More panic at the School Board--Revised | Eastern NC Now
It is time for a change. Continuing to re-elect the same people will give us the same poor results in our school system
By: Observer Editorial Team
The Superintendent of Schools has had a busy week. He spent a lot of it telling Stacey Davis, candidate for District 5 School Board, that she had violated some laws having to do with trademark infringement and demanding that she take down her campaign signs by Friday October 4 at 5:00 PM or otherwise cover up the use of the letters “BCS” (Beaufort County Schools) on her campaign signs. The Big Cheese presented the matter to the School Board in a closed session conference call with the Board Attorney. The Board, based on the Big Cheese’s knowledge and advice backed up by his high-priced Raleigh Lawyer, had the lawyer send (on October 2) a threatening letter to Stacey demanding that she do their bidding.
Stacey Davis responded to the October 2nd demands contending that she had done nothing wrong in using the public logo “BCS” to identify and inform the public about the board seat she is running for. There is some question as to whether or not the logo is protected to the point that she cannot use it. There are other legal principles that allow the use of protected logos, symbols and creative items. Beyond the legal nitty gritty it would seem that a candidate for a seat on the school board has as much right to use the logo as does anyone else. One might argue that the logo belongs to the taxpayers as much as it does to anyone.
We have checked and could not find a rendering of the logo with the required restriction (i.e. ™ , ® , and ©) Nor could we find any policy in the School Board Policies that referenced directly or even indirectly who could make use of the logo and what restrictions there are on its use or how permission is obtained. If there was a violation, we challenge the attorney and the superintendent to provide us citations (statutory or judicial precedent) of such prohibition(s). Again, Ms. Davis is running to be on the governing board of this school system. Restricting her campaign strategies would seem to present a shield of "protection of 'Fair Use.” Moreover, it would seem to us that the public has a protected interest in knowing which school board any candidate is running for. There are several "school boards" (public and private) in the county. Seems to us to be a stretch to seek to protect that information being in a political campaign. Finally, one legal authority noted that absent a showing of a history of enforcement of any trademark there would be a question about whether it had been properly registered and protected by uniform enforcement and thus not in the public domain.
The Big Cheese has conveniently reinforced one of the reasons why Stacey Davis is running for the School Board. She believes the focus should be on the students and how well they are learning.
Surely, there are more important things for the Big Cheese to be concerned about than a logo on a school board candidate's yard signs! More important, such as improving student performance by all of our students in all of our schools.
Mac Hodges, Stacey Davis’s opponent, has been a loyal voter for the Big Cheese. Hodges misses a lot of meetings, https://www.uticvirtual.edu.py/revista.recide/ but he always shows up when the Big Cheese needs his “yes” vote. The majority of the Board votes the way the Big Cheese tells them. That is why there is such chaos in the school system. The Big Cheese sets the policy about discipline, bulling, teaching cursive writing, modern math and all of those things that are causing much distress among teachers, parents and those who want all children to be educated.
To our knowledge there has not been a practice of holding public hearings on such decisions to allow the public to offer input before such decisions affecting their children have been made.
Anyone who has spent much time watching the School Board meetings on TV knows that Hodges is not exactly a prolific contributor to resolving the issues this board faces. Actually, it is hard to tell if he is awake during many of the meetings. One would think he would have something to offer if he is going to cash his check each month.
It is not the School Board that has panicked. It is the Big Cheese. A movement was started three years ago to remove liberal school board members who make little contribution to the education process but always voted the way the Big Cheese wanted. Two individuals who are capable of thinking for themselves were elected two years ago. Five of the nine seats are up for election during November of this year. Incumbent and Big Cheese loyalist, Carolyn Walker won her primary election by 17 votes this Spring. There are four Republicans opposing four other incumbents in the November elections. If three of the four get elected there will be a major shift toward school board members who can think for themselves. This would cause a major change in education in Beaufort County. The Big Cheese would no longer be able to keep forcing liberal education on us. So realizing this it is easy to see why the Big Cheese is so upset at the prospect of Davis replacing Hodges.
Cheeseman’s behavior this week calls his commonsense judgment into question. For one thing, how much damage could be done to education should he be 100 percent correct? Will the use of “BCS” in letters 3 inches high on yard signs influence anyone to do anything, whether good or bad or indifferent? Certainly, the Big Cheese has more important things to do than this.
The Big Cheese should consider just how https://attendance.rpi.gov.bd/ smart it is to threaten to bring a lawsuit against someone who, if elected, will be one of your bosses. Yes, contrary to what the Big Cheese would have us believe, the School Board is his boss, his employer. Stacey Davis will have one vote out of nine in determining whether to keep him employed. But, only five votes are required to fire him.
The Big Cheese is interfering in an election, and he is a public employee who will personally gain or lose depending on who is elected. There are laws against that. If the Big Cheese is 100 percent correct, is the issue important enough to justify this level of interference?
We believe the big Cheese is trying to dirty up Stacey Davis so his yes-man, Mac Hodges, will be re-elected.
Then there are some ethical considerations for Mac Hodges. Where is he in supporting the Big Cheese’s questionable behavior? Mac should have put a stop to this nonsense when Cheeseman first contacted him. If he had confidence that he has done such a good job he need not worry about three-inch high letters on a yard sign.
There are a lot of other politics going on. The Tharrington and Smith lawyer is the Chairman of the Durham County Democrat Party, elected during April of 2023, according to the Durham County Democrat Party website. Stacey Davis is a Republican. Some people are concerned about the Big Cheese needing such a high powered/expensive law firm for Beaufort County Schools. For many years the school system used local attorneys. The Big Cheese moved the law work out of the County. Did he really need to pay this high-priced attorney to write a letter to try to protect Mac Hodges?
The Big Cheese is no stranger to political intrigue. Fake Frankie Waters argued at one time that the school budget should be reduced because the number of students was decreasing every year. Then, suddenly, Fake Frankie became fast friends with the Big Cheese. The Big Cheese, in cooperation with Fake Frankie took the school system’s computer business away from Stan Deatherage and gave it to another company at a higher cost to the school system. Since then, Fake Frankie and the Big Cheese have been the best of friends. Fake Frankie maneuvered the Board of Commissioners so the Big Cheese has total control of the 52 million dollars to build the consolidated monster elementary school. Ethics, Ethics, Ethics.
The School Board issue is about the future education of our children and our children’s children. Teaching Christian ethics, logical mathematics, the Constitution, cursive writing, and accurate history will help preserve our American heritage. Teaching LGBT, sexual orientation, false history, illogical mathematics and communist doctrine will produce people who can only follow orders, not sort out the good from the bad.
The situations discussed herein would not happen if we had a strong school board and an equally strong Board of County Commissioners. That is, individuals who are ethically grounded and are willing to carry out the duties for which they were elected. The majority of both boards have formed mutual admiration clubs whose goal is self-preservation. The November elections provide the opportunity to remove weak incumbents who fail to act in the public interest and give someone else the opportunity to focus on the actual important things.
Hood Richardson and Tandy Dunn are conservatives who are hard to push around. We believe Stacey Davis, David Hudson, Malissa Polk and Daniel Hudson will have the same backbone on the School Board. Michelle Morrow is a good choice for State Superintendent of Schools.
If we continue with the same people in power we will get the same mediocrity we have always gotten. There is no better example of this than Mac Hodges. If you bump into him on the campaign trail ask him to list for you what he has accomplished as the longest serving school board member. Even more, ask him if he is satisfied with the level of performance of the school system since he has been on the board. Nuff said…except, it is time for a change.
Update: Davis has since responded to Cheeseman's demands:
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Both of these people are in positions that they are not supposed to be involved in politics, but they ARE. That is election interference, and they both need their walking papers. Cheeseman recommended a leftwing Democrat political hack from halfway across the state as our school board attorney and that speaks volumes. The sad thing is that Cheeseman has sock puppets on the school board who are nominally "Republican" like T.W. Allen who just follow Cheeseamn's order and rubberstamp such things.
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Why not? To do nothing is to invite MAGA crazy.
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It appears that the Superintendent and the Democrat activist Board Attorney are working for the re-election of the incumbent Democrat board member. If there is something else going on, why are they so reluctant to be transparent? Getting the school system involved in election campaigns is not very appropriate.
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October 8, 2024 --The following Sun Shine request was emailed to mcheeseman@beaufort.k12.nc.us:
It is our understanding that a meeting of the Board of Education was held recently in which more than a majority of board members was present and the topic of the meeting was, inter alia, a discussion of campaign material used by board candidate Stacy Davis that led to a letter being sent to Ms. Davis. Please accept this as a formal request for: A copy of the minutes of that meeting A copy of the Notice of Meeting (none was received by the Beaufort Observer despite the fact that we have made a previous request to receive all media notices.) A statement of why the media was not notified of the meeting as required by law. A copy of any correspondence originating from the meeting, specifically any correspondence to Ms. Davis concerning her campaign for a Board of Education seat (District 5). Your immediate response would be appreciated. Delma Blinson, Editor Beaufort Observer As of October 21, 2024 we have received NO RESPONSE. |
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This would seem to be the second example of election interference by Cheeseman in this year's school board election. Some months ago he was wrapped up in fake claims that a fund raising letter for conservative school board candidates was somehow to be construed as coming from the school system. Among recipients of that letter, only a moron would interpret it that way, and only a manipulator would have then claimed anyone thought that. Cheeseman needs to keep his stinking fingers out of our elections.
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Cheeseman is a control freak. We have already lost too many good teachers who could not put up with that. But the ultimate thing he wants to control is his boss, the school board. Mac Hodges is a yes-man, a total flunky of Cheeseman, and Dheeseman desperately wants to see Hodges remain in office so he can control the school board. Eltha Booth and T.W. Allen are his other sock puppets who are running this year.
Citizens and taxpayers do NOT need a bureaucrat like Cheeseman controlling our elected policymakers. It is the board that is supposed to be in charge, not Cheeseman, but as long as he has his flunkies in a majority on the board, he is the one who controls things. Voters need to change that by rejecting Hodges, Booth, and Allen. This was election interference by Cheeseman and an absue of his office. The new school board, if citizen-representatives attain a majority should NOT tolerate that. |
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The BCS logo is a possession of Beaufort County Schools.
Beaufort County Schools is an education system funded by the taxpaying citizens of the county, who elect for themselves representatives to operate it. The logo itself whether purchased by the school system or created in house, would appear to me to be public property. I wouldn’t figure grown adults to behave so petty but I guess they do. Actually the more I think about it, the less it makes sense to me. There are two scenarios for this situation: #1. Cheeseman is more ridiculous then we already knew and as opposition is growing, he is exposing himself as not really having any concern for his duty or the education of children. As if he doesn’t have a thousand more important responsibilities that should require his focus. He is getting whispers in the ear from seedy lawyers with agendas that have nothing to do with the well being of our county. If this is what we can come to expect from that dynamic duo, then the show is just beginning. #2 Stacy Davis is running as a conservative while claiming to embrace techno-globalization. Isn’t that an oxymoron? Could this be a staged feud between herself and the superintendent? So that to the voter, they may seem at odds, in order to garner more support from conservatives. If so, top notch double agent marketing scheme. I only say this because the grievance is so bizarre, it can’t be for real. (PS: I do not intend to make false accusations. Scenario #2 was described under the veil of sarcasm to make a point.) |
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This election interference by Cheeseman was cleverly timed to hit at a time when candidates would have lots of balls in the air and could least afford unnecessary distractions. The signs had been out for weeks, but Cheeseman waited until he could maximize the disruption of the campaign by forcing her to take attention away from the things she should have been doing. Will Cheeseman's political ploy hurt her campaign? Unquestionably it will, but she is likely to win anyway. She can never get the time back that she had to waste on Cheeseman's political gambit.
One very troubling aspect is that Cheeseman apparently never disclosed the fact that the attorney he brought into this political campaign matter is the chairman of the Durham County Democratic Party, and he was being brought in against the Republican nominee in a partisan race. Even a blind man should see the potential conflict of interest there, and it reflects on the objectivity and credibility of an attorney wearing those two hats simultaneously. Cheeseman should have disclosed that and the attorney should have disclosed it. Indeed, Cheeseman should have disclosed that to the school board when he first recommended to the school board the hiring of this Durham attorney.