School board calls special meeting

The Burke County Board of Education will discuss administrators' contracts, budget issues and a proposed public-comments policy during a special called meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Staff Development Center, 509 W. Concord.
The budget discussion may pick up where the board left off on June 11. The school administration presented the board with two options to deal with additional anticipated cuts in state financial support. Administrators and some board members — notably Finance Committee chair Rob Hairfield — favored "option 1," which includes a one-year voluntary reduction in teachers' supplemental salaries and a cutback in the classified staff's work week.
However, Board Chair Tracy Norman requested written details about how the plan would affect administrators' salaries (including the four high school principals).
And board member Tim Buff urged his colleagues not to vote on the budget adjustments until they heard the county commissioners' plans for local financial support in 2009-10.
At a budget workshop three days later, the county commissioners assured Superintendent David Burleson and Finance Officer Keith Lawson that the schools would receive the district's full request, $14.1 million, and possibly a little more depending on property-tax revenues in June.
Some of Burleson's supporters speculated Friday that the administrator's contract the board discusses might be the superintendent's. Burleson on June 3 won a Superior Court injunction that prevents the school board from acting on its April 24 decision that Burleson's contract ends June 30. However, the judge's order does not prevent the school board from terminating Burleson's contract for cause or from "buying out" the contract under the provisions of N.C. General Statute 115c-217(d). Burleson's contract, as written, extends to April 10, 2010.
The school board has advertised for a new superintendent since June 2. The Burke County position is one of 13 superintendent or assistant superintendent jobs (among 27 positions in all) now advertised on the American Association of School Administrators' Web site. Applications for the Burke County superintendent's job are due July 8, according to the ad.
If the board adopts the proposed public-comments policy on Tuesday, it will do so without having heard public comments on the policy.
Over the past 16 months both the former and present school attorneys, Sam Aycock and Jon Jones, respectively, urged the board to adopt a formal policy on public comments. The issue came to a head on May 4 when more than 80 people delivered public comments, many of them scathingly critical of the board's actions. The public comments alone took almost four hours to hear.
Two weeks later, Jones presented a draft policy for first reading, but Hairfield objected that neither it nor a policy on disturbances at board meetings were in finished form, so first reading was put off until another time.
The public-comments policy — now combined with the policy on disturbances — resurfaced on the June 8 agenda when it was scheduled for discussion and possible action.
However, the schools never posted the policy for public inspection so, on Jones' advice, the board instead accepted it for first reading as part of chapters 1-3 of the revised board policy presented by coordinator Tim Davis.
The public-comments policy currently is on the school district's Web site, www.burke.k12.nc.us.
Davis said he wrote the policy based on suggested policies from the North Carolina School Boards Association; actual policies in effect at the Cleveland County, Rutherford County and Charlotte-Mecklenburg school districts; and suggestions from Jones and special counsel Richard Schwartz.
At more than 2,000 words, the Burke County policy is longer than the Cleveland, Rutherford and Charlotte-Mecklenburg policies combined. Charlotte-Mecklenburg's public participation policy, for one of the largest school districts in North Carolina, is less than 500 words long.
State law requires the board to allow time for public comments, but it does not say how much. The proposed Burke County policy permits the board to limit the public-comments period to 30 minutes, "regardless of the number of individuals who have signed in." Cleveland County's policy permits a period as short as 15 minutes. Neither Rutherford County nor Charlotte-Mecklenburg limits the time for public comments, although both suggest a three-minute time limit on individual speakers.
Alone among the four districts, the Burke County policy allows the board chair to end any comments "when in his/her judgment the presentations are repetitive...."
The Burke County policy also is unique in having sections governing the conduct of individuals in the audience and "the appropriate manner of speech." The former section prohibits "derogatory or negative signs/posters of any type." The latter prohibits "personal attacks" and "obscene, abusive or defamatory language."
Another unique feature in the Burke County policy prohibits speakers from presenting comments for "'anonymous' third parties." At the May 4 meeting approximately a dozen people read statements they said were from unnamed teachers who were afraid to speak and identify themselves publicly.
To comply with state law, a school board must set aside time for public comments during at least one of its regular monthly meetings.
The Burke County school board has not permitted public comments since May 4.
The next regular meeting will be at 11:30 a.m. June 30 in a location to be announced.