best we can. I know that sounds obvious. But I think a lot of stuff is being covered up. When my kids get older, and while they know that I’m not perfect, I want them to know that I owned it.”

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