Conflict of Interest breach in the Boundary Decision Vote?

On May 12th, The school board voted 4-3 to RE-AFFIRM its initial (March 11th) vote regarding boundary changes. As noted earlier, this vote was made despite documentation of over 500 community residents who voiced their opposition to the board's vote. Board members John Whalen, Jim McCourt, Terry Shimek, and Caren Diedrich voted against reconsidering boundary changes.

At this past Monday's school board meeting, board member Caren Diedrich indicated publicly that her grandchildren attend Bird elementary school. Now that this information is in the public arena, Ms. Diedrich's comments [regarding her vote on the Boundary decision], that, "Bird is over crowded, I need to get some children out of Bird." are far more troubling.

Many would say that this Ms. Diedrich holds a distinct personal interest in Bird school, and therefore she should have abstained from the Boundary decision vote. If Ms. Diedrich had abstained, the vote would have been tied at 3-3-1, opening the door for further discussion on the issue--and another vote. Perhaps one of the other 3 may have "seen the light" . There is no "I" in "school board" (of course there ain't no "we" either!). Ms. Diedrich was not speaking for her constituents--or even the school board; she was speaking for herself. Hear for yourself; play the video clip below.