Accusations and a demands for a Board of Education president’s resignation marred an otherwise productive Downers Grove Grade School District 58 meeting.

Amid the harsh words, a superintendent was secured firmly in place and a $58.9 million budget was unanimously approved at the Monday night meeting.

School Board member Scott O’Connell asked President Elizabeth Davis to step down from her position, claiming she violated her oath of office by refusing to perform administrative duty to sign a board approved resolution for life-safety bonds to repair several school roofs. Davis’ refusal was a legal maneuver that allowed the district to move forward with issuing the bonds.

The district’s bond counsel, Chapman and Cutler, would not offer its legal opinion on the bonds because O’Connell had threatened to file an injunction on the bond issuance earlier this year. The district ended up suing Davis — and plans to reimburse her for her legal costs — to take the issue to court and eventually certify the process.

O’Connell cited school codes that indicated if the president is absent from any meeting or refused to perform his or her duty, a president pro-tempore would be appointed. He said he did not think there was “wiggle room.”

“I respectfully request that you relinquish your chair as president,” O’Connell said.

Member Tom Cunningham disagreed with O’Connell’s request.

“I don’t think it applies, Scott,” Cunningham said. “I don’t think you have the slightest idea what you’re talking about. That statute does not apply to her ability to decide at this meeting or this budget hearing. It has to do with whether the board president refuses to act in certain duties, then the vice president has to.”

Davis asked if any other board members believed she should step down —none did.

“We’ve spent so much time and money, every time (O’Connell) comes in here waving a statute or a case, playing lawyer saying, ‘I’ve read this case, I’ve read this statute, you can’t do this,’ we got off and spend tens of thousands of dollars on lawyers,” Cunningham said.

“That’s tens of thousands of dollars that ought to be educating children, not paying lawyers,” Cunningham said to the applause of attendees.

School Board member  Stephen Funk said that because of the impending lawsuit, the board has already spent about $100,000 in legal fees.

Later in the meeting, it was announced Paul Zaander, the interim superintendent, will be staying in his position on a permanent basis.

Davis announced the decision, and said the board took many things under consideration including the cost of a superintendent search.

“Number 1, that money can be spent elsewhere, and number two, why spend it when we know what we have?” Davis said.

Zaander was appointed as interim superintendent after former superintendent Dale Martin left at the end of the last academic school year.

The board also approved its $58.9 million budget unanimously. According to the budget, the school is expecting $56.1 million in revenues.