Editor Introduction:

This is your editor, Alfred Beryl.

What we have for you in this article and proposal of action is the investigative journalist testimony of Marco Iafrate, our young reporter, about the injustice done by this School District. This and more took place at the Board of Education meeting on the evening of November 17.

First, the facts of the situation: For three hours of this meeting, 100s of citizens, among them teachers, parents, students, union officials, former administration staff, and the one newsman shed light on the secrets, evil, oppression, and corruption of Superintendent, Kyle Corlett… and the Board of Education.

The facts are that $2.2 million dollars have gone missing in an audit discovery, the auditor, Doug, claimed to know nothing. The Board and Superintendent made the same claim. At the hands of the Board and Superintendent, there has been abuse of power against the teachers, destruction of reputations among them, destruction of their spirits, and neglecting their raises. The School District was once reputable and beautiful.

People stood up and said “we have lost confidence in the Superintendent and this Board.” Several of the People were, I believe, broken by this abuse as they spoke. My reporter, Marco Iafrate took detailed notes and it was clear that the people wanted to rebuild the school district, and were asking whether the Board wanted to start being honest… and join them.

Mr. Iafrate spoke, determining that there is no desire to reform from the Superintendent nor the Board, however, we wait and pray on any of them who might speak up and admit guilt or the guilt of others.

We have decided to publish the transcript of Mr. Iafrate that evening, who felt compelled to share his testimony and experience of the injustices he saw in this School District while in his former work investigating for the Ludington Daily News… as attempts were made to muzzle him and his work.

Iafrate’s Address to the Board and the Taxpayer:

“Good evening,

There has been a lot of talk about transparency and……… integrity. So, I thought I’d shed some light on that. My name is Marco Iafrate and I was an investigative reporter with the Ludington Daily News for two years. 

One of my… beats… was this school district and in my experience, they are not transparent.

I will talk about this without going into too many details, I will talk facts… those stubborn things that cannot be refuted. First and foremost, the School District says they have a commitment to transparency in this letter dated about the accounting… on Nov. 13. 

As a reporter, I was looking into some of the moves of this district. I started with looking into the school construction, which the taxpayers voted to pay for in 2019. The school administration and the board made sure I had a hard time getting the information I was asking for. I saw that they were not interested in volunteering information so I had to pull teeth.

As the months passed, I began attending this board’s committee meetings. Every month the ladies and gentlemen you see here meet at 7am to discuss things more privately in committee.

…

It is not against the law to do that but when the press wants to sit in on these public meetings and the superintendent forces it to leave and threatens to call the police… then I think it is a good time to consider whether the law was broken. Specifically, the Open Meetings Act of Michigan.

There was another occasion like this. The Ludington Daily News published a story called: “Transparency request rejected by LASD”. A board member at one of these 7am meetings… suggested they make it a policy to be more transparent, but the rest of the board members in that meeting disagreed. Some remained silent completely, which is a decision of no support for transparency, therefore a rejection. 

When that story was published, it contained the words of those that disagreed. The facts. Our Superintendent told us he was going to take the newspaper to court.

This never happened. But I thought at the time, it shows the character of our Superintendent and the Board since this is how they react to a person investigating them. It is my opinion that they are trying everything they can to not volunteer information.

And finally, what does a tax paying body do about this? At this point what do you do? Well, our United States’ history and the Bible… can point you in the right direction… Thank you.

Editor’s Note: Mr. Iafrate spoke again… at the end of the three hours. Here is what he said about what to do about this corruption in our small town.

“I think that the… level of abuse [by the Superintendent and the Board] is evidenced in the testimony of everybody speaking today.

I think that the Board in their silence on this has enabled this, and the Superintendent doing it… I don’t know if this the Board has done any of it… But people are saying [in this audience] ‘build a new district’ some are saying without you guys of the Board, except for one of you, of course.

Now, people might say it’s cliche to quote American founding fathers but I don’t really think it is… umm… John Adams, the second President, said that… what we have here… on this board is a… pardon me, a tyranny of the majority and I looked up what a tyranny is and it is cruel and oppressive.

These people in their testimony are… are oppressed. Some of them can prove it. So, what to do next is what some people have already said: recall… I think that’s a good idea.

I don’t think any of our founding fathers would wanna depend on the board at this point because they’ve kept silent and we’re at the point of a lot of… emotion right now, it really hurts.

So, this is what it says in the Declaration of Independence: it says… that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends – this abuse – it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.

And now I want to say something about Robert’s Rules of Order. When there is no order behind the curtain… I think it is the right of the people to disrupt the meeting, to try and figure things out when the board is not. And by violating Robert’s Rules of Order in this situation we can tear the curtain down…

Umm finally, I’ll end with this: …The teacher of American History on this board, I believe, is of more accountability than anybody else on the board because he knows the checks and balances… of this country… and argued against transparency.

Thank you.”

Editor’s Call to Action: Independent News Service feels compelled to use the words of a woman who spoke at the end of the three hours, a Christian, who said forgiveness is important right now, to forgive the perpetrators. However, consequences must be administered.

This is what we believe must be done.

The names of the Board members are:

1. Board President Dr. Bret Autrey, a silent one.
2. Stephanie Reed, Vice President, a silent one.
3. Mike Nagle, Secretary, American History Teacher, and against what he teaches.
4. Steve Carlson, Treasurer, a silent one.
5. Trustee Sarah Lowman, a silent one.
6. Trustee Mike Winczewski, a silent one.
7. And Trustee Alan Neushwander: the one who is honest.
8. Superintendent Dr. Kyle Corlett, perhaps the head of abuse of power.

This Community is waiting on at least one of you in this list to break the silence… to do the right thing… despite the consequences of your being moral and, perhaps lawful, at this point.

…

This has been your Editor and his young reporter.

Good day.

From left: Winczewski, Neushwander, Lowman, Nagle, Corlette, Autrey, Reed, Carlson.