During its September 2023 meeting, the board voted 5-2 to shift away from electing its chair and vice chair to a new system where leaders would be decided automatically, based on seniority.

Supporters of that change said it was justified because the election system served to sow unnecessary "division" and "rancor."

But then-Chair Rema Vassar opposed the change, arguing it was an attempt to "change the rules on her" because she was the first Black woman to lead the board. Former Trustee Dan Kelly also voted against the policy, saying “the board should get to decide who its leader is." (Dennis Denno wasn’t present at that meeting, but has since voiced opposition to the seniority system.) 

By the board’s next meeting in October, Trustee Brianna Scott had begun a campaign to oust Vassar from the board, alleging widespread misconduct — a move that spurred the board’s quietly simmering tensions to boil over publicly. 

Then, more than a year later, at the board’s December 2024 meeting, the policy proved to seemingly still be a sore point on the board.

At its Dec. 13 meeting, the board held a vote to confirm the new leaders according to seniority — a seeming formality. But Vassar and Denno voted against that resolution, which appointed Trustee Kelly Tebay as chair, and Scott as vice chair. 

Those trustees, often at-odds with the rest of the board, noted that board bylaws technically required any vote on the board’s leaders for the next year to be taken before Dec. 1 of the current year. That, they said, meant the board had violated its bylaws by missing the deadline for the vote. 

Board Secretary Stefan Fletcher apologized at the time for the deadline being missed, saying the vote was scheduled for the meeting closest to the Dec. 1 deadline. 

Now, at the board’s meeting Friday, a resolution to iron out a kink in the policy, though eventually passed, once more spurred a split vote — generally a rare occurrence on the board. 

Friday’s change nixed the need for the board to hold a confirmation vote of the leaders — who are now predetermined by the seniority policy — the way it did at the December meeting. 

Fletcher, the board secretary, explained the rationale for the tweak, saying such a vote is rendered only "ceremonial" given that board bylaws automatically "dictate" leaders based on seniority. 

Trustees Dennis Denno, Rema Vassar and Mike Balow voted against the adjustment; while Chair Kelly Tebay, Vice Chair Brianna Scott, Trustees Renee Knake Jefferson, Sandy Pierce and Rebecca Bahar Cook voted in support.  

During discussion on the resolution, Denno suggested his no vote was less about the current adjustment, and more about the previous shift away from an election system.

"As my fellow trustees know, I’m voting no because I believe the chair and vice chair should be elected positions," Denno said. 

The other trustees who voted no did not speak on their decision.