School board members' campaign promises

Claims that the school system wasn’t transparent and ignored the public ran rampant during the 2010 campaign season for the Whitfield and Murray boards of education.

Complaints had been building for years in both districts.

In Whitfield County, when a popular Northwest Whitfield High School principal was moved to another job against her will, many community members complained the board ignored the 700-plus signatures requesting they leave her alone. When dozens of teachers lost their contracts due to budget cuts, several school system employees grumbled that only the political outcasts were let go while lesser qualified favorites kept their jobs. Newly begun Coahulla Creek High School brought out taxpayers outraged at what many called lavish spending.

In Murray County, parents and students turned out in force when the school board approved an unpopular decision to cut the budget partly by eliminating the JROTC program. Community members complained that officials spoke too quietly to be heard at public meetings, didn’t allow time for public input before decisions and made it difficult for members of the public to speak and ask questions. Two families filed lawsuits alleging school officials didn’t intervene when their children were bullied.

Whether or not all those accusations were true, the underlying issues surrounding them became campaign platforms for many of the candidates. The three new Whitfield board members and three new Murray board members all ran on platforms that included promises to work toward more openness and transparency.

They promised to listen.

Now a year into their first terms, Whitfield members Louis Fordham, Rodney Lock and Bill Worley; and Murray members Brenda Sandlin and Jackie Rogers said they’ve made at least some progress in fulfilling those promises. Murray board member Robbie Moore did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Whitfield County

After board members took office in January 2011, one of the first concerns they began discussing was the perceived lack of access to school system officials. They began holding community meetings in which at least one board member and one central office member met with small groups of people to answer questions.

Worley said the district hasn’t held one in a while and he looks forward to “pick(ing) those back up.”

“I think we have opened up to communicate better, but there’s still a long ways to go,” he said. “Can I do better? Probably so. I don’t know anybody that’s doing everything perfect. But what I’m trying to do is bring stuff in from the community (to the board or school district employees who can help solve the problems).”

Lock, who initially was one of the Whitfield system’s most vocal critics, said he hasn’t been able to accomplish as much as he would like.

“We’ve done some better,” he said. “...I think we’re a lot more compassionate than what our previous (board members) were. I think we try to listen to the people.”

As an example, he cited the board’s willingness to change zoning policies when several families of Northwest Whitfield High School students protested against being moved to Coahulla Creek High School when it opened this fall. The school system’s weekly work on Dashboard, a website designed to provide easily accessible information about the district’s finances, test scores and other data, has also been an improvement, he said.

Yet Lock said the public is still not as informed as needed about the Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST), a 1 percent tax board members say they need voters to approve in the next year or so in order to avoid a property tax hike to pay back $35.7 million borrowed for new schools, technology and other improvements.

Fordham said school officials will develop a plan to inform the public about the ESPLOST once details are finalized. Board members, for example, still haven’t decided whether to ask for a referendum in July or November, and they haven’t said whether they’ll collect only enough taxes to pay off the debt or if they’ll ask for money to fund more projects.

Fordham said board members continue to be accessible by email (Contact information for every board member is posted under the “School Board” tab at www.wcschools.drupalgardens.com) and also try to talk with people when they’re out in the community. During the last six months of 2011, board members focused on learning more about how the school system operates so they can give informed answers when questions arise, he said.

“If there were a lot of issues out there, people would be lined up outside (of board meetings),” he said. “If I get my way, our board will be very quiet, very invisible from the standpoint of not in the limelight, not stirring things up, not causing controversy, but a very behind the scenes accountability partner to (Superintendent) Danny (Hayes) and the leadership team.”

Murray County

If you can’t hear what people are saying in a meeting, it’s a definite impediment to the “listening” part of communication.

Sandlin said she’s happy that problem has been solved since the Murray County Schools central office moved from a building near the bus barn to the recently renovated Old Rock Building on Green Street. Each board member and Superintendent Vickie Reed have microphones, and multiple projector screens allow audience members to see presentations.

Still, communication is a two-way street, Sandlin said.

“(Members of the public) need to come to the meetings for one thing, which would be great,” she said. “That helps us be able to present the information. We’re trying to encourage more people to keep coming.”

The school system posts video of its board meetings at www.murray.k12.ga.us, although the uploads are sometimes not posted until several weeks later.

“We’ll keep working on (communication),” Sandlin said. “I’m pleased with the way it’s gone so far.”

Rogers agreed.

“The more you get into (the job), the more you realize some of the things you’re wanting to put in place they’re already doing,” he said.

Parents can sign up to receive text messages about goings-on at individual schools, he said, and there is a lot of information on the school district’s newly revamped website, including instructions for contacting board members and other officials.

“The beauty of it is if you have a question, email whomever and you’ll get a response back,” he said.

As for concerns about bullying, board members aren’t saying much while the lawsuits remain in the courts’ hands. Sandlin said she believes each individual school “is very conscious of (bullying) and that they act accordingly.”

“I feel like they’re doing the best they can and what all the law will allow,” she said. “I have not seen anything where the school system has not tried to protect each and every child.”

Rogers said he was assured the school system “takes bullying very seriously” but couldn’t comment further because of the lawsuits.

Outside comments

Tunnel Hill resident James Stone said he is a tea party member who has attended a few school board meetings and had good experiences with individual board members.

“At least the ones I’ve asked direct questions of, I did get an answer,” he said.

Asked whether the school system is more open now or many years ago when his child was in school, Stone said things have improved.

“In fact, it might have been a little more difficult to get a direct question answered at that time,” he said. “At least, to give people credit, the ones I’ve spoken with here will answer a direct question.”

Still, he has concerns about whether the board spends its money wisely. It seems to him they just keep pushing for an ESPLOST, and while school officials have said it’s cheaper to buy an electronic reader than to purchase textbooks in every subject, Stone isn’t convinced that is the best use of taxpayer money.

Mary Thelma Norris, a regular at Whitfield school board meetings that involve financial talk, said she was disappointed the board didn’t find ways to spend less on rebuilding $24.1 million Eastbrook Middle School.

“Even in this economy, they did not take that into consideration,” she said.

She said she still feels there is “a real disconnect between the pubic and the school system” although she does respect Fordham.

In Murray County, tea party member Linda Fowler said there’s still room for improvement on that school board.

“It is true the work sessions and board meetings are open to the public,” she said. “In reality, if one cannot attend the monthly meetings, wait for the executive session (which is closed to the public) to end and then stay for the later open session, you do not know what decisions are actually made.”

The meetings sometimes last several hours. A summary of decisions made must by law be made available upon request three days after the meeting, and meeting minutes must be made public after they’re adopted, usually about a month after the fact. Yet videos of the meetings are sometimes not available for public review on the website for weeks or even months after the fact. Fowler said the procedures for speaking before the board are “burdensome” as participants must state their desire to speak in writing five days before a board meeting for any topic not listed on the agenda.

Sandlin said she’s open to changing that procedure if most people want it changed, but the current one is in place to give board members time to research and provide an answer for questions before they’re asked publicly. The Whitfield board allows speakers to speak with or without written notice, and the Dalton Board of Education in the past has allowed anyone to speak, although the city school board’s written policy requires people to sign up ahead of time.

“Hopefully,” Fowler said, “communication and transparency will improve in 2012 between the Murray Board of Education and the citizens they serve.”

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