The Cleveland Community College Board of Trustee Meeting today (July 11, 2017) was a marathon lasting over seven hours, including over five hours in a closed session with three lawyers. Lots of discussion and lots of gridlock too during the open session as well as in the closed session. Lie Detector Testing for CCC President Steve Thornburg and CCC Executive
VP Shannon Kennedy Approved. Wes Westmoreland elected new Chairman of the Board and Jason Falls as Vice Chairman amid contentious split votes. That and more that later.
But the biggest news from the closed session was CCC President Steve Thornburg will be separated from his duties at CCC no later than July 31, 2017 and will be paid $150,000 severance pay with an additional $50,000 for accrued time.
Also, Cleveland County School Board member Donnie Thurman, Jr. has made a 15 minute taped announcement on Facebook that he will not seek reelection in 2017 so he can have more time with his family. This means one of the four incumbent CCS Board members will not be running for reelection. Maybe two if School Board member Kathy Falls loses her bid to have election laws changed to suit her. More on that later.
Also note that School Board candidate Kevin Whisnant attended the contentious CCC Board meeting today. This is totally appropriate as the dual enrollment (CCP) scandal at CCC also includes a scandal at CCS that has not yet been talked about very much. But it will as the CCC Board voted to approve money to hire an investigator regarding the allegations of dumbed down courses involved with the CCC and CCS programs as well as allegations of mis-spent grant money.
Stay tuned for these forthcoming reports regarding CCC, CCS and other issues.
