Cleveland County School Board Calls Emergency Meeting!!! School Board Reverses Vote–Masks Mandates!!! Chairman Robert “Luke” Queen’s attempt to shut down the public gets shot-down by a 5-4 majority vote of the School Board!!! $100 Reward to the first person who can find the Emergency in that Emergency Meeting!!! Eyewitness Report by Robert A. Williams

Folks, there is an old saying: “The Devil is in the Details!” The so-called “Emergency” School Board meeting held at 12 Noon on August 18th, 2021 at the Cleveland County School’s Central Offices is a perfect proof of that old saying. It also justifies my knick-name for School Board Chairman Robert “Luke” Queen. “Luke” being short for “Lucifer” –an ancient mythology name for the “Shining One.” The Devil trying to convince backsliding Christians that he is the “light of Venus”. When, in actuality, he is the head General in the armies of Satan. The Devil Himself. Trying to deceive the people at every twist and turn.

But, hey folks. Don’t believe a word that I say. Watch the CCS video of the August 16th Emergency Meeting yourself and let me fill you in on what actually happened behind the scenes.

First, this past Tuesday evening I received a call asking if I had seen the notice for an EMERGENCY School Board Meeting Wednesday at Noon.? At that time, I had not. The caller said that various people were calling around encouraging folks to show up at this meeting and sign up to speak during Public Participation. Public Participation bring a requirement by North Carolina Law that requires governmental agencies to reserve a certain amount of time at agency business meetings for the public to have the opportunity to speak directly to their elected officials. It has been my experience that every governmental agency in Cleveland County tries to discourage people from coming out to speak to them. The Cleveland County Schools School Board being no exception. I told the caller that I would check my email and come out to the meeting and sign up to speak. Something I have stopped doing as the School Board, Commissioners and the Cleveland Community College Board of Trustees listen to the speakers because they have to, but I have never known of them actually doing anything about what they hear. The speaker’s words just go in one ear and out the other ear of the officials.

As far as the School Board goes, they don’t even include what the speaker says in the minutes of their meetings. For instance, the approved Minutes of the July 26, 2021 School Board Meeting, Public Participation simply says: “Nannette Leonhart, Margorie Hooper and Suzan Parris addressed the Board.” Not one word about what each person said to the School Board. Since I was there and took notes. I can tell you right now that all three spoke about CCS teaching Critical Race Theory and doing other bad acts. You can check for yourself by looking up this meeting on the CCS School Board meeting videos.

When I hung up from the call noted above, I checked my email “Inbox” and there was the notice for the Emergency School Board Meeting for August 16, 2021. And a link to the Agenda.

I pulled up the Agenda and Immediately smelled a rat!!!

This Emergency Called School Board Meeting agenda had exactly four items:

1.A call to Order and the Pledge of Allegiance.
2.Adoption of the Agenda
3.Called Meeting Item/COVID Update
4.Adjourn the meeting.

I am offering $100 to the first person who can find the “Emergency” in this Emergency Called Meeting!!!

As soon as I saw the agenda, I “knew” several things:

1.Something crooked was going on.
2.It was a well-planned scheme-totally worked out beforehand by “Luke” and his henchmen. Joel Shores, Rodney Fitch and Ron Humphries. And Superintendent Stephen Fisher-The Secretary to the School Board.
3.By calling the meeting an “Emergency” meeting, it was their intention to use this as a “ruse” to NOT allow any public participation at all. They apparently did NOT care to hear from citizens, tax payers or parents and do what they damn well pleased. Parliamentary Procedures, North Carolina state laws, school board policy, the best interest of students be damned!! No Matter.

So, Williams, I thought, what can be done? I put my “thinking cap” on. The first thing to do was to get there early and scout the place out. I arrived at CCS Central Services before 11:30 AM and found the parking in front of the building and the parking lot beside the building already mostly full. I found a place way in the back.

I entered the Central Services Auditorium and lots of people were already there. I picked a copy of the agenda to confirm and verify that Public Participation was NOT on the latest agenda-it was the same. Then I overheard school board member Danny Blanton telling others that he was going to make a motion to place “Public Participation” on the agenda when the meeting got started.

I moseyed on over to the front of the auditorium where the Public Participation “Sign-Up” sheets are usually kept. No sign-up sheets were available. Luke and his friends had made sure of that. So, I took the agenda I had just picked up, turned it over and commenced to “hand draw” a Public Participation sign in sheet myself.

I drew in the date, I printed “Emergency School Board Meeting Sign in Sheet” in big letters across the top of the page. I put the number “1” right below that and signed my name.
Others had watched what I was doing and came up and signed their names too. Pretty soon there were 15 names on my hand-made Public Participation Sign-In Sheet.

Promptly at 12 Noon Luke Queen called the meeting to order, there was a Pledge of Allegiance and then came adopting the Agenda. This is when sparks started to fly.

True to his word, Danny Blanton offered up his motion to add Public Participation to the Agenda. Immediately Luke Queen hit his gavel and told Blanton his Motion was out of order. Dena Green tried to second Blanton’s Motion and Luke cut her off. There was a flurry of talk and Luke called out that there was no sign in sheets for any public participation. I spoke up from my second-row seat and said the sign in sheets are right over there-pointing to where the sign in sheets were.

Then, somebody calls “Point of Order” and Luke calls for a vote. The Vote was Danny Blanton, Dena Green, Phillip Glover, Coleman Hunt and Greg Taylor for allowing Public Participation and Luke Queen, Joel Shores Ron Humphries and Rodney Fitch voting against hearing from the public. Five against four to allow Public Participation.

However, Luke and Parliamentarian Ron Humphries rule that on a Point of Order vote, it takes a two-thirds vote, 6 votes from a 9-member Board to over-rule 0verturn the Chairman’s Ruling that Blanton’s Motion was out of order and the 5-4 vote was not enough.

There was a lot of back and forth, the School Board Lawyer gets called up several times. Luke falsely claims it was illegal to have Public Participation during an “Emergency” Meeting, etc. So. Blanton’s motion to add the Public Participation to the Agenda appears to have lost.

A Motion was made to adopt the agenda (without the Public Participation) and the agenda is adopted with a 5-4 vote.

Then, School Board Member Phillip Glover, himself once Chairman of the School Board and very familiar with Robert’s Rules of Order, offers a Motion to AMEND the Agenda to include Public Participation. Such a motion only requires a simple majority -5- votes from a 9-member board to pass. Somebody quickly seconds that motion and Luke has to call for a vote. Glover, Hunt, Taylor, Blanton and Green vote to approve adding Public Participation to the Agenda.

Then, Luke has to call a five-minute recess for others that might want to sign up to speak. Two more people sign up to speak. Chairman Luke Queen and his chums have just got beaten by their own smart-ass game. And the public has just gotten a major victory against Luke Queen trying to shut them down. And in the process pissing off Republican Party officials as shown when Kevin Whisnant, during that five-minute recess, coming up to the front and being overheard chastising Luke Queen for losing the battle to keep the Public from speaking to their elected officials. Republicans all, Whisnant, in with Wes Westmoreland, Dennis Bailey, David Allen, Senator Ted Alexander, Speaker of the House Tim Moore, Representative Kelly Alexander and a few others (a very small set of Rogue Republicans) are apparently trying to push the Republican Party to support Luke Queen being able to stay on the Cleveland Community College Board of Trustees after the County Commissions booted Luke Queen off that CCC Board. That is a “silent” battle still being fought.

The recess is over and Luke Queen calls the first person on the Public Participation Sign-Up List-list-Robert A. Williams-to speak.

The fist thing I say is the School Board had intentionally called the meeting an “Emergency” meeting in order to silence the public. And that effort had failed. It was a victory for the people and more victories would follow. Then I stated that during my working career, I had often worked on construction sites where Hard Hats, Safety Classes, Hearing Protection, steel-toe shoes and such was mandatory. That those items were often bothersome but they were intended for personal protection. That I had no real issues with requiring personal protection items to be “mandated” for children at school. I also noted that masks at school was clearly NOT identified on the “Emergency” Meeting agenda, but that it probably would be discussed. My time to speak ran out.

All the other 16 speakers were called, one after another. Some were Health professionals. A Doctor, two Nurses and others who were FOR Mandatory masks for students at school. Others were parents who were against “Mandatory” masks for students at School. They all had their say. As was rightly expected by me and mostly all of the Citizens of Cleveland County, North Carolina and the USA. Except for Luke Queen, Joel Shores, Ron Humphries, Rodney Fitch and probably Kevin Whisnant, Wes Westmoreland, Dennis Bailey, Dave Allen, Ted Alexander, Tim Moore and Kelly Hastings and just a few others. Folks, go to the School Board website for the Video of the August 16th, 2021 Emergency School Board Meeting for all of this action. Watch for yourself.

NEXT came the “real” reason for this “Emergency Meeting. Making the wearing of masks at school MANDATORY for all students. Camouflaged in the agenda under the deceptive term “COVID updates.”

CCS Superintendent Stephen Fisher provided the school board with charts and some of the latest COVID information. The School Board discussions start in full measure. Fisher is asked by Danny Blanton just exactly how many students at CCS had actually caught COVID at school. Fisher replies-NONE. Others ask questions. Again, watch the video.

Finally, Vice Chairman Joel Shores speaks up that he had received many emails that had upset him. His Blood Pressure was up and he resented such communications. (My thoughts were that Luke should gaveled-down Shores with an “Out of Order” ruling.

Communications to an elected official by his constituents is normal and should be expected by Shores. If the communications were causing him health issues, perhaps a resignation was in order.) But, as Shores continues, more comes out that indicates that Shores was a part of a planned scheme, made well in advance of the meeting, to be the person to deliver the motion to orchestrate a change to the previously approved mask policy to hide the fact that a NEW edict from the school board, prepared in advance, was coming down and, for political purposes, the word “MANDATE” was NOT to be used.

Shores, aside from the fact that the paper he read the secretly chosen words that HAD to have been prepared in advance that Masks were to be worn by all students at school, the masks would be provided by CCS and the students would be allowed to put on new masks every two hours. Then Shores added words such that a student might NOT have to wear masks provided the parent fill out forms providing proof of Health, behavioral or disability to document the deviation from the full masking requirements. Rodney Fitch immediately “seconds” Shores motion. it was clearly apparent that Fitch had been preselected to make the second for the Shores motion in Luke’s planned scheme.

All this just proved to me that this whole production; the Emergency Meeting designation, No Public Participation on the agenda, the secretly planned Motion and all was a planned political scheme put together by Luke Queen and his small band of rogue Republicans for purely political purposes. Nary a thought on what was in the best interest of the students at CCS. Or the parents. Or the taxpayers.

Now, Shores had made the motion. It was seconded by Fitch and a quick and easy approval was likely expected.

WRONG!!!

Danny Blanton asked, what about mask requirements for the teachers? Dena Green wanted better described documentation for any exception to the full mask mandate. The discussion was on again, no matter how hard Luke tried to shut-down the discussion.

As I sat there in my second-row seat (you can see me in the video), I was reminded of a quotation attributed to German Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck way back in the Nineteenth Century that said: “If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made.” In other words, the legislative process, though messy and sometimes unappetizing, CAN produce healthy, wholesome results.

The School Board factions, on both sides, were now actually having discussions without the threat of 5-4 votes always going Luke Queen’s way. Dena Green, so often silent, was going, tooth and nail, after what she thought was in the best interest of students. Danny Blanton was NOT being shut down anymore by Luke Queen. For now, anyway. And the Motion made by Joel Shores was being tweaked and adjusted so that just about every person that had spoken in the Public Participation segment of the meeting would likely have to agree that it covered everybody’s concerns as well as could ever be expected.

I thought this was finally the way government was supposed to work. Even the fact that the final vote, 7-2, was healthy because Blanton and Green voted NO because they did not get as much as they wanted regarding teachers and documentation. At least they voted “NO” without fear that they would be retaliated against if they didn’t go along with the majority. I was proud for all those that came out to speak during the Public Participation (No matter which side they were on) that was not intended to ever have happened in the first place. I was surprisingly proud that Phillip “Poodle” Glover had broken the back of Luke Queen’s corrupt attempt to shut down the public. I was even proud of myself for coming up with that hand-made Public Participation Sign-up Sheet that might have had some very, very minor part in how this “Emergency” meeting had eventually turned out.

Perhaps such as this will continue and be just as contagious in Cleveland County Governmental Meetings as the COVID has been amongst our population. I am not holding my breath for such as that to happen soon. So, I will continue doing my part to “agitate” for Good Government as much or more than ever. I hope that every citizen will join in with this effort. Especially at Election time!!!

Stay tuned folks. There is more to come. Much More!!