Two board members of the North Beach School District officials who jointly resigned in April recently provided more information about why they decided to leave.

Board members Robert Doering and Kristin Farris, along with Superintendent Jim Shank, each submitted letters of resignation to the district last month. In a statement during an April 16 regular board meeting, Board President Jeffrey Albertson cited the “same basic reason” for all three resignations: consistent complaints, demands and badgering from a small group of individual constituents had created an “unspeakably hostile climate” in the district.

While none of the resigning officials provided a public statement beyond what Albertson said at the meeting, all three have since confirmed the contentious environment as their reason for leaving.

Outgoing board members both described a situation of mounting stress and accumulating hostility that ultimately led them to throw up their hands.

Farris, who joined the board in 2021, said she gave approval to Albertson to read the portion of a statement describing the “final straw” that ended her time with the district: When the group “heaped derision and abuse” on her following a board policy vote, left her in tears with a loved one encouraging her to resign, according to Albertson’s statement.

When asked on April 17 for more information about her resignation, Farris praised the volunteer and community work of the group mentioned in Albertson’s statement, saying, “The ‘community members’ mentioned in the meeting last night also played a vital role in the fabric of our educational environment by uncovering critical information that led to significant changes within our district.”

On April 24, Farris sent an email to The Daily World clarifying that the two people identified in the statement were not responsible for the incident that led to her resignation. The statement implied two people: “a resident of Byhalia, Mississippi,” who later identified herself as Shannon Rubin, and “Mr. Devore,” or Joe Devore.

“While I cannot speak for the others, neither of those particular individuals played a role in my resigning when I did,” Farris said.

Farris said her resignation was the result of “a culmination of events, that took place over time.”

In the April 16 statement, Albertson said the district receives frequent complaints about district employees with members of the public calling for their termination or punishment, leading to investigations that rarely resulted in any action.

Albertson said he was no longer interested in “refereeing grievances between adults.”

Farris said she pleaded with members of the group to ease off and allow the district to work out its problems, to no avail.

“We have a lot of work to do, and we can’t do it in a tumultuous environment,” she said.

Those who have seemingly pushed the school district to its limit say they are acting in good faith, and that their behavior is nothing more than asking for accountability from public officials.

“I know my role in what happened, and I won’t apologize for wanting better for kids,” Rubin said in an email.

After filing public records requests in nearly every month of 2023, Rubin and Devore have each tangled with the district over its handling of those requests, with Rubin reaching a settlement on the matter last year. She said she viewed the statement “was done to stifle in a retaliatory manner our (first amendment) rights.”

Chain reaction

Rubin and Devore also pushed back against the claim that they were to blame for the resignation of Doering, the other board member. Both said they had little interaction with Doering other than copying him on emails.

Doering, who couldn’t be reached for comment immediately after the board meeting, confirmed in a phone call Tuesday that his reasons for resigning aligned with Albertson’s statement.

In addition to carving out more time to focus on his studies as a graduate student, Doering said his decision to leave was driven home when Superintendent Shank put in his letter of resignation. He said Shank — who he called a “high-caliber superintendent” — was “constantly harassed” with complaints and demands that took away time from focusing on tending to the district.

“He was basically bullied out of his position,” Doering said. “I just no longer felt there was a reason to stay.”

Contact reporter Clayton Franke at 406-552-3917 or clayton.franke@thedailyworld.com.