School Board Meeting In Michigan Turns Violent; President Removed After Alleged Assault
Flint School Board President Danielle Green has reportedly been removed from her leadership role after she allegedly assaulted member Laura MacIntyre during an afternoon finance meeting.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Green will stay on the board, but will no longer be its president. MacIntyre claims she was “brutally attacked” and that the assault was so severe that she sustained a concussion that required medical attention.
"I'm just sad to say that it's come to this," MacIntyre said on Wednesday night (March 23), according to the newspaper. "I am a very secure person but I do not feel safe."
MacIntyre notes that Green was not arrested by police officers who responded to the incident. The board subsequently called an emergency meeting to remove green from her leadership role on the seven-person committee. Green could not be removed fully by the board because she was elected by Flint constituents. Her term ends at the end of this year.
MacIntyre told The Flint Journal that Green approached her, grabbed her by the hair, slammed her head against a table and began punching her in the head. She also wants charges pressed.
"There was blood, there were bruises," fellow board member Chris Del Morone said during Wednesday night’s meeting.
Joyce Ellis-McNeal, now the board's president, said the incident culminated from a year of abuse directed at board members from all corners of society.
"We've been treated as less than," she said. "I don't even know what to say. All because we took this seat and decided to put children first."
MacIntyre agrees.
"We constantly are being railroaded and distracted and torn away from the real important work that needs to be done," she said.
The incident comes following a turbulent year for the school board in the Michigan city, which lies about an hour north of Detroit. Previous meetings have included members raising their voices at each other with two Flint board members resigning in September. A lot of the angst comes from what Flint plans to do with the $150 million it received in federal COVID-19 relief.
