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South Washington County school board member censured -TwinCities.comPage 2of 4 <br />South Washington County school <br />St. Paul Local Guide <br />board member censured <br />(http://mylocal.twincities.com/) <br />By Christopher Magan Featured Businesses <br />cmagan@pioneerpress.com(mailto:cmagan@pioneerpress.com? <br />Loading... <br />subject=TwinCities.com: ) <br />POSTED: 01/09/2015 12:01:00 AM CST <br />UPDATED: 01/09/2015 11:41:26 PM CST <br />Find St. Paul Attractions <br />South Washington County school board members have censured one of their <br />own for discussing private information from the district's attorney. Search for a business <br />After a long closed session Thursday, board members voted 5-1 to censure Katy <br />Search by keyword or Zip <br />McElwee-Stevens. Board members said she violated the code of ethics and will <br />be removed if it happens again. <br />Add your business here + <br />Katie Schwartz voted against the resolution, saying before the vote the penalty <br />(http://mylocal.twincities.com/#add_busine <br />s <br />wasn't tough enough. "I feel the actions were serious, and I personally feel there <br />should be more done and this is not severe enough of a punishment," she said. <br />(/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp? <br />contentItemRelationshipId=6518048) <br />McElwee-Stevens, of Newport, was first appointed to the board in 2006 and <br />Undated photo of <br />later elected in 2013. <br />Katy McElwee- <br />Stevens is a <br />She did not respond to a phone message seeking comment Friday. <br />candidate for South <br />Washington County <br />Ron Kath, board chair, said district officials discovered McElwee-Stevens <br />school board 2013. <br />(Courtesy of Katy <br />discussed privileged and private personnel information contained in a Nov. 4 <br />McElwee-Stevens) <br />letter from district lawyers. The information is protected by attorney-client <br />privilege, Kath said. <br />McElwee-Stevens admitted making five statements about information contained in the letter, Kath <br />said. He added that McElwee-Stevens told the board she didn't think she had done anything wrong <br />at the time because she got the information from another source. <br />It's unclear who or what the letter was about, but it was dated two days before East Ridge High <br />School principal Aaron Harper resigned under fire. <br />Harper was investigated by school officials for ignoring district spending policies and misusing <br />taxpayer money. <br />They took no disciplinary action against him, <br />Advertisement <br />and he resigned Nov. 6 after agreeing to drop <br />any legal claims against the district. <br />A Woodbury police investigation into whether <br />Harper criminally misused tax dollars <br />continues. <br />District leaders released details of the Harper <br />investigation this week after a December <br />opinion from the state department of <br />administration said they were public records. <br />McElwee-Stevens is the second South <br />Washington County board member to recently <br />face a complaint. <br />Longtime board member Jim Gelbmann resigned in June 2014 after questions were raised about <br />his poor attendance at school board meetings. <br />Christopher Magan can be reached at 651-228-5557. Follow him at twitter.com/chris_magan <br />(http://twitter.com/chris_magan). <br />http://www.twincities.com/education/ci_27290103/south-washington-county-school-board-member-c... <br />