School board moving ahead with search

By: Steve Welker | Morganton News Herald
Published: September 08, 2009

Morganton, NC --

Tuesday night's 4½-hour-long Burke County school board meeting started and ended in frustration.
However, more than half of the meeting was calm and orderly. Nine principals spoke one-by-one for 80 minutes, presenting school improvement plans. Later, when the board considered action items, members unanimously approved a half-dozen items.
Superintendent Rick Sherrill then opened with an appeal to the 300 people in Patton High School's auditorium and to the community at large "to stop the negativism" surrounding the school board.
Discussing the district's response to SACS CASI's decision placing the four high schools on accreditation probation, Sherrill begged people to work together, focus on what's best for the schools and, "more importantly, on what's best for our children."
The accreditation council's report came up frequently during the hour-long public comments period. Several strongly criticized board members Tim Buff, Rob Hairfield, Tracy Norman and Karen Sain and called for their resignations.
When Caroline Avery asked how many in the audience were "inflamed" by the board's actions, nearly everyone in the audience stood. Nancy Taylor asked how many wanted the board to delay hiring a new school superintendent until after the November election. Again, most people stood in reply.
Hiring the superintendent sparked anger and frustration near the end of the open session. Buddy Armour and Sam Wilkinson urged fellow board members to delay or postpone the search.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement specifically told the school board to "expand the search for a new superintendent to include a process to gather and utilize significant stakeholder input ..."
The board rejected Armour's motion on a 2-4 vote.
Board member John Aulgur was absent.
The board at press time was discussing personnel and student issues in closed session.
See Thursday's edition of The News Herald for more from the board meeting.

School board moving ahead with search

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