Folks, I am sure you have noticed that I have not made many comments related to the New school board majority since they lambasted, stunned and embarrassed the incumbents Shearra Miller, Richard Hooker and Roger Harris. Of course, the incumbents surely deserved the thrashing they took at the ballot box on November 3rd..But, what I was waiting for was what shenanigans the old school board incumbents would try to pull off at their last meeting where they will be in control? That meeting is Monday evening on November 9, 2020–Tomorrow night. And, the old school board incumbents are up to their old dirty-rotten tricks.
First, when you first take a peek at the Monday’s School board agenda, you will burst out laughing. They have moved the Public Participation part of the agenda back up to the beginning of the school business part of the agenda where it has always been. I had a big belly laugh out of that.
Then, at the end of the meeting agenda is a section for “Board Member Recognition.”
Which is a surrender to Danny Blanton’s efforts to be heard at School Board meetings. Again, another big belly laugh from me.
But, when I laughed myself out, I realized there was something missing somewhere. Some dirty-thick somewhere that would be a trap for the new school board majority. I soon found it.
Under section 8.04 titled “Policies for Approval” was the “Trojan Horse.” A sleeper element of corruption meant to keep evil forces in control of the School Board on a continuing basis. There was one itty-bitty untitled hyperlink. And I “double-clicked” on it. The page that opened showed eleven new policy revisions that the Old school board incumbents would approve as their dying act of de3fiance to sabotage the new school board’s necessary reforms. But they still tried to camouflage their last-ditch efforts to maintain a status quo by hiding the most egregious policies amongst what appeared to be some “fluff” policies.
But I was not fooled by their tricks. I scrolled down and looked them up, one policy at a time. This is what I found:
Ten of the eleven policies called for the Superintendent to be in charge of the various policies and report to the Board. That would mean that Superintendent Stephen Fisher would control what the new school board majority would see or hear in regard to the particular policy. That the old boards “Man” would only let the new board majority see or hear what the old Board’s “Man” wanted them to see or hear. Only a new majority on the school board, 100% filled with “fools” would agree to such a thing.
If you think the new school board majority would go along with that, we need to start immediately recruiting new candidates for the school board and kick the new ones out.
But, the eleventh policy is even worse. That Policy titled “7000 Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct” is even WORSE. NOBODY is in charge. Even though the last paragraph says “Failure to comply with this policy will result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal” Not one person is in charge of investigating complaints of administering discipline of any kind.
Now, let’s take this Code of Conduct Policy and apply it to the new school board majority.
A part of the policy states “Employees shall perform their jobs in a competent and ethical manner without violating either the public trust or applicable law, policies, and regulations.”
Of the 11 policies in just this one sample, 9 policies are in areas that the Superintendent is totally incompetent to perform. Making the Superintendent only a middleman for information-to the point that Supt. Fisher should be considered incompetent. Those policies are:
• 9110 USE AND SELECTION OF ARCHITECTS, ENGINEERS, SURVEYORS, AND CONSTRUCTION MANAGERS AT RISK
• 9120 BIDDING FOR CONSTRUCTION WORK
• 9125 PARTICIPATION BY MINORITY BUSINESSES
• 9125-R REGULATIONS & PROCEDURES FOR IMPLEMENTING PARTICIPATION BY MINORITY BUSINESSES R
• 7334 EMPLOYEE CELL PHONE USE
• 9205 PEST MANAGEMENT
• 9220 SECURITY OF FACILITIES
• 9400 SALE, DISPOSAL, AND LEASE OF BOARD-OWNED REAL PROPERTY
• 9200 CARE AND MAINTENANCE OF FACILITIES
Other examples of Fisher’s incompetence’s are the handling of the mold problems at Burns and Crest High Schools. The Crest High School gymnasium floor warranty fiasco that morphed into a three quarter$ of a million additional costs for HVAC at both Burns and Crest High School gyms. As I told Supt. Fisher and the entire old school board, “You don’t know what you don’t know” and you are too stubborn (I many have said “stupid”) to ask someone that does know. Also allowing HVAC air filters to go over a year without changing and the system does not operate and they you complain that maybe money needs to be allocated to replace the whole system. And other such incompetence’s.
So, if you apply policy 7000, The Code of Ethics, which requires an employee to be competent, then Superintendent Fisher is totally incompetent in so many ways that a reorganization is surely necessary to put different people in charge of what they are competent in. Get rid of people who are incompetent in the tasks they are charged with. Under this light, Superintendent Stephen Fisher (and others) should be demoted to lesser tasks or totally removed from Cleveland County Schools duties as Fisher has not apprised the Board, old or new of his in competencies. Especially when those incompetence’s have manifested themselves in so many-many ways over the years. At the cost of Million$ upon Million$ of dollars. And don’t forget the breakdown of the sale of the old North Shelby School property to Mt. Calvary Baptist Church. A $522,500 loss for CCS, all at one whack.
New School Board Majority, YOU have a mandate from the voters of Cleveland County. Make the changes that are necessary or it will be necessary to make new changes to the School Board at the NEXT Election cycle. It is as simple as that.
The first change is obvious. Either get rid of the Old Board’s “Man,” Stephen Fisher and “his team”, or run the risk of committing political suicide for yourselves. Right from the git-go!! And, put your OWN TEAM in place. Of course, there will be many saying not to do that. Probably many campaign donors who are not used to drastic action. Even when such drastic actions are called for. But, remember, YOU have a mandate and YOU are expected to do what you said you would do. REFORM CCS. If you can’t or won’t do that, who needs ya??? That will become the battle-cry in the future if you don’t pay attention to the Mandate that you have been given by the vast majority of the citizens and voters in Cleveland County. Ignore this mandate at your own risk!!!
New School Board majority. We all know YOU are not in office yet. We also know that the old board is setting you up. But your turn starts December 14, 2020 and “unity” to make the hard changes is expected of you!!! We are all watching for some good signs that better days are a coming. Don’t let the old, worn out and failed incumbents tie you down with their old, worn out and failed ways. That is not too much to ask for. And all of us who voted for you are wanting success for you in proportion to your mandate.