Editor’s Note: I have two basic and core beliefs about politicians and political candidates.
1. If you are not a part of the solution, you are a part of the PROBLEM!
2. It is not what you say that counts, it is what YOU DO!!
The September 28th 2020 School Board meeting and the following September 29 2020 School Board Candidate forum told the tale on Incumbent school board candidates Shearra Miller, Richard Hooker and Roger Harris. Not only should they drop out of their 2020 campaign for re-election, they should resign immediately from the School Board.
All governmental agencies including the Cleveland County School Board are required by state law to adopt “rules of order” under which they conduct their business during their “official” business meetings. State law also requires the School Board and everybody else to hold their business meetings such that are open to the public and a fair and accurate accounting (minutes) of the meetings are kept and recorded for public inspection. Meetings behind closed doors are expressly forbidden by law except for a very few special situations that do not apply to anything in this report. The September 28, 2020 School Board meeting broke just about every rule in the book and laws on the books And, then some.
The Cleveland County School Board selected Shearra Miller as their Chairman. Richard Hooker as their Vice Chairman. The Chairman of the Board officiates over Board meetings. When the Chairman is absent, the Vice Chairman runs the meeting. For the September 28, 2020 school board meeting, all members were actually present, except for Medical Doctor Jack Hamrick who was on the line for the meeting.
On September 28, 2020 at 6:00 PM Chairman Shearra Miler called the School Board meeting to order. Followed by a 90 second prayer by a Christian Pastor. Followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the US Flag. Four minutes into the meeting and everything was hunky-dory.
Next, the Chairman recognized guests. Five minutes into the meeting and things were still hunky-dory.
But in that six that sixth minute, the unethical acts and shenanigans began.
That next order of business was to Adopt the Meeting Agenda. Normally a formality with no discussion, but a vote to approve the agenda is required. This time Chairman Shearra Miller states that there were several people signed up for “Public Participation” and that she wanted to amend the agenda to move Public Participation from the end of business to the first item of business. I immediately smelled a rat. Little did I know right then, exactly how big it really was. But I was paying full attention, knowing the devil is in the details.
The North Carolina General Assembly has adopted Public Policy that governmental business will be conducted in such a way that the public will have the opportunity to watch their elected and appointed representatives do the business of the public. They also passed laws that require the agencies to do the people’s business in a public arena. Just about as soon as the General Assembly passed these public meeting laws, the various governmental agencies began working out ways to get around these laws. Cleveland County Schools, as well as the Cleveland County Commissioners and the Cleveland Community College Board of Trustees joined right in there too. Working behind closed doors was easier to do than having to answer questions from the public. “Collaborating” in little groups somewhere behind closed doors was much easier for them. Working in the “dark” also makes it much safer for crooks, working their secret deals, to operate. Cockroaches have evolved and adopted that same reasoning.
Public Participation is, by law, established for the purpose of allowing the public to have a say in how Cleveland County Schools does business. For years the CCS School Board meetings had public participation at the beginning of their meetings. This proved embarrassing for the School Board when members of the public brought their complaints to the School Board in the public participation part of the agenda and all the parents who had come to the meeting to watch the School Board give out awards to students were hearing the complaints. As the awards were mostly a Public Relations stunt to begin with, the School Board wanted to continue with that. So, the school board took action to make sure the parents who were there just to see their child get an award and then leave the meeting would not hear about any complaints. They moved the public participation to the end of the meetings. The school board were just as smart as the cockroaches in that respect.
So, moving public participation back to the start of a school board meeting was unusual. And out of sync with their MO. Something sinister had to be on the way and I just knew it.
I knew other things too. When the public participation got moved to the front of the agenda, the last business item of the agenda became “COVID-19 and reopening updates.” The Agenda Item Details for the “COVID-19 and reopening updates” listed the item as just “discussion” and “information.” NOT a PEEP about a vote on anything.
I also knew that the North Carolina Teachers Union that Shearra Miller, Richard Hooker and Roger Harris, along with Supt. Fisher are hooked up with and Governor Roy Cooper and the Democrat Party don’t want schools to start schools until after the 2020 Elections so President Trump’s good economy will not be on people’s minds. Little did I know that what played out at the school board meeting indicated that Miller, Hooker, Harris clearly did NOT have the Children’s best interest at heart, but dirty politics. Read on.
The first speaker during the public participation was Dr. Peggy Borders. Dr. Borders stated she was a parent, physician, citizens and a CCS graduate. That she was concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic and urged the School Board to NOT open up schools yet.
What I did NOT yet know yet, was that a major outbreak of COVID-19 positive tests had developed at Crest High School and certain ones on the School Board knew it, but were sacrificing the safety of children, teachers and staff at CHS in order to hush-up the news of the outbreak until after the 2020 School Board Forum at Cleveland Community College.
Now, for brevity, I will skip over the other speakers and go straight to the end of the meeting regarding COVID-19 and reopening updates.
During the COVID-19 update, Supt. Stephen Fisher went on and on and on about a lot of “stuff” and how hard the CCS staff was working. I will fast forward through that also. At the latter part of that, Fisher brought up Tiffany Hansen of the Cleveland County Health Department to inform the School Board and the public that COVID-19 positive test results had come in that were way over the state and area averages and that the reason for the spike in positive tests were unknown.
Also, folks, remember that a vote for re-opening schools at this September 28, 2020 was NOT on the agenda.
Near the end of the COVID-19 and reopening discussion, Board member Danny Blanton asked the Tiffany Hansen of the Cleveland County Health Department for a recommendation on whether or not to reopen Cleveland County Schools. Ms. Hansen (seemingly strange at the time) went around and round with statements that were NOT related to Mr. Blanton’s question. Then Mr. Blanton basically asked that same question, again in slightly different words-what is the Health Departments recommendation to the School Board on whether or NOT to reopen schools. This time Ms. Hansen stated “That decision is up to the School Board” Again refusing to state a recommendation-one way or another.
My smell of a rat increased another 100%.