Burleson opens his personnel file

Burke County Schools Superintendent David Burleson thought he'd put to rest any questions about his on-the-job performance by opening his confidential personnel file.
Instead, his action Friday opened more questions than Burleson expected.
The file contains none of the school board's annual evaluations of the superintendent since Burleson took over the job in 2000.
Burleson said he fully expected the evaluations to be in the file and on Monday he will begin an effort to determine why they're missing.
Burleson said he's assembling other copies of the evaluations from his personnel files and he still intends to open them to the public.
Burleson noted that the file contains letters confirming that the school board awarded him annual bonuses up to and including a 3-percent bonus in 2008. Tim Buff, then-chairman of the school board, signed that memo on March 3, 2008.
Buff is among four board members who voted on April 13 to terminate Burleson's contract effective June 30.
After that vote, TV and print reporters interviewed board Chair Tracy Norman.
Burleson said, "The chairman of the board insinuated in her news conference that there were items in my personnel record that were causing them concern and led to their decision not to renew my contract.
"I have such faith in my record and what I've done in this county that I'm willing to open that up for you to review.
"I want it out for the record. They have insinuated numerous times that there's a lot in my personnel file that they're holding it against me and I want to make it public to everyone what's in there."
Norman, whose cell phone on Saturday would not accept voice-mail messages, could not be contacted for comment about Burleson's decision to open the file or concerning the missing evaluations.
Burleson met with print and TV reporters shortly before noon Friday.
In a small conference room at Central Office, school board attorney Jon Jones and the schools' director of human resources, Winston Bagley, went through the 2-inch-thick file in preparation for giving a copy to Burleson. They and Burleson — who'd never read the file — quickly realized the superintendent's evaluations weren't in it.
Jones indicated he would call former board attorney Sam Aycock to determine whether the evaluations are among other board files stored at Aycock's office.
Burleson will contact former Human Resources Director Steve Demiter to see if he knows why the evaluations aren't in the file.
During their examination of the file, Bagley and Jones withheld nine documents to avoid revealing confidential information about other employees. Eight were certifications of continuing-education credits that name other class members. The ninth lists candidates who, along with Burleson, were considered for a job as Freedom High School principal.
Bagley then watched as this reporter and The News Herald's assistant editor, Cheryl Shuffler, started to examine the file and counted its pages.
Bagley had the entire file copied for Burleson who, in turn, delivered a copy to The News Herald on Friday afternoon.
It's a lot of reading.
The file is divided into several sections: pre-employment, licensing and continuing education, benefits and evaluations. It documents Burleson's entire 27-year career in the Burke County Public Schools. In fact, it goes back farther. The earliest record is of his first job as an electrician's helper for Southern Electric in the summer of 1978.
The file includes his undergraduate and graduate records from Appalachian State University. (Burleson got a "C" in "Introduction to Literature" in his first semester — "The first and last 'C' I ever got," he said.) His student-teaching evaluations were glowing recommendations.
In fact, Burleson received high marks in every evaluation as a teacher, assistant principal, principal at Freedom and assistant superintendent. He usually earned "superior" or "well-above-standard" marks with only an occasional "above standard" and nothing less than that.
Numerous evaluators noted his potential for greater and greater responsibility in education administration.
The file includes commendations from Burke County school administrators, school board members and professional colleagues.
There are numerous certificates of continuing education.
Nothing in the file is blacked out except Burleson's Social Security number. There even are two documents related to his and his wife's application for a mortgage loan from Freddie Mac.