In a four-to-one ruling, the Rhode Island Supreme Court said Tuesday that Richmond resident Jessica Purcell is entitled to a seat on the Chariho Regional School District School Committee.
The decision ends a months-long legal battle that began when Republican members of the Richmond Town Council went against the town’s home rule charter to appoint a statewide conservative activist named Clay Johnson to fill a vacancy on the school committee instead of Purcell, who was the highest unelected vote-getter in the 2022 election.
Johnson, who was not a candidate, is well known as chair of The Gaspee Project, a group that supports right-leaning candidates and conservative causes in Rhode Island, and once promoted the Jan. 6 rally that led to the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“I think it is a victory for all Richmond residents,” Purcell said of the ruling in a phone call Tuesday morning. “I think we’ve been truly served by this decision, because it affirms the belief that Richmond deserves representatives, not rulers.”
The case had galvanized supporters of both Purcell and Johnson at a time when school policy has become increasingly divisive nationwide, with heated disagreements over how topics like race, gender, and sexuality are taught taking center stage at school committee meetings.
At question in the legal case before the state’s highest court was whether elements of Richmond’s home rule charter passed in 2008 were sufficiently ratified by the General Assembly, and whether the Richmond Town Council should have followed the process outlined for filling school committee vacancies in the charter, or complied with the state law that governs the Chariho Regional School District – the Chariho Act.
The charter specifically says the unelected candidate with the highest number of votes gets appointed. The Chariho Act does not.
Johnson had argued the vacancy provision of the charter wasn’t adequately ratified by the state, because the Chariho Act was not referenced in specific sections in the state law ratifying the charter.
But the majority of justices sided with Purcell, writing, “Ratification of a charter as a whole by the General Assembly has been sufficient to expressly ratify a provision of the charter.”
The justices said the charter and Chariho Act are in conflict, because the charter directs the Richmond Town Council in how to make an appointment in the case of a vacancy to the school committee, while the Chariho Act gives council members discretion. But, the justices said, when dealing with provisions that can’t be harmonized, the court follows the principle that “the specific governs the general.”
“The Charter is specific in its outline of a substantive procedure to fill the vacancy and precise in who the appointee will be,” Justice Erin Lynch Prata wrote in the majority opinion. “The Charter is clearly more specific. For these reasons, the Charter controls.”
Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg wrote a dissenting opinion disagreeing with the majority’s overall rationale.
When reached for comment Tuesday, Clay Johnson said in an email, “Clearly, I will be in a different role going forward, but my commitment to parents rights and responsible spending has not wavered. I think it is only fair for me to read the full opinion and dissent before commenting further.”
Joe Larisa, the attorney for Johnson and the town council, said in an email, “We believe that the 38 page dissent by Justice Goldberg detailing how the Richmond Town Council acted well within its rights in appointing Johnson was the better Opinion. The majority, however, disagreed, and its view is final.”
According to public records, Larisa’s litigation services for the council are costing the town $21,792.50.
Richmond Town Council President Mark Trimmer said in an email Tuesday, “The Town Council did not prevail. The decision is final and we will abide by this decision. I congratulate Jessica Purcell on her appointment to the CHARIHO school committee.”
In an interview earlier this year, Trimmer said he voted to appoint Clay Johnson because of his experience as a former school committee member and his track record of what Trimmer termed “fiscal conservatism.” Trimmer said he wanted to avoid rising school costs that could result in higher property taxes in Richmond.
Jessica Purcell said she did not think any votes taken by Johnson since he was appointed in January “stick out to me as being a problem moving forward.” But, she said, she was concerned that Johnson was able to sit in on closed-door discussions.
“He’s an illegitimate school committee member who has had access to private conversations and discussions,” Purcell said. “That could be an issue.”
When asked how she felt about having her two-year term on the school committee effectively cut to about a year and a half by the town council’s appointment of Johnson, Purcell said, “I’m going to choose not to focus on that. I can’t change that.”
She identified capital projects related to whether the district will renovate or consolidate elementary schools as a specific area she expects to focus on in the future. She said she’d also like to see a student representative seated on the school committee.
Purcell said, “I have to look forward and serve my community on the school committee.”
Alex Nunes can be reached at anunes@thepublicsradio.org.
