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School board chair calls 9-1-1

Jennifer Frew | The News Herald

A crowd exceeding room capacity was in attendance for Tuesday's Burke County Board of Education meeting at Central Office on Parker Rd. Many audience members held signs calling for four board members, an assistant superintendent and school board special counsel to resign.

Burke County School Board Controversy

More articles about the Burke County School Board Controversy

By Steve Welker | The News Herald

Published: May 26, 2009

MORGANTON - Six police officers answered an emergency 9-1-1 call Monday from the Burke County schools' administrative office.
School Board Chair Tracy Norman made the call after she realized no officers stood between her and a crowd of nearly 200 very vocal citizens.
The meeting's first six minutes — including a confrontation between Associate Superintendent Rick Sherrill and one audience member — made dramatic video for the 6 o'clock news.
However, most of the three-hour-long meeting (including a 30-minute recess and a 90-minute closed session) was quiet and orderly after police enforced the fire code's 85-person occupancy limit and two-thirds of the crowd left.
The crowd arrived well before the school board. They filled every one of about 65 seats, 50 stood along the walls and dozens more were in the lobby, trying to look inside.
Applause greeted board members Sam Wilkinson and Buddy Armour, Superintendent David Burleson and even school secretary Sue Lowdermilk.
Norman called the special meeting to order at 1:21 p.m., about 20 minutes later than scheduled because bad weather delayed special counsel Richard Schwartz's arrival.
She invited Burleson to speak. He urged the crowd to be respectful and let the board conduct its business.
Norman then asked for approval of the agenda.
Armour quickly proposed amending it to adjourn the meeting for 48 hours so the board could move to a larger venue that would accommodate the overflow people.
Sam Wilkinson seconded the motion. It failed 2-4.
The same 4-2 split — with Norman, Tim Buff, Karen Sain and Rob Hairfield in the majority — occurred so often during the meeting that eventually, as fast as Norman called for a vote, the crowd loudly murmured, "4-2, 4-2."
Wilkinson next began questioning why so many items were on the agenda for a special meeting.
The board chair usually calls special meetings to deal with one or two topics.
Wilkinson said it looked like the special agenda contained most of action and discussion items for the board's regular June 8 meeting.
Sherrill, standing to one side, suddenly broke in.
"Can we remove this lady right here?" he said, indicating a woman holding a sign in the front row.
"For what?" someone asked.
"She's not doing anything," several said.
"For interrupting the meeting," Sherrill declared. And then he said something that sounded like — it was hard to hear as the crowd erupted in noisy protests — "I'll take her out."
"I'll take you out," Angela Lail responded angrily. "In the hallway. C'mon!"
Sherrill started dialing his cell phone, but Howard Baker and others in the audience tried to get people to calm down and not disrupt the meeting.
"Sir," Norman interrupted him, "I'm sorry, you don't have the floor."
"He's trying to help you!" a woman pleaded.
"I'm sorry," Norman said, dialing 9-1-1 on her own cell phone and pressing it to her ear. "This is Tracy Norman. I'm at the Burke County Board of Education. We need an officer, please."
After exchanging a few more words with a Morganton Public Safety dispatcher, Norman at 1:26 p.m. recessed the meeting.
The first of six uniformed officers arrived moments later. After consulting with a representative of the fire marshal's office, they cleared the room of everyone who didn't have a seat and all but a handful of people who were allowed to stand.
Capt. Mark Bradshaw, who normally represents Morganton Public Safety at the school board meetings, said he wasn't there earlier because no one notified his office of the special meeting (the official notice was sent at 9:14 a.m. Saturday).
The school board's special called meetings usually attract audiences of no more than 25 people and often don't have a uniformed officer in attendance.
After the police cleared much of the crowd, who left peaceably, the board reconvened at 2 o'clock.
Wilkinson again asked why so many items were on the agenda.
Schwartz explained that although many of the items weren't necessarily under a deadline, several actions might have an effect on pending court cases.
Before members went into closed session to discuss four lawsuits filed against the school board since May 1, Wilkinson suggested the board should start making audio recordings of its closed sessions. The board will discuss that suggestion at its June 8 meeting.
After conferring with Schwartz for about 90 minutes, the board resumed its open meeting. They formally voted to extend the terms of their agreement with Schwartz to represent the board not only in the four lawsuits, but also in relations with the schools' accrediting council and with the North Carolina School Boards Association's search for a new superintendent.
Jon Jones, the school district's attorney, said most of Schwartz's fees for defending the school board will be covered by the board's insurance.
Schwartz's fees for other services may not be, Jones said.
Jones also reported on the schools' response to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools' Council on Accreditation and School Improvement. He said the letter would go out on or by Tuesday and reassured the board there will be no consequences for missing a deadline by one or two days. (The News Herald will publish the schools' response on its Web site, Morganton.com.)
The board received its annual audit and asked for a presentation by its auditors, which probably will occur at the June 8 meeting.
Schwartz briefed the board on a timetable and procedures for its search for a permanent superintendent. If the board follows his suggested a schedule, a new superintendent will be named on or close to Aug. 17.
The board will pay the N.C. School Boards Association $8,500 plus costs for conducting the search. The position will be advertised in North and South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee and on the American Association of School Administrators' Web site at a cost of $449 for 30 days.
At Schwartz's suggestion, the board approved several changes to its policy on selection of supplementary reading materials. One of the lawsuits against the board concerns the policy.
Finally, the board designated Norman, Tim Buff and Karen Sain as members of a legal-affairs committee.
The meeting adjourned at 4:21 p.m., almost exactly three hours after it started.