Ever since the Cleveland County Schools administration sent Dr. Chris Blanton to Burns High School as Principal there has been controversy as well as a very high teacher turnover rate. I was once asked to read a letter to the CCS Board from teachers who were afraid to read the letter themselves for fear of retaliation. I read the letter to the school board, who obviously didn’t give a hoot about Burns High School or any complaints from teachers there. The School Board never responded to the high teacher turnover rate nor did they ever respond to the letter I read to them in an official school board meeting. Indeed, they falsified in their minutes what I read from in the letter to cover their tracks in official school records.
Chris Blanton’s alleged reign of terror at Burns just kept on going. Even after teachers in upper Cleveland County helped elect Jo Boggs to the school board, nothing happened to bring the controversy at Burns High School to an end. I tried to tell them that Jo Boggs would NOT make any waves on their behalf. And she didn’t.
That is about to change.
Word out of Boone, NC is Dr. Chris Blanton is quitting CCS and going to be the next Principal at the Watauga County High School beginning July 3, 2017. Watauga County High School is the only high school in Watauga County. That county has about 4,800 students. However, Watauga County Schools are rated third of 115 school districts in North Carolina. Therefore, this is a big step up for Dr. Chris Blanton’s career.
This step up for Dr. Chris Blanton was helped along by Cleveland County Schools Superintendent Stephen Fisher who gave Chris Blanton glowing recommendations.
Now, one has to wonder, what the heck is going on here???
One has to wonder whether or not Chris Blanton knew something on somebody at CCS to get such good references? Or whether or not CCS just did a snow job on the Watauga County Schools to get rid of a problem Principal? Or whether or not CCS purposely sent Chris Blanton to Burns High School to run off a bunch of complaining teachers? Or whether or not Chris Blanton was actually a very good Principal and CCS let him get away?
My take on all of this is CCS sent Chris Blanton to Burns High School as Principal to get him away from problems where he was before and Burns High School would be an out of the way place to exile Blanton to. For good or bad for Burns didn’t matter for all those board members from Kings Mountain or for Jo Boggs from Fallston.
Anyway, Chris Blanton will soon be gone from Burns High School and CCS. Now the worry is this. Who will be the next Principal at Burns? It is the consensus in Upper Cleveland County that Burns High School always gets the bottom of the barrel. So, all those who are celebrating Chris Blanton’s departure from Burns may find things going from bad to worse. If that is possible.
All you folks need to remember that 2017 is a School Board Election Year. Four seats are up for election this year. Board member Danny Blanton, no relation to Chris Blanton, should be re-elected. Phillip “Bully” Glover, Kathy Falls and Donnie Thurman, Jr. should be defeated. Along with Danny Blanton, I am recommending Kevin Whisnant from Fallston, Rodney Fitch from Shelby and Robert Queen from the Shanghai area (if he runs) for the School Board.
Read the news from Watauga County by Clicking the title below.
Dr. Chris Blanton Named As New Watauga High School Principal
