Panther Valley school board on Monday sided with the teachers' union to approve corrective action concerning a grievance filed because of "public adverse criticism" of two bargaining unit members by School Director Roy Angst.

Angst made the statements in his online blog, The Angst Report, on July 28 and Aug. 10.In a letter to PVEA, read aloud at the public meeting by president Jeff Markovich, the board "acknowledges that the actions of that board member violated the contract language contained in the current contract between the PVEA and the Panther Valley School District," the letter said.The letter also states that "the Panther Valley School Board cannot police the individual and unauthorized actions of any one board member whose conduct, outside of the board meeting room, violates the contractual rights of any bargaining unit member."The letter goes on to say the board has "little recourse against any such rogue member whose intent is to engage in individual, unsanctioned and unauthorized violations of a contract."The letter concludes with "such conduct will not be condoned nor sanctioned by the school board and any legal ramifications for such actions will be borne by that individual board member alone and not by the school board."The board voted, with Angst and School Director Irene Genther opposing, to accept the grievance.In a subsequent action that asked any school directors who wished to sign their names to the corrective action letter, Angst again voted no, saying "I have no idea what you're talking about."Genther also declined.Angst called the grievance "false accusations" and said he was not offered the chance to defend himself."I never mentioned a member of the association on my blog, except for information that was voted on here at a public school board meeting," he said.The grievance and the board's action, he said, were "inspired" by Markovich.