Wayne Board of Education Trustee Causes Childish Scene at Meeting
The Wayne Board of Education held its final meeting of 2024 in the Wayne Council Chambers a few days ago. It came with a lot of added drama that has been boiling over for the past few months.
Ryan Battershill, first elected in 2022, has been the face of drama surrounding the Wayne BOE. Battershill stopped attending live meetings in early summer which stems from him accusing outgoing board member Iveta Wentink of “flirting” with him. In his latest stunt, Battershill chose to sit in the audience rather than with his fellow trustees.
“You cannot just sit in the audience as a member of the public,” Geppert said. “To exercise your rights as a board member, you would need to act as all the other board members, and take your place at the dais and participate in the discussions and the votes as occurs.”
Battershill got into it with Geppert, which led to BOE President Don Pavlak, the longest-tenured BOE Trustee in Wayne, to slam his gavel. Pavlak gave Battershill an ultimatum to either continue to sit in the audience or come and participate with the rest of the board. Battershill refused at first, but when Wayne Resident Janine Martucci spoke out against him, Battershill took his seat with the rest of the board. Then, BOE Vice Chair Harry Prassakos motioned a vote of no confidence against Battershill.
“It's unfortunate, but I'd like to take a vote of no confidence,” said Prassakos. “Based on the recent actions and statements that have compromised the board, I’d like to take a vote of no confidence on Ryan Battershill.”
Trustee Ryan Paul seconded the motion passing 7-1-1 with Battershill voting no and Matt Giordano abstaining.
At the end of the meeting, when the board members had their chance to speak, Battershill then started to go on an emotional tirade listing items that he felt the Board did wrong by attacking his fellow board members. Geppert pleaded with him again.
“You have a potential problem with an ethical violation by attempting to compromise the board,” he said. “I've been very lenient in listening to you state facts and information, but I believe you're crossing the line at this point and are compromising the board with your most recent comments. I would caution you again to stick to facts and to stick to information and not attack this board.”
While Battershill defended his actions, Both Trustees Mark Faber and Wendy Limandri spoke out. Faber’s comments were made directly at Battershill. Saying what he just heard from Battershill was “a lot of me, me, me, me.”
“So, he’s the savior, and we’re all the people who are messing everything up,” said Faber sarcastically. “It's long past time that this gets put to bed, and we focus on the things that need to be focused on instead of seeing attacks everywhere. Because nobody seems to want to buy the story that he keeps trying to sell.”
Limandri commented on the Battershill tirade, saying it was “sad” and “being embroiled in this situation has been costly, hurtful and very unproductive in every way.” She then had a message for having hope in 2025:
“It is my hope that we, as a board, move forward, focused respectfully to our duties as elected officials, working together during a time of critical decision-making and required collaboration.”
Earlier this month, Battershill spoke out against his fellow board members at a council meeting, while opting to not attend a special BOE meeting regarding Wayne’s new superintendent search with Dr. Mark Toback retiring after eleven years on the job.
This past September, Battershill’s wife, Jennifer, threatened to sue the entire Wayne School Board claiming her 1st amendment rights were violated.
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