Candidates weigh in on board of education videos
Just prior to the Haywood County Board of Education’s work session on Aug. 4, Chairman Chuck Francis unilaterally decreed that the meeting’s required minutes would be recorded manually.
The reason the work sessions — which take place before board meetings — would no longer be recorded on video was because Francis felt that some remarks had previously been taken out of context, especially ones earlier this year regarding the controversial shuttering of Central Elementary School.
While Francis’ decision conjures up images of smoky backrooms and shady deals, the dates and times of the school board’s work sessions are always publicly posted and are open to anyone.
However, most public meetings held by governments and school boards are poorly attended in the first place. Further expanding the discussion of board business into an additional work session outside the regular meeting makes it even less feasible that anyone — including the media — will attend and report on the board’s actions.
Francis assigned the recording of the meeting minutes to Superintendent Dr. Anne Garrett. Jonathan Jones, director of the North Carolina Open Government Coalition and instructor of media law, ethics and media writing at Elon University, called that decision “unusual but certainly not unheard of.”
Particularly concerning was the fact that Garrett had just become the highest-paid stenographer in all the land at more than $127,000 a year. Having her take minutes may also have been a conflict of interest, said Jones, and also would potentially inhibit her ability to participate fully in discussions.
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Shortly after announcing his decision, Francis penned a letter to the editor of the Haywood County newspaper The Mountaineer that acknowledged the outcry but didn’t quite reverse his decision.
“I welcome The Mountaineer’s camera to our work session,” he said in the letter.
However, the media — as well as the public — has always had the right to attend and record such proceedings.
Francis’ invitation also didn’t solve the problem of comments allegedly being taken out of context — “welcoming” a private entity like a media outlet to record the meetings enslaves the entire process to the resources and whims of the outlet’s publisher.
A few days later, however, Francis abruptly reversed his initial decision, announcing that the board would once again begin recording its own work sessions.
“I have listened to the public. My initial decision to stop videotaping the Haywood County Board of Education work sessions was a mistake. For that I apologize and accept responsibility for a poor decision,” he said in a statement Aug. 18.
And although Francis’ initial decision wasn’t actually put to a vote, there were no objections from the rest of the board at the time. Had there been, Francis said, the issue would have gone to the board for a vote.
Election issue?
Meanwhile, Francis is up for reelection in November, and four other seats on the board are in play. Candidates competing for those seats all support Francis’ reversal.
Craig Messer, who is running against Francis for the chairmanship of the Haywood County Board of Education, said he thought Francis’ initial decision was “silly” and therefore supports the recent change.
Scott Smith, who is running for one of two available seats in the Beaverdam District, said he believes “anything to do with public schools should be open to the public.”
Richard Lance, who is also running for a Beaverdam seat, said he felt that it was important to “rebuild confidence in the school board, so the public knows there’s no chicanery or nefariousness.”
The final Beaverdam candidate, Ronnie Clark, agreed.
“I understand the school board’s desire to act quickly on issues,” he said. “However, the board must retain the trust of the community. Transparency leads to trust. I believe we should tape the work sessions.”
Rebecca Benhart, who is competing for one of two Waynesville District seats, said she felt transparency was important. Her fellow Waynesville competitor, Anne Barrett, said she didn’t know anything about the issue but supports Francis’ reversal.
“If something comes up, we can always go back to the tape,” she said.
Kay Miller is also seeking a Waynesville seat.
“I didn’t think it was the initial decision,” she said, “but it’s good he responded to the public.”
Jim Harley Francis, a school board member who is seeking reelection to his Waynesville seat and is a distant cousin of Chairman Chuck Francis, said that he supports Chairman Francis’ reversal despite his lack of objection to Francis’ initial decision, about which he did have misgivings.
“But we’re taking notes, and those are public, and those work sessions are announced, and the public is more than welcome to come to any of those and sit in,” he said, echoing comments made by Chairman Francis in his letter to the Mountaineer.
“The major disappointment that I have expressed numerous times to citizens and media outlets,” he said in the letter, “is the lack of attendance at our meetings. There are many times that no one from the public or media outlets have bothered to come to our regular meetings, let alone our work sessions or committee meetings.”
