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Detroit
school
board
chief
resigns
amid
sexual
harassment
complaint
and DPD
investigation
By COREY
WILLIAMS
Associated
Press
Writer
DETROIT
(AP) --
School
board
members
refused
Friday
to
reinstate
the
group's
former
president,
who
resigned
a day
earlier
following
allegations
he
fondled
himself
repeatedly
in front
of the
district's
superintendent.
Otis
Mathis
was
given a
letter
stating
his
request
for
reinstatement
had been
denied.
Mathis,
56,
resigned
Thursday,
the same
day
Teresa
Gueyser
filed a
complaint
with the
school
district's
Public
Safety
department.
"I have
made
inappropriate
actions
toward a
professional
employee
of the
board,"
Mathis
wrote in
a letter
to new
board
President
Anthony
Adams
announcing
his
resignation.
"I
deeply
regret
my
actions."
In a
2-page
letter
to the
board,
Gueyser
detailed
Mathis'
action
during a
private
meeting
Wednesday
about
contracts
and
other
matters
in
school
board
offices.
She said
she
tried to
ignore
him and
on
several
occasions
"asked
him not
to touch
himself."
"During
the
discussion,
President
Mathis
began to
stroke
his
genital
area
with his
right
hand,"
Gueyser
wrote,
adding
that
Mathis
made
similar
gestures
during
past
meetings.
Mathis
was
attending
a court
hearing
on
another
matter
Friday
and
declined
comment
when
approached
by
reporters,
but said
he had
not
resigned
from the
board.
Messages
left
Friday
at
Gueyser's
office
by The
Associated
Press
weren't
returned.
Mathis
met with
board
members
Thursday,
and "we
requested
Mr.
Mathis
resign
from the
board,"
said
Adams,
who
until
the
resignation
had been
the
group's
vice
president.
Mathis
gave
Adams
another
letter
Friday
asking
that the
resignation
be
rescinded,
but the
original
resignation
letter
contained
no
conditions
that
would
allow
him to
return,
Adams
said.
"The
board's
past
practice
is that
a
resignation
is
effective
upon
submission
to the
board
secretary,"
he said.
"I think
it's
pretty
clear
cut. Any
attempt
to
retract
it is
null and
void."

Superintendent
Teresa
Gueyser
accuses
Mathis
of
touching
himself
during a
recent
meeting.
She
called
it his
"usual
habit"
during
one-on-one
meetings.
(Clarence
Tabb,
Jr. /
The
Detroit
News)
Gueyser's
letter,
dated
Wednesday,
said
Mathis
fondled
his
genital
area for
about 20
minutes
during
the
meeting
and she
used
papers
to block
her
view.
Mathis
unzipped
his
pants,
then
pulled a
handkerchief
from his
pocket
and
placed
it "in
the
zipper
area of
his
pants,
appearing
to wipe
himself,"
according
to the
letter.
He later
began
"moving
his hand
as if to
be
masturbating
in front
of me,"
she
wrote.
Mathis
said he
was
"sorry"
and
asked
her not
to go,
the
letter
said.
Gueyser's
claims
come at
a
critical
time as
the
school
board
fights
for
credibility.
The 11
board
members
were in
court
Friday
for a
hearing
in an
unrelated
lawsuit
they
filed
against
emergency
financial
manager
Robert
Bobb,
who was
appointed
in March
2009 by
Gov.
Jennifer
Granholm
to fix
money
troubles
plaguing
Detroit
Schools.
Board
members
believe
he
overstepped
his
authority
by
making
academic
decisions
and
claim
they've
been
unable
to do
their
jobs
because
Bobb
controls
the
district's
finances.
Board
member
Carla
Scott
said she
spoke
with
Gueyser
on
Wednesday
and told
her to
let
police
take
care of
the
matter.
"We
can't
afford a
circus,"
Scott
said of
Mathis'
troubles.
"We
can't
let his
mistakes
be our
problem."
Fellow
board
member
Carol
Banks
added:
"We're
trying
to move
to the
next
level."
Mathis,
a
married
father
of six
adult
children,
acknowledged
earlier
this
year to
having
problems
writing
coherently
after
e-mails
filled
with
grammatical
errors
and poor
sentence
structure
were
made
public.
Before
his 2008
election
to the
board,
he had
been a
substitute
teacher
and
served
as a
county
commissioner.
Gueyser's
allegations
against
Mathis
are the
latest
in a
string
of
scandals
involving
Detroit
elected
leaders.
Ex-City
Council
President
Monica
Conyers
is
expected
to
report
to
federal
prison
on July
1 to
begin a
37-month
sentence
for
corruption.
Former
Mayor
Kwame
Kilpatrick
is
serving
at least
14
months
in state
prison
for
violating
probation
in a
2008
criminal
case.
The
married
Kilpatrick
was
forced
to
resign
in
disgrace
that
year
after
sexually
explicit
text
messages
with his
former
top aide
contradicted
testimony
each
gave in
a 2007
civil
trial.
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