East Cleveland Library Board fires executive director Sheba Marcus-Bey in alleged violation of the sunshine law, without any hearing or written charges in a split 4 to 3 vote along gender lines, women board members furious, say 4 male board members that voted for termination, namely William Fambrough, Charles E. Bib Sr., Devin Branch and Edward Parker, are 'ego tripping,' complaint filed for Ohio attorney general opinion, county prosecutor Tim McGinty asked for a legal opinion by women board members on whether termination violates the law, women board members demand reinstatement

East Cleveland Public Library Executive Director Sheba Marcus -Bey (right) at
a Christmas celebration last year at the library before its Board of Trustees terminated her contract without written charges, a hearing, or an opportunity to be heard, an action that might prove illegal also because it  occurred at a special meeting Monday night that allegedly violated the Ohio Sunshine Law on public meetings in Ohio. The termination has erupted into a war between the four male board members that voted for the termination and the three women members that opposed the firing and say that they were caught off guard.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, Publisher, Editor-n-Chief,

Cleveland Urban News. Com and The Cleveland Urban News.Com Blog,

Ohio's Most Read Online Black Newspaper and Newspaper Blog 

Kathy Wray Coleman is  a community activist and 20 year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper, Ohio's Black press with print newspapers in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio.  (www.clevelandurbannews.com) and  (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com).

EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio -The East Cleveland Public Library Board of Trustees, in a split four to three vote divided along gender lines, voted at a special meeting on Monday, one scheduled by email to board members on Friday, to fire executive director Sheba Marcus-Bey from her $105,000 a year job  just seven months into her tenure there.

President William Fambrough, Vice President Charles E. Bibb Sr.,  Edward Parker and Devin Branch voted to terminate Marcus Bey's contract. 

Board members Dr. Mary Rice, Leontine Synor and Terra Turner voted no, all three women expressing outrage with what Rice and Synor called an illegal termination without any written charges, an opportunity to be heard,  or what they say was a lack of an explanation even to them. All seven of the board members are Black.

And if men are from Mars  and women are from Venus it showed at Monday's meeting where Marcus-Bey was told she could not speak, and when she tried to address the body Branch, a community activist, allegedly demanded that the police be called.

"They terminated her without any information, charges, or a complaint," said Rice, a retired Cleveland schools administrator who last worked as principal of John F. Kennedy High School.

Synor, who is self employed and holds a bachelor's degree in business administration and a master's in science organization from Case Western Reserve University, said that her male colleagues are "ego tripping and a fifth grade class of students could have made a more intelligent and intuitive decision."

Synor said that she has filed a complaint in the matter seeking an opinion by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and that Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty, whose office represents the library board in legal matters under state law, has been consulted for an assessment of whether the termination is legal. And that is unlikely, according to the Ohio Sunshine Law, which requires that the media be notified at least 24 hours before a special board

meeting, a requirement that Fabrough ignored and that his three male comrades allegedly disregarded too.

Marcus-Bey, who is Black and female and a member of a protected class under the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution, said she is stunned that she has been denied a hearing and any written charges relative to the potentially stigmatizing termination.

"I was told on Friday that a motion to terminate me would be on the agenda at a special meeting on Monday and I was not allowed to speak at the meeting," said Marcus-Bey

, who attended with her attorney, who also did not get to speak to the public policy making body, one independent of the Cuyahoga County Library System.

Parker allegedly scheduled a secret meeting on the termination a week and a half ago and excluded the female board members, sources say. 

Synor told Cleveland Urban News.Com that she wants Marcus-Bey "reinstated."

The seven-member board seats are for terms of seven years and its members are appointed to the no- pay job  by the East Cleveland Board of Education, which is led by Una H.R. Kennon, a former Cleveland Municipal Court judge and current president of the Black Women's Political Action Committee of greater Cleveland.

Many members of  the Black women's pac attended Monday's meeting in support of Marcus-Bey, who holds two master's degrees, one in library science. 

Kennon attended Monday's meeting too, but did not speak.

Marcus-Bey worked for the Cleveland Public Library for 13 years before getting hired in East Cleveland and has been replaced with interim executive director Monisa Ramseur.

Fambrough has had trouble with other women professionals, a Cleveland Urban News.Com investigation reveals.

Rose Garden, a former executive director, and Aja Darden, then an employee in the office of finance at the library, 

, both sought protection orders against Fambrough in October 2012.

The complaints were dismissed in 2012 by since retired Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge Richard McMonagle, but last month the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals vacated the dismissals and reinstated both cases. 

East Cleveland is a largely Black impoverished suburb of Cleveland with a population of some 18,000 people. It's per-capita income is slightly below $15,000.    
  (www.clevelandurbannews.com) and  (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com).