Citizen brings conflict of interest complaint on board candidate to BC School Board | Eastern NC Now

A citizen appeared for public comment at the school board meeting Monday evening to raise an issue that he argued was a conflict of interest concerning one of the two retired teachers who were nominated in the recent primary.  He observed that one of those retired teachers now works for a local charter school, apparently as an assistant principal there, which is in competition with the Beaufort County Schools.

He pointed out that charter schools compete with the public schools for students, and when a student moves from the public schools to a charter school, it gives more money to the charter school, and decreases the money the state provides to the public schools  It also impacts teacher allotments to the public schools.  The two types of schools are in competition for lots of other things, too, like qualified teachers.  The question was raised as to how such a person could be loyal both to her employer and to the public system on whose board she would be elected to serve?

School teachers were behind too candidates who defeated two conservative incumbents in the GOP primary for the school board.   That background would make them poor representatives of the citizens since their insider background in the school system would predispose them to favor the public school establishment over the actual public.  However, this allegations raises the issue of conflict of interest to a whole new level.