School Board Meets
July 5 2022
Lo, Brooke and Phoebe being sworn to service
Voters had their
way May 10th when they selected 3 new School Boardsters to
serve County Clay. Those three newbies shown above were sworn
into office Tuesday July 5th and took their seats up front in
the Pentagon. Let the revolution begin...
Actually,
the Board of Edumacation held two public meetings on the
5th. With newbies comin to power, the first meeting was an
organizational meeting where leadership positions were
decided followed by a regular meeting of the group.
The fun fest began at 6pm.
Before any of that, how about some background.
Retired Superintendent Kenneth Tanner (KT) learned a lesson early in his administration. KT replaced the retiring Somber Super, Larry Gillespie. As is often the case with retiring employees, they are rehired as part timers for cherry jobs like cluck of the works and/or rehired as substitute teachers, etc. KT put Gillespie's name on the agenda to be a sub without checking with the Board Prez, RB Legg. When that item came up for a vote, Boardsters Dave Mullins and O Gene King shot it down big time. There was egg on KT's face and of course, embarrassment for Gillespie. It was a learning process for the new Superintendent: Nothing is certain and foundations have to be laid ahead of time.
The current Superintendent, Pretty Boy Paxton, is now in the learning phase and would be wise to run everything past the board well ahead of time.
Before any of that, how about some background.
Retired Superintendent Kenneth Tanner (KT) learned a lesson early in his administration. KT replaced the retiring Somber Super, Larry Gillespie. As is often the case with retiring employees, they are rehired as part timers for cherry jobs like cluck of the works and/or rehired as substitute teachers, etc. KT put Gillespie's name on the agenda to be a sub without checking with the Board Prez, RB Legg. When that item came up for a vote, Boardsters Dave Mullins and O Gene King shot it down big time. There was egg on KT's face and of course, embarrassment for Gillespie. It was a learning process for the new Superintendent: Nothing is certain and foundations have to be laid ahead of time.
The current Superintendent, Pretty Boy Paxton, is now in the learning phase and would be wise to run everything past the board well ahead of time.
With 12 or
more in the peanut gallery, long serving David Pierson
conducted the organizational meeting after Lo Nutter, Phoebe
Nichols and Brooke Jones raised their right hand and affirmed
to follow the law of the land. First up was selecting a new
Board President. In what felt like a planned out strategy,
Brooke nominated Phoebe for Board Chair. Dave Pierson brought
forth Susan Bodkins name for consideration. The vote went 3 to
2 with Phoebe coming out on top, the winner. The coup was
starting.
What happened?
The guy with the most experience, the guy that rarely misses a public meeting, and the most likely person to take the reigns, why wasn't he (Pierson) selected for the top spot? Why didn't Susan nominate Pierson for the high perch?
Well, in May, Clayberry voters tossed out the old guard and sought change. The three newbies knew that and organized ahead of time. Our guess, they came up with a plan of attack.
Dave Pierson ain't no dummy and could tell which way the wind was blowing. Nobody wants to get set out on a limb only to have it cut off. Dave Pierson nominated Susan Bodkins to test the wawa. With the newbies walking in lock step, team action, he knew not to submit his name to be Prez of the Board.
New Prez Phoebe nominated Brooke Jones as the VP. Still walking in unison, Brooke was elected VP of the Sch Bd.
They also have to decide future meetings dates, times, and locations for the next 6 months. Instead of doing that, as Joe Paxton was asking, the group held off off that vote til the next regular meeting of the Bd.
The entire organizational meeting took less than 9 minutes.
Each Boardster receives the upcoming meeting agenda a few days before the meeting via the US Mail. As usual, that happened last week. But, there was a glitch, Mercedes Paxton goofed up. He put the cart before the horse
On the cover letter (that we saw) that came with the agenda, thinking business would be as usual, David Pierson's name was typed in as Board Prez. That went over like a you know what in the punch bowl. Paxton had blundered. He had taken something for granted. He didn't know his history.
OK, with everybody in their chosen seat, the regular meeting of the School Board got underway at 11 minutes after 6pm. Phoebe Nichols opened up with: Glad everyone is here.... thanks for your support... I am not the most experienced ..... I love the schools, kids and will always put the kids first... " I will do my very best." .... I am happy to do it.
Let's see now...Alicia Johnson was hired as Asst Volley Ball Coach at CCHS and Rene Moore took a different bus run for the coming year.
How about this for a gold star moment.
Before the Alicia Johnson vote to hire, Brooke Jones told the assembled that Alicia is her niece, wanted some guidance as to whether she should vote the motion or abstain, and "I want this to be clear." Paxton provided: the nepotism law is for close relatives like husband, wife, sisters, and brothers. With that advice and with a nod from Dave Pierson, in the end, Jones voted with the majority and the new coach was hired.
That was a good move on Ms Jones' part.
In the way of good news, the Clayberry school system received another 5 year Century 21st grant which averages out to a little over $400,000 fresh $$$ for the Pentagon each year.
Background: On Jan 29th of this year, despite their best arm twisting and dastardly deeds, the long standing School Excess Levy was shot down by the voters in a big way. Those extra millions have been the cash cow for pet projects and freed up state funds for other desired items of interest. Needless to say, the loss, that was smarts for the administration. The current Levy dollars ended July 1st.
And now... and now.... a discussion item for this meeting, Paxton "just putting this on the table"... get it on the radar.... open a line of communications...." , the renewing of the Excess Levy.
According to Pretty Boy, the law has been changed of recent and now provides, excess levies can ONLY be on a ballot during Nov General Elections which happen every two years.
Why the change? We'll tell ya.
Board's were so egregious, they would try to float a levy every 90 days as allowed by the old law, until the darn thangs passed.. after wearing down the voters!
To get this levy on the Nov 22 ballot, the decision has to be voted by August 1st. Time is critical. Look for the Levy vote to come during the next Board meeting on July 25th.
As the 30 minute meeting was ending, Superintendent Paxton congratulated the newbies and provided, "Change is good"
The first Boardsters out the door were Dave Pierson and Susan Bodkins. Their days of being in the quorum, they may be over for a while.
Let's talk about Paxton and his new Board.
When Mr P took over, test scores were bearable, the student population was much larger, he had many seasoned teachers doing good work. Since then, everything has gone to pot. There was even an insurrection at Clay High. Those problems include our coverage of a possible criminal investigation into how the Pentagon conducted the Levy election.
Since Feb '22, we've been basing our snippets of those transgressions on letters from the Sec of State's office. So far, those letters have not been published while the criminal investigation has been in progress. We know an investigator has been in the county asking questions at least once, in person.
The new Boardsters have to get the information directly from Paxton. They have to know how much truth there is into our BS, who's paying his attorney fees, when will the investigation be over, and a bunch of other stuff. To do that, they most likely have to call a secret time.
On the other side, think how bunched up Mr Paxton's shorts must be. Their even more bunched up with the new quorum in place. If that criminal investigation goes South, his days in any school system, it's over. If there's an investigation into how Mrs Pretty Boy handled things after election day over at Clay Elem, things are really over.
He's got a bunch on his plate for sure.
Putting six and two together and coming up with seven, there is a need for strong leadership in our school system. The three newbies appear to be moving on the right track. Good!
AW
What happened?
The guy with the most experience, the guy that rarely misses a public meeting, and the most likely person to take the reigns, why wasn't he (Pierson) selected for the top spot? Why didn't Susan nominate Pierson for the high perch?
Well, in May, Clayberry voters tossed out the old guard and sought change. The three newbies knew that and organized ahead of time. Our guess, they came up with a plan of attack.
Dave Pierson ain't no dummy and could tell which way the wind was blowing. Nobody wants to get set out on a limb only to have it cut off. Dave Pierson nominated Susan Bodkins to test the wawa. With the newbies walking in lock step, team action, he knew not to submit his name to be Prez of the Board.
New Prez Phoebe nominated Brooke Jones as the VP. Still walking in unison, Brooke was elected VP of the Sch Bd.
They also have to decide future meetings dates, times, and locations for the next 6 months. Instead of doing that, as Joe Paxton was asking, the group held off off that vote til the next regular meeting of the Bd.
The entire organizational meeting took less than 9 minutes.
Each Boardster receives the upcoming meeting agenda a few days before the meeting via the US Mail. As usual, that happened last week. But, there was a glitch, Mercedes Paxton goofed up. He put the cart before the horse
On the cover letter (that we saw) that came with the agenda, thinking business would be as usual, David Pierson's name was typed in as Board Prez. That went over like a you know what in the punch bowl. Paxton had blundered. He had taken something for granted. He didn't know his history.
OK, with everybody in their chosen seat, the regular meeting of the School Board got underway at 11 minutes after 6pm. Phoebe Nichols opened up with: Glad everyone is here.... thanks for your support... I am not the most experienced ..... I love the schools, kids and will always put the kids first... " I will do my very best." .... I am happy to do it.
Let's see now...Alicia Johnson was hired as Asst Volley Ball Coach at CCHS and Rene Moore took a different bus run for the coming year.
How about this for a gold star moment.
Before the Alicia Johnson vote to hire, Brooke Jones told the assembled that Alicia is her niece, wanted some guidance as to whether she should vote the motion or abstain, and "I want this to be clear." Paxton provided: the nepotism law is for close relatives like husband, wife, sisters, and brothers. With that advice and with a nod from Dave Pierson, in the end, Jones voted with the majority and the new coach was hired.
That was a good move on Ms Jones' part.
In the way of good news, the Clayberry school system received another 5 year Century 21st grant which averages out to a little over $400,000 fresh $$$ for the Pentagon each year.
Background: On Jan 29th of this year, despite their best arm twisting and dastardly deeds, the long standing School Excess Levy was shot down by the voters in a big way. Those extra millions have been the cash cow for pet projects and freed up state funds for other desired items of interest. Needless to say, the loss, that was smarts for the administration. The current Levy dollars ended July 1st.
And now... and now.... a discussion item for this meeting, Paxton "just putting this on the table"... get it on the radar.... open a line of communications...." , the renewing of the Excess Levy.
According to Pretty Boy, the law has been changed of recent and now provides, excess levies can ONLY be on a ballot during Nov General Elections which happen every two years.
Why the change? We'll tell ya.
Board's were so egregious, they would try to float a levy every 90 days as allowed by the old law, until the darn thangs passed.. after wearing down the voters!
To get this levy on the Nov 22 ballot, the decision has to be voted by August 1st. Time is critical. Look for the Levy vote to come during the next Board meeting on July 25th.
As the 30 minute meeting was ending, Superintendent Paxton congratulated the newbies and provided, "Change is good"
The first Boardsters out the door were Dave Pierson and Susan Bodkins. Their days of being in the quorum, they may be over for a while.
Let's talk about Paxton and his new Board.
When Mr P took over, test scores were bearable, the student population was much larger, he had many seasoned teachers doing good work. Since then, everything has gone to pot. There was even an insurrection at Clay High. Those problems include our coverage of a possible criminal investigation into how the Pentagon conducted the Levy election.
Since Feb '22, we've been basing our snippets of those transgressions on letters from the Sec of State's office. So far, those letters have not been published while the criminal investigation has been in progress. We know an investigator has been in the county asking questions at least once, in person.
The new Boardsters have to get the information directly from Paxton. They have to know how much truth there is into our BS, who's paying his attorney fees, when will the investigation be over, and a bunch of other stuff. To do that, they most likely have to call a secret time.
On the other side, think how bunched up Mr Paxton's shorts must be. Their even more bunched up with the new quorum in place. If that criminal investigation goes South, his days in any school system, it's over. If there's an investigation into how Mrs Pretty Boy handled things after election day over at Clay Elem, things are really over.
He's got a bunch on his plate for sure.
Putting six and two together and coming up with seven, there is a need for strong leadership in our school system. The three newbies appear to be moving on the right track. Good!
AW