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Update: Board ousts Burleson

Jennifer Frew | The News Herald

David and Beth Burleson stand silhouetted in the hallway of the Staff Development Center during a school board meeting recess on Tuesday, prior to the board voting in open session on the buyout of Superintendent Burleson's contract.

Burke County School Board Controversy

More articles about the Burke County School Board Controversy

By Steve Welker | The News Herald

Published: June 30, 2009

Morganton, NC - School Superintendent David Burleson's 27-year career with the Burke County Public Schools ended Tuesday when the board of education voted 4-2 to accept his resignation.
Board Chair Tracy Norman said the board's decision means July 1 will bring "the dawn of a new day, a new day for our students," and Vice-Chair Tim Buff said he looks forward to the progress the district will make.
The board also filled its vacant Western District seat on Tuesday. It elected Nebo businessman John Aulgur on a 3-2 vote with one member, Rob Hairfield, abstaining.
Aulgur promptly seconded a motion for the first time as a board member and joined the 5-1 majority in promoting Associate Superintendent Rick Sherrill to acting superintendent, effective today.
The board's main item of business was Burleson's contract, but it took more than three hours — interrupted by a 90-minute closed session while members went over legal issues with its attorneys — for the board to get to the climactic moment.
The five-hour-long meeting at the Staff Development Center on West Concord Street sometimes grew much hotter than the 80 degrees indicated on the thermostat. The board majority seemed to have few supporters among people who nearly filled the 275-seat Olive Hill Room at the meeting's outset. All but one of the 17 speakers in the public-comments period criticized the board.
By the time the board turned to the matter of Burleson's contract, at 2:37 p.m., citizens occupied every seat and more than 50 stood around the room.
Buff caught people by surprise when he moved to accept Burleson's resignation and the accompanying settlement agreement. Hairfield seconded the motion.
Loud protests drowned out Norman when she asked whether there was any discussion. Hearing none, she swiftly called for the vote.
Wilkinson angrily interrupted her.
"We're going to have a discussion," he said, "and don't tell me I've got three minutes" — a reference to the three-minute limit on individuals' public comments earlier in the meeting.
Wilkinson talked fondly about his long association with Burleson, but then lashed out at Norman, Buff, Hairfield and Karen Sain.
"You can lynch people," Wilkinson said, "but you can't make the memory of what they've done go away."
He said what they did to Burleson was "a travesty" and accused the board majority of irresponsible acts."
Wilkinson's remarks brought the crowd to its feet. People shouted, "Why?" and, "This is our school system. You work for us."
Norman tried again — as she did repeatedly during the meeting — to stop the interruptions, applause and disruption.
"I'm asking for no more outbursts," she said.
"Then resign!" someone shouted.
Armour, too, praised Burleson and criticized the board majority. He said they have developed a statewide reputation for doing "the stupidest things," and continued, "They seem to want to keep on going down that road."
There was another testy exchange between Norman and the crowd.
"Miss Norman, give us a reason," one woman pleaded.
With no further discussion, the board voted 4-2 to approve the motion, effective June 30, 2009, Burleson's last day as an employee of the district where he has been a teacher, assistant principal and principal, associate superintendent and, since June 29, 2000, its superintendent.
Though the motion described the action as accepting Burleson's resignation, he later made it clear that the board exercised its legal right under N.C. General Statute 115C-271(d) —what's commonly described as the buy-out provision.
Special counsel Richard Schwartz later said the board will pay Burleson $125,000 for the remaining nine months and one week of his contract. Schwartz said Burleson will receive additional state compensation for the vacation days and bonus leave he earned during 2008-09.
Schwartz said the board has until July 10 to notify the State Board of Education about the source of funds for the buyout. He said the board has the money, but did not elaborate on where it will draw funds from what Finance Officer Keith Lawson has described as an exceptionally lean budget.
Shortly before the meeting ended at 4:40 p.m., Norman invited Burleson to speak.
Burleson said that although he made some controversial decisions during his career —as would any person in such a position — he always did what he thought was best for the children. He said he's proud of the district's achievements during his tenure, among them reducing the dropout rate, raising the average SAT scores and similar measures of achievement. He said the county now has "lots of things to come together on." And he encouraged everyone to focus on the county's children and their needs.
The 100 or so people remaining — many others left during a second, 75-minute-long closed session for personnel discussions — gave Burleson a standing ovation.
After the meeting, Norman said, "The Burke County Board of Education is moving forward. July 1 marks the dawn of a new day, a new day for our students."
She said the board in the past year placed a new administration in positions that focus on student achievement "and I look for the focus of this school system to be on student achievement."
Norman, who became the board's chair during 2008-09, continued, "We're very thankful for the progress we hope we've made this year. We've had some real clear-cut directions this year to our principals with the addition of new administration that came on board and we think that's going to show us a result in our test scores."
She continued, "I think you'll see composite numbers up. I think we still need to look at subgroups, because it's easy to look at composite numbers and say we're doing much better, but I look for the composite numbers to be up and I think there's several factors that will contribute. I think one is having a new administration in place this past year that gave real clear directions to local schools administrations on what was required and expected.... There are many factors that will play into student achievement being up, at least on test scores. What I want to see is I want to see that applied functionally in the life of a child now."
Buff said, "I'm excited about the progress that we're going to achieve and move forward. I really feel like today marks the beginning of actually putting the public back in the public school system. And I'm looking forward to that."