Woman alleges ill treatment

A 60-year-old woman who initially was denied the opportunity to speak to the Clark County School Board in a meeting last week said she had to be hospitalized after being grabbed by police.

The woman, Rose Moore, has gained support from one School Board member and an official with the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, who said trustees arbitrarily choose who can speak during board meetings depending on what their message is.

Moore said Wednesday that the actions of School Board President Ruth Johnson led to her being roughed up by police at the meeting. The stress of the situation also caused her to have a heart attack, she said.

Although a witness at the meeting said she saw Moore being transported by ambulance from the School Board's meeting place, on East Flamingo Road near Eastern Avenue, the Review-Journal was unable Wednesday to confirm Moore's claim that she had a heart attack.

Moore's husband, Rick, said his wife had a heart attack during the Oct. 25 meeting. The session, which lasted longer than four hours, was captured by district cameras.

Moore said she will pursue civil action against the School Board. Moore could identify only one of the police officers who grabbed her as working for the district.

"It makes me angry that they would treat not only me, but anybody, like that," Moore said, speaking about Johnson. "It just disgusts me."

Johnson did not return calls to her home Wednesday, but video footage of the event showed the most heated parts of the meeting began when Johnson denied Moore's request to speak.

At the start of the incident, Johnson told Moore: "I'm sorry, ma'am, but you're out of order. You have not been recognized (to speak), and we're moving on unless the board would like to do otherwise."

At that point, School Board member Shirley Barber attempted to recognize Moore as a speaker. Video of the meeting shows that Johnson either did not immediately hear or ignored Barber's attempt to recognize Moore. Johnson then ordered that Moore's microphone be turned off and then ordered a recess.

A few minutes passed, and Moore could be heard out of the camera's range shouting at police officers not to hurt her.

After a few more minutes, Moore came back to the meeting, and Johnson told her to take a seat and acknowledged the presence of officers. Johnson then said Moore had been recognized by a board member and would be allowed to address the board for two minutes.

As Moore approached the board to speak, she had trouble composing herself. She could be seen gasping for air and slumping into a chair while grabbing her chest as people around her scrambled and shouted to call paramedics.

Moore was escorted out of the room. She came back and addressed the board, expressing her concern about how a friend's autistic child was being schooled and noting that she was going to file a complaint with the attorney general's office over the matter.

Moore said in a Wednesday afternoon interview that after the meeting concluded, she was taken to Desert Springs Hospital, where she stayed until about 3 a.m. Moore said paramedics told her in the ambulance that she was suffering a heart attack.

Barber said Wednesday that Moore should have been allowed to speak immediately, as it is board practice to allow the public to speak if recognized by a board member.

In the video, Johnson said that Moore did not sign up to speak before the board meeting. Moore said she did not sign up but told the School Board secretary at the meeting that she would like to speak.

A few trustees and those who attend board meetings said people who have not signed up to speak can do so if they tell the School Board secretary during the meeting.

Barber said Johnson lost control of the meeting.

"She does not know how to treat owners of the district," Barber said of Johnson's treatment of Moore and the public. "She yelled at her (Moore) like I wouldn't even yell at a dog."

Barber and Trustee Mary Beth Scow both said they saw two police officers grab Moore. Barber said they appeared to be hurting Moore, but Scow disagreed.

"It looked to me like they were holding her," Scow said of the two police officers. Barber said she saw Moore driven away by an ambulance after the meeting ended about 8:30 p.m.

Barber and Johnson have a history of public spats going back years. In one incident in December 2006, Barber yelled at Johnson, saying Johnson was trying to control her. At the meeting, Johnson said she had developed a thick skin after more than 10 years on the board, but began to cry.

In last week's meeting, Johnson eventually allowed Moore to speak because she said Barber did recognize her to do so.

Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada, said the School Board has a history of applying their own rules as they see fit.

"They seem to use the rules in an inconsistent fashion to silence those they do not want to hear from," Peck said.

But Trustee Terri Janison, who was not at the board meeting but participated during parts of it by teleconference, defended Johnson. She said that the School Board needs to regroup and that what happened last week was high emotion of the moment. Janison said some members of the public treat board members poorly when addressing them.

"We need to move forward, and we need to work this out," Janison said. "When these things happen, we cannot do our jobs to help and advocate for children."

Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@reviewjournal.com or (702) 799-2922.