What is going on with the School Board? | Eastern North Carolina Now

By:  Ray Leary

What is going on here?

There is no denying that since three new school board members were seated on the Beaufort County School Board in December 2022, there have been some internecine disagreements on how the board should function.

During the election season of the spring and fall of 2022, the new candidates emphasized the school proficiency scores published by the NC Department of Public Instruction. For Beaufort County, the scores revealed that eight (8) of the 13 schools received a failing grade of ‘D’ with a corresponding number grade in the 40-54 range.

The differences of opinion surfaced during the selection and attempted approval of a new social studies curriculum. The curriculum recommended by the selection committee provoked considerable angst among some board members and the public when information was revealed by the new board members that the SAVVAS curriculum was advertised as containing Critical Race Theory and Social Emotional Learning principles. Seeing the public’s opposition as evidenced by over 100 citizens attending the meeting at which the curriculum was to be adopted, coupled with several opponents making public comments in opposition, there was no vote taken and the social studies curriculum has not resurfaced.

The synopsis and timeline below outlines discussions made after several board members expressed criticism over what they believed one or more of the new board members had violated a policy which states that no one board member acting alone does not represent the entire board. This was an unfortunate misunderstanding of a communication by one of the new board members to Representative Keith Kidwell.

April 20, 2023 – Passes motion to limit activities of board members requiring board members be notified prior to any member speaking to anyone in Raleigh. The motion on May 20, 2023 as stated during the April 20 meeting and recorded in the meeting minutes-

“that no member of this Board send any issue to any legislator or anybody in Raleigh without the full Board having knowledge of it.”

The minutes presented for approval on May 25, 203 indicated this motion passed with a unanimous vote.

April 25, 2023 – The Board attempts to approve the April 20, 2023 minutes.  Charles Hickman reported he voted NO and asked for the minutes to be amended. Board member Shreve said he did not vote for or against the motion. Since he was present and did not vote for or against, his vote was counted for the prevailing position. The approval of the April 20 minutes was deferred until May 5, 2023.

May 5, 2023 – Approved April 20, 2023, minutes with Hickman’s no vote recorded

(Please note there were eight school board meetings between April 20 and August 1, 2023. The minutes of four of these meetings were not timely posted on the BCS website)

August 2, 2023 – Ray Leary requested public records of the April 20, 2023 minutes which were not posted on the BCS website as of August 1, 2023

August 14, 2023 – Minutes were posted on the BCS web site with the verbatim motion made by school board member Eltha Booth. This was one day prior to the August 15, 2023 regular board meeting.

August 15, 2023 – At the regularly scheduled Board meeting, Ray Leary presented public comments on the delayed posting of the minutes.

August 28, 2023 – Board member Hickman requested an item on the September 5, 2023 meeting to rescind the April 20, 2023 motion

August 31, 2023 – The Education Committee, representing the Beaufort County Conservative Club, met and advised board members how to present the motion to rescind the 4/20/23 motion.

September 1, 2023 – Chairman TW Allen placed a ‘no action’ discussion of Policy Code 2122 on the September 5, 2023 meeting agenda. No further information.

September 5, 2023 – School board work session with Agenda Item 4.5, Discussion of Policy Code 2122:

The Chairman asked Charles Hickman to explain what he was seeking under this item. Charles explained he did not ask for a discussion of Policy 2122, rather he asked for an agenda item to make a motion to rescind the errant motion of April 20. He noted the Board Policy 2340 – Parliamentary Procedures, section 8-L allowed for such a procedural motion. After several minutes of discussion this led to Terry Williams making a motion to make this 4.5 agenda item for discussion to an actionable agenda item. The motion passed.

Charles Hickman made the motion to rescind the motion of April 20, 2023. The motion was seconded and passed by an 8-1 vote. The April 20, 2023 motion was rescinded and will be so noted in the minutes.

The video of this interaction at the September 5, 2023 board meeting is presented below.

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Editor’s comment:  This School Board reminds us of Plato’s “Allegory of The Cave.”  ChatGPT  returns:  “Plato describes a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all their lives, facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall from objects passing in front of a fire behind them and give names to these shadows. The shadows are the prisoners’ reality, but are not accurate representations of the real world¹

And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if the prisoners are released and disabused of their error. At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will have pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows; and then conceive some one saying to him, that what he saw before was an illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision, —what will be his reply? And you may further imagine that his instructor is pointing to the objects as they pass and requiring him to name them, —will he not be perplexed? Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are now shown to him? ” — From Book VII of Plato’s Republic, 380 BC