Tensions among Community Consolidated School District 15 school board members boiled over during a lengthy discussion about meeting minutes.

Board member Sue Quinn at several recent meetings has raised concerns about board minutes. Quinn did so again at the Nov. 10 meeting, stating that school board president Gerald Chapman attempted to change the wording of a motion she made related to a proposed bond issue.

At most governmental meetings, the approval of minutes is a routine, fairly mundane matter. However, at District 15 the discussion lasted longer than 20 minutes and concluded with board member Peggy Babcock accusing Quinn of going too far in her criticism of Chapman.

Babcock said that Quinn had a "personal vendetta" against Chapman, that her concerns were "politically motivated," and that Quinn "did not like" Chapman.

At one point in the discussion, board member James Ekeberg suggested that if Quinn believed there was wrongdoing the school board's attorney could look into the matter.

"This is a board matter," Quinn responded. "No one is going to go to jail over it."

"But it is character assassination," Babcock said.

The bickering is part of the aftermath of a failed District 15 referendum that was defeated by voters by a more than 2-to-1 margin. The school board intended to issue $27 million in bonds, but a petition drive by residents forced the matter to a referendum. In the midst of the controversy Quinn had made a motion that the board issue far less in bonds with a number of stipulations.

Quinn said the way the motion was presented in meeting minutes was an attempt to spin the issue as the majority of the board backtracked. During the Nov. 10 meeting, Quinn read from several e-mails in which district staff discussed the motion, the wording, and questions Chapman had about it.

Quinn's disagreements with Chapman predate the bond issue. Last fall Quinn said she sent out e-mail to supporters calling on them to vote Chapman out of office in the next school board election.

After the meeting, Babcock took issue with Quinn's calls for Chapman's political defeat.

"When you are a board member, doing that I think is a moral issue," Babcock said. "We're part of one board, we're a team. Some board members have lost sight of that."

Babcock said the infighting was bad for the school board and bad for the district.

After the meeting Chapman said he had no comment beyond what was said at the meeting. During the meeting Chapman said little, other than to occasionally ask Quinn what she wanted to do.

After the meeting Quinn addressed Babcock's comments about being a team.

"In a perfect world," Quinn said. "But the public also needs to know what the board is doing. I have an opinion. Should I not express it?"

As for the e-mails calling for Chapman's political ouster, Quinn said she believed some of the decisions of the board were not in the best interest of the district and "sometimes you have to change the people involved."

The minutes discussion will continue at a future meeting. Quinn said she does not believe Chapman should get a chance to review the minutes before the rest of the board.