More than three weeks after her  conversations with  Michigan Department of Education officials sparked inquiry into whether or not Oxford Schools was illegally operating a boarding school, Kallie Roesner came to the Oct. 9 board of education meeting to scold trustees for airing strong comments on the state’s letter, which named Roesner.

“Comments were made at the last board meeting that were pretty shocking to me… One of the things that was said was that I wrote a letter or somehow reported you for having a boarding school. I did no such thing,” she said.

Roesner, a board of education candidate, has butted heads with the board for years and took the five minutes she was given during public comment to both defend herself and chastise the board.

“I think you need to check your facts before you make statements,” Roesner said. “I never once said Oxford had a boarding school, never once.”

Upon the initial inquiry letter being sent to Superintendent Tim Throne, this reporter asked Throne, Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent Angela Weaver, Trustee Korey Baily and Board President Tom Donnelly  if they received  Roesner’s original correspondence with the state. All four said they had seen nothing but the inquiry letter. Later, board trustees indicated they took the letter at face value because it came from government officials.

Roesner said she feels it was unethical of the board to discuss her during the Sept. 25 meeting, saying she was “on the agenda” and, in her opinion, should have been notified. Roesner was not in attendance at the Sept. 25 meeting and saw the discussion from Oxford Community Television footage.

According to that day’s agenda,  neither Roesner nor the letter were agenda items and were brought up during the superintendent’s report, as the state’s inquiry letter was addressed to Throne. The superintendent is not a board trustee and his report is not an agenda item. Roesner was only mentioned by board members during their final board comments for the meeting.

Aside from her concerns with the board’s moral compass, Roesner took much of her time to defend her conversations with the state, during which she never explicitly said Oxford operated a boarding school. Her conversations were misinterpreted by state officials, which prompted the state to correct the record last week.

Roesner said her concern with the district lies with international students who are not participating in exchange programs.These students come to United States for an education with the intention of returning to their country of origin. Because of that, Roesner feels they should pay full tuition for studying in Oxford.

“I am all for exchange students . . . The (international students) are just here to be educated. They go to college, they compete against our kids and take their technology back to their country. It’s not a good thing.”

Roesner said she expected an apology from the board, but Trustee Dan D’Alessandro said he plans on doing no such thing.

“I don’t apologize for my comments,” he said during final board comments. “I don’t think that I need to. I think the apology needs to come from the state.”