School board will meet at Staff Development Center

Locked out of its meeting room in Central Office on Parker Road, the Burke County Board of Education will have its meeting Monday in the Olive Hill Room at the Staff Development Center, 509 W. Concord St.
The meeting will start at 5:15 p.m. Almost immediately the board will begin interviewing the seven applicants to replace David Barnard, a board member who resigned in May.
The school board had to move its meeting place, because County Manager Ron Lewis said the school board could not have any more sessions at Central Office until further notice. Lewis, in a letter delivered to the school superintendent and board on Wednesday, expressed concerns about the public's safety and access to the building that also houses the county departments of social services and health.
Burke County Public Schools and various Burke County government offices have shared the Parker Road building for nearly 40 years.
Lewis said large, overflow crowds at recent school board meetings, especially in the afternoon, triggered numerous complaints about access to various offices.
Superintendent David Burleson recommended moving the school board meeting to the Staff Development Center because the Olive Hill Room is the largest available meeting place other than the schools' auditoriums. He and school board members agreed to avoid using the schools in their final days of testing and classes. Burleson said they've used the Olive Hill Room for past meetings without difficulty. He said it can accommodate 200 to 300 people, depending on seating arrangements and the availability of chairs.
Board Chair Tracy Norman said, "I highly regret the actions of the county are going to put an extra burden on Mr. Burleson and his staff to set up for a meeting on Monday evening."
"We will continue anyway," she added.
"I just think it is unfortunate when law-enforcement officials and public officials are taking political stands that are interfering with and preventing the board of education from doing its job," Norman said.
Morganton Public Safety Chief Mark Tolbert told the school board last month it would have to make its own arrangements if it needs more than the single uniformed officer customarily provided for school board meetings at Central Office.
The board cancelled a meeting in April because it could not arrange for enough law-enforcement personnel to satisfy board members' concerns about their safety.
Hundreds of people have tried to attend recent meetings at Central Office, where the board room's rated occupancy is 85 people.
Norman said having board meetings at Central Office is both convenient and efficient.
"That's where our records are — the personnel records that Mr. (Winston) Bagley may need or anything Mr. Burleson may need or any other member of the administration may need," she said.
"Of course, that's also where many of the individual staff members are that Mr. Burleson asks to be at the board meetings," Norman said, "so this adds travel time for them."
Burleson said, "Any time you move the venue from what you're accustomed to, there's going to be some inconvenience."
However, he continued, "We go out into the schools at least once a quarter — enough to know what we need."
Contacted late Thursday afternoon, neither Burleson nor Norman said much about how the school board may approach the county manager and the Burke County Board of Commissioners to resolve their mutual concerns.
After the school board met on Wednesday at Central Office, five hours after receiving Lewis' order, Board of Commissioners Chair Ruth Ann Suttle consulted with the county attorney and Lewis and then ordered the locks changed and the main doors chained and padlocked on the school board's meeting room.
Norman said, "I think it would probably be premature to discuss any possible actions the board may take."
Burleson said, "I feel we can work with the county. We've always been good neighbors. We're all there to serve the public. And I can't say enough good things about David Rust and David Smith," the county directors of health and social services, respectively.
Burleson said the three public agencies regularly share facilities in the Parker Road building. All three occasionally use the school board meeting room for classes, group gatherings and presentations.
Particularly in the past seven months, school board activities and actions have attracted unusually large crowds. In addition to the public pressure on the board to move its meetings to larger venues, Morganton attorney Stephen Schoeberle on Thursday amended his lawsuit that invokes the North Carolina Open Meetings Law in an attempt to make the school board choose facilities where more citizens can attend meetings.
"We're doing everything we can do accommodate the needs of the people of Burke County," said Burleson. That includes looking at the feasibility of video streaming via the Internet so people could watch the meetings in real time on suitably equipped computers.
The school board will post Monday's agenda on Friday.
In addition to interviewing applicants for Barnard's seat, the school board will hear an update on the school budget from Burleson. He and other administrators have "agonized" over potential staff reductions in the coming school fiscal year.
It's expected the board will not allow time public comments at the meeting, in part because the interviews alone may take nearly two hours.