Folks, if you have read my last article-Part I of this series, you will surely know that I tell it like it is. When I spot a problem, I identify the problem and offer a solution. In Part I, I identified School Board Chairman Robert Queen’s lack of TRANSPARENCY and recommended that he resign immediately from the School Board. I held off publishing that article until after the January 25, 2021 School Board meeting in order to think more on the issue and make sure I did not make a hasty evaluation and decision. Unfortunately, the January 25th meeting turned into an embarrassing disaster that total ally proved my Part I evaluation and recommendations (unfortunately) 100% correct.
Now, let’s establish some facts:
Transparency was clearly noted in Part I of this series as something the NEW School Board Majority ran on in the 2020 elections. Something I found lacking in last Friday’s School Board Committee meeting and said so independent of any other discussion or information. At this past Monday’s School Board meeting, transparency became a hot topic of discussion by others independent of my Part I article that had not been published yet. Therefore, it is necessary to clearly define transparency so we all know what it is without question. And can judge who is transparent and who is NOT. And why true transparency is something that us citizens must emphatically demand from our governmental leadership and individual leaders as well. And School Board Chairman Robert Queen in particular.
All the definitions and examples of transparency noted below came from different sources, but clearly establishes what transparency is and provides a guide to who is and WHO is not transparent.
1. Transparency, as used in science, engineering, business, the humanities and in other social contexts, is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed. Transparency implies openness, communication, and accountability.
2. Transparency is the condition of being see-through. An example of transparency is the fact that you can see through glass. The quality or state of being transparent. Describes the situation that occurs when companies openly communicate important information to investors and shareholders.
3. Transparency, in a business or governance context, is honesty and openness…
4. What does transparency mean in a person?
If “Someone is Transparent” it means that person cannot or does not hide or conceal anything. It means observers who want to know what this “Someone” is up to, the observers are free to observe. A person who is “Transparent” has no secrets and tells no lies.
5. And, especially Transparency in Politics:
The right and the means to examine the process of decision making is known as transparency. In politics, transparency is used as a means of holding public officials accountable and fighting corruption. When a government’s meetings are open to the press and the public, its budgets may be reviewed by anyone, and its laws and decisions are open to discussion, it is seen as transparent.
State law regarding Open Meetings, Committee Meetings, Public Participation and Meeting Minutes are also very important to understanding what is going on in our government. Especially the CCS School Board under the New School Board Majority leadership. In General, this is what the North Carolina. General Statutes say:
1. All governmental agency business (with just a few exceptions) must be conducted in open sessions where advance notice to the public of the meetings are given and the public is allowed to attend, participate and record.
2. Minutes of these meetings are required to be documented and kept as public records.
3. Meeting Minutes are not required to be verbatim, but must be kept as a “fair and accurate” record of what transpired in the meeting; such that a person that did NOT attend the meeting could read the minutes and understand all the details of what transpired.
These State laws are simple and self-explanatory, right? RIGHT!! This will be critical later in this article.
Now that we are clear what transparency is and what state laws say, let’s move to the January 25, 2021 School Board meeting, which circles around to hard discussion of transparency. And a strong rebuke of the lack of transparency from those that ran their election on transparency.
The first order of business was the Scholl Board Meeting Agenda. As noted in the Part I article, Chairman Robert Queen stated that the Board Committee Meeting minutes would be provided on Board Docs (the CCS Website) along with the “final” agenda. They were not. A clear and obvious lie from Chairman Queen that would greatly and negatively affect the course of the meeting. From my personal perspective the lack of the Board Committee Meeting minutes was a plan scheme to keep the public in the dark so no member of the public would have the information necessary to fake informed comments to the School Board during “Public Participation.” Stay tuned as it turned out to be much-much worse than that. I recommend anybody that hasn’t already watched the January 25, 2021 School Board Meeting Broadcast (already over 4,000 views) to do so.
I took 9 ½ pages of notes during this disaster of a meeting.