(b) A public body shall close one or more meetings for preliminary consideration of allegations or charges against an individual subject to its authority. If the members conclude that discipline of any nature may be warranted as a result of those specific charges or allegations, further meetings or hearings relating to those specific charges or allegations held after that conclusion is reached must be open. A meeting must also be open at the request of the individual who is the subject of the meeting.

Pauletti can comment publicly if he wants. He can even ask that the board meet in open session to review the complaint.

623 parent is correct. The board should state for the record that they did ask them if they wanted the meeting open and report the reply to the public.

There is also a statute I believe that states that the board is required to provide a summary of the general nature of the discussion. They have to give this at the meeting. I don't believe that the chair's comments in this article meet that requirement.

It's pretty obvious that some of the parents are only going to be happy with the Coaches resigning or being fired, with them forming their little witch hunt group "Parents 4 Responsible Coaching" I think it's time for them both to contact an attorney to inquire about Defamation, Libel and Slander.............

I attended the school board meeting last night and was impressed with the amount of data the first two parents provided documenting a long history of bullying complaints against these coaches and that there was even an intervention made several years ago to get the coaches to clean up their act. I too don’t get why this whole issue has dragged out for five months – if the timeline is right the complaint was filed even before the season started. Why didn’t the district take immediate action so that the team could have had a new coach and not had to play under the cloud of this investigation? And if the parent is correct that more kids were bullied this season, after the coaches knew they were the subject of a formal investigation, then I’d say that’s a huge legal liability for the district.

I didn't quite understand why a box of jackets were turned in - though it appears that phony orders from Top Shelf Athletics - the head coaches business were submitted to the school district and merchandise was not received even though the district paid for it. Allegations of fraud and stealing were also raised and are apparently part of this investigation as well. I think I also heard that the district lawyer did some kind of inventory which the parent claims failed to account for lots of missing stuff supposedly purchased from Top Shelf. Why is the school district buying stuff from a school employee - isn’t that a conflict of interest?

I ran out of space on my last post and wanted to add:

I found it interesting that the coach’s wife, who sat in the front row at the meeting, was acting like a teen drama queen during the parent comments. Her distracting side show of wild body gestures and animated comments to the folks she brought in with her were part of the reason I didn’t quite get all the information from the speakers. I think her inappropriate behavior did not help her husband’s cause at all.

Is, in fact, the school district making purchases from a business owned or operated by the coach? That might be a bit questionable, ethic-wise.

We had a similar situation going on back when I took office on the council in 2000. We had the parks department purchasing merchandise from a business that one of the council members worked for as a sales person. There were two conflicts that existed in that situation.

Was the council member getting a commission on merchandise sold? I was never able to determine that. This was a legal issue and an ethical one.

The second issue was whether it was ethical for the purchases to even occur.

I raised the issue and soon the purchases stopped.

If the district is making purchases from a business owned or operated by the coach, is this a problem? It depends. It may be ok if it is handled correctly. The problem is that I have little faith in the school board majority that it has been handled correctly.

Issues like this require full disclosure and a public discussion. Bids or price lists should be received to assure that this is the lowest bidder or the best value. A third party needs to be appointed to assure that merchandise ordered and paid for is received.

In my opinion, I believe that both sides should want a process like this. It not only protects the district, but it also protects the coaches. A bad process is only going to invite questions, rumors, and accusations.

I was not at the meeting, nor do I have 1st hand knowledge of the accusations against the two coaches. I have just heard the same rumors that everyone else has. But a couple of the things posted in the comment section are worth a response.

I am on the Board for RAYHA – the local youth hockey association and have been on the district board. Through those two groups I have been involved in meetings where coaches and players were called in front of the board to speak about their conduct. Hearing your husband, wife, son, daughter, friend etc accused of anything you believe to be untrue is terribly uncomfortable. If one of the coach’s spouse was reacting with body language, I would not make anything of it. I am sure she believes that accusations are false and that the whole process is a load of baloney, if for no other reason than she loves her husband and believes in him. How can you fault anyone for that?

Also, I am not sure if the school, or the booster club purchased equipment from Top Shelf but the Youth Association does. Top Shelf has consistently taken care of RAYHA with very low prices on quality equipment. I would hate to go somewhere else and have to pay more solely because the owner was the coach at the High School. Holy smoke, hockey is pretty expensive as it is!

Were you authorized to speak on behalf of RAYHA? If so, perhaps you could also enlighten us on at least one instance when this coach was called in front of your board for his part in misconduct involving pushing down a 12-year old kid in anger? And especially include what his response was to the kid when the kid quoted his team's miserable record that year. If you aren't speaking on behalf of the RAYHA Board, and I doubt that you are, please clarify that you are one of 500? members, who may have had a much different experience, and leave all the others out of it. There is a lot more to all of this. Idle and/or blanket comments are not helpful. As a taxpayer in this District, I have a suggestion. Ask the tough question. Why is the Superintendent and Board allowing this to inflame publicly by their inaction? He and the School Board do not appear to be looking out for the best interests of anyone except themselves, not this coach, not other employees, and certainly not the families in this district.
But, there will be a winner here. In case you missed the fine print in the Burnsville District story, Maggie Wallner, their attorney and ‘our’ attorney is doing the RAS investigation, too. She charged Burnsville almost $30K to put them in the predicament they are in with the payout debacle for only 3 months of work. She has been doing our investigation for over 5 months. Duh! Winning!

@ Charlie

I do not think anyone ever speaks for an entire organization. Nor did I ever claim to – so I am not sure where you got it. Now, I did say I was on the board, in fact I am still serving. I have put in hundreds of volunteers hours every year for the past five years in serving on the board – A fact you can check as I actually used my real name, and by going to the RAYHA page, you can find my all of my information. I do not hide my identity when I comment on a story.

Your scenario never ever happened. Jeff Pauletti was never called before the RAYHA board. And if he actually did push a 12 yr old, do you believe that he would be allowed back on the ice? That is the craziest thing I have ever heard! When you get your information 3rd hand, it is often inaccurate, as is the case here. I can add that Jeff was at a hearing/meeting a couple years ago, but your scenario is wrong. I can say that because I was there that night. We did not have a Charlie present. You should apologize to Mr. Pauletti for your accusation.

You noted that someone brought up his “team's miserable record that year” which can only lead me to believe that you personally do not think much of Jeff Pauletti’s track record as a coach. Otherwise you would have listed the actual record. If you want to take a shot at him for his record, that is fine go ahead. People are absolutely free to discuss his record, X’s and O’s and playing style. But to make up a story like that is irresponsible.

I also ran out of characters.

I do not normally respond to anonymous criticism, but when the facts are so far from the truth, and Roseville being such a small community to leave the inaccuracies unaddressed would be a dis-service for Patch readers.

This is Jen Pauletti, the teenage drama queen. I fully admit I was moving around in my chair and my arms were in motion. I am an emotional person and was surprised I didn't get up and blurt something out from the disgusting accusation Sandy and Felicia were stating. I am asking for people that don't know these women or the other side of the story not to make premature judgments. Jeff has been told not to comment on any of this. This has been the hardest thing in this situation. The fact is, Felicia’s youngest son did not make either of the high school team’s this year, so - - - - has hit the fan. If she was so concerned with the "bullying" going on for years, why wasn’t this issue brought up last year when their middle son was on the varsity and getting a lot of ice time; and she actually came up to Jeff after the banquet and thanked him an stated he had a good time. Hmmm. All of the people, to my knowledge, who have had complaints have stemmed from playing time, being benched for discipline reasons, not lettering, etc. They can say it is bullying, but what is bullying to me, may be something totally different to you. I, myself have coached three different high school sports; a total of 12 years. I have never wanted to be head coach because of "crazy" parents.

We have three children involved in sports and I also have not been a perfect parent, it is hard when you think something should be different, but to go to the extent that some of these parents have gone is really unbelievable. There is no such thing as a perfect coach and it is unrealistic to think that everyone can be happy all the time on the same team. The accusation that "Charlie" made is completely false. I also don't respect the fact that a person can't stand behind their real name. Too many people hide behind anonymous names. Anyone can do that as many times as they want. I say "man" up. Again, don't make a judgment until you hear both sides and I assure most everyone may have a different opinion other than the ones the disgruntled minority have. In conclusion, yes David S, I may have been acting dramatic, in your opinion, but if you knew for a fact that someone was making false accusations, you too may have the teenage drama queen come out in you.

There is a lot of raw emotion here, folks. I understand how difficult this situation is. Let's be civil here and focus on the issue and be careful about name calling etc. It appears there are going to be plenty of questions until the school district concludes its investigation (if it hasn't already) and provides the public with a statement on what it has found out.

We all have our own opinion about the current situation based on rumors, not even the coach's wife was at practices or in the locker room or where ever else the alleged things happened. But some of us do have first hand experiences with this coach and mine, like Charlie's are overwhelmingly negative.

Mike Murphy says that people are free to talk about Pauletti's record and playing style - well that is not true according to coach Pauletti. My kid was told parents are not allowed to comment on his coaching style. Ridiculous - yes, but individual kids are called out in front of the team if the coach's wife or her relatives report hearing anything negative in the stands during games.

But I digress - I don't think at this point it's worth flooding the school board or Thein's office with our own personal stories or observations, but I do think they need to be pressed on winding this up. I hate to know how much the school has spent on legal fees. The school board has other stuff to work on - and an overhaul in the leadership at the athletic department at the high school would be a good place to start.

I think little Johnny,s mommy should have sighned him up for figure skating not hockey not everyone makes the team and you should not make the team because your last name or that your mommy thinks that you should. Work harder and earn it. Don,t blame the coaches that push kids to be better and earn what they get. Sit in the stands and cheer for the team and let the coaches coach.

I am the coach's mother, although not a helicopter mother as this generation seems to have spawned. Other than saying Jeff has never, at any time in his life, been a bully, I won't comment further on that subject, as it should be obvious how I feel. However, I do want to comment on the fact that Kevin Busch actually and arrogantly stared down Jeff's mother-in-law at that meeting. I can guarantee that that good woman has done nothing to deserve that kind of hostility. That act itself can be construed as bullying. I also have to wonder what kind of woman goes after ... let's see ... HOW many coaches is this now? Baseball? Youth hockey? Varsity hockey? This is all very sad.

I played hockey and baseball at Roseville. did you guys ever hear of the Rosetown Legion baseball coach (palmer) being fired last summer? guess who had that done? Ms. Busch and she herself has been a "bully" to other parents just ask around you will find a hand full of stories. Not everyone can make the team, and when results don't show for your children you shouldn't look and dig for reasons to get good quality coaches fired from our Sporting teams. I have never seen or heard of any bullying from coaches or players, this includes many current and former students. These coaches have been providing their players with important life skills and I would not be where i am today if it wasn't for my hockey coaches and my teammates.

Bullying is a serious issue, whether student to student, adult to student, teacher to student or coach to student. From the comments above some of you think it's a joke. Bullying is not throwing a garbage can or using bad language. A bully is very subtle in his or her actions and it is not typically a one time event. You should choose your words more wisely. Saying they should put on "their big boy pants." Speak to a parent who's child ended their life over being bullied and tell them their child should have put on their big boy/girl pants and see how that flies. A MN parent just lost a 13 year old child last week over being bullied. Shame on you and your comments.

Apparently the bullying message was lost on some, it was once again catapulted into a personal attack. Both sides of this issue are completely guilty of this! The coaches were not addressed as being bullies in my comments. The ignorant, uneducated comments about bullying on this site were adressed. I understand some are passionate about supporting the coaches, and others are passionate about their feelings about these coaches. I hope that none of you or your loved ones are ever affected by bullies. Only then will you understand the full impact. The only people who truly know what went on are the kids that say they are/were bullied and the coaches. Everything else is speculation. Everone keep up the mud slinging, or better yet, have some integrity and be an adult!

My Dad was a Hockey Coach for many years so I know it can be a thankless job. Often times you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. From everything that I've heard and read, Coach Jeff Pauletti was a good Coach and a stand up guy. Kids start out just wanting to play the game of Hockey but all too often it's the parents that step in and ruin it for everybody else."

This is not about bullying, This is about a mother who's child got cut from a sports team, and a mother, who almost every damn roseville parent could tell you, has a history of stirring the pot and making sure her children make every team, and play every minute or inning. This is all a damn shame if you ask me. Its sad to see what this world is coming to, and that such extremes can happen, and that people can ruin a whole sports program if their child doesn't make a team.