Superintendent Scolds Parents, Social Worker- Anything But Social, Weird Biased Flex
- Nov 8, 2022
- 3 min read
By: The Livingston Lantern Staff
School Board Meetings are generally the same format throughout Michigan. Most Boards begin with approving the last meeting minutes, deal with for-action items, hold a call to the public and then address future business. Livingston County spans Brighton, Fowlerville, Hartland, Howell and Pinckney. Amongst all districts Hartland is least friendly to parent participants, Pinckney comes in just behind it an almost tie. Brighton ranks friendliest to parents with the Superintendent, Matt Outlaw, to give explanations or comment on concerns. This action by Outlaw, not only respects parents by answering questions or addresses something before it snowballs into something bigger. Brighton parents appreciate this from Outlaw. Hartland and Pinckney parents are not treated fairly, Hartland stonewalls parents and will not even allow them to speak if even 1 minute late. Lastly, we have Pinckney, this will take some explaining.
Livingston parents have been at almost every school board meeting in the county at least once. It wasn't until recently, we found out from a friend, about Pinckney and their Superintendent, Rick Todd. Since the school board elections began to amp up, Todd has been anything but friendly to Conservative Republican Candidates. Matt Maciag, of the Pinckney Board of Education, has been openly negative towards these candidates as well, going so far as attacking them on social media and their candidate pages. Maciag isnt just disagreeing, he openly seeks them out. Nothing quite encompasses school board candidate ridicule the likes of which Rick Todd's own wife has participated in. The attached video, dated 9/15/2022, from the 11 minute mark, is truly a masterpiece of misappropriation.
Here is the video:
When we first watched this video we thought, it was a town hall. We truly feel that was a great way to include parents and keep them connected. Then we saw how the video evolved, we called parents in Pinckney and asked them some questions.
It turns out, after the call to the public portion of the Board of Education meetings, Rick Todd pauses the meetings to address the speakers. We found that not only Todd addressing the public like this was unorthodox, moreover, why is he scolding the public? We dug in and we asked the parents, was this a one time incident or what ? They informed us Rick routinely pauses the Board of Education meetings after parents have spoken at call to public. The parents we spoke to told us its clear he has a chip on his shoulder and at times his behavior is crass. The 11 minute mark shows Rick Todd getting upset with parents mentioning that discussing their kids in this public setting makes him uncomfortable. Oddly, even more unfathomable, is Pinckney Schools social worker, Lisa Dover, who turns around and tells parents that asking Rick Todd questions during his diatribe, is really "bullying." This gets even better, the parents are in fact questioning Rick Todd about his bullying practices and the district social worker is gaslighting parents that they are in fact the bullies for not accepting Todd's scolding. It's truly enough to make your head spin. We all actually became upset while watching Lisa make this statement, her body language speaks for herself, the flippant hand gestures, irritated gasping. She really wanted to sit and listen to Todd casually direct a " tongue lashing" to parents and she doesn't like it when parents tell Rick Todd they disahree with his antics.
Does Todd lose his cool? Yes.
He even refers to his own wife harassing school board candidates on social media as ' only human'.
So bullying to Rick Todd is simply only human behavior?
We have one question for Rick:
What does he plan to do if the very candidates he feels so compelled to reprimand get elected to the Board of Education?
Will his wife run her mouth for the next 4 years about them on social media and will he routinely say that it's only human to be a bully?
The social worker, Lisa Dover. is triggered so hard in this public setting, by the very parents whose children she counsels. This is even more disturbing to us. Seems the level of unbias should be overwhelming here and that is just the opposite.
Self reflection is definitely needed by not only the Superintendent, but Maciag and Dover.
We can't wait for the election results in Pinckney, this district needs a reboot.
The Livingston Lantern Staff
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