The Bladen County Board of Education published an agenda for the Monday, April 19, 2021, board meeting in BoardDocs that stated, “Chairman Carroll will call for approval to conduct tonight’s meeting virtually and in-person.” Some Board of Education members were present in person, and others attended virtually. There were over ten people present and allowed to be in the meeting room or just outside the meeting room. The people allowed to attend the meeting in person were Bladen County Schools staff, board members, and a building contractor. However, Bladen County Schools blocked access to the media and a Bladen County Schools parent from attending the meeting.
Charlotte Smith with BladenOnline entered the Bladen County Schools office early, signed in, went to the meeting room, and started setting up to record the meeting. She was wearing a mask and socially distancing herself from others. A few minutes before the meeting started, a Bladen County Sheriff’s Deputy asked Smith to gather her belongings because she could not attend the meeting. He escorted Charlotte to the door.
As the new Bladen County Schools Superindent, Dr. Jason Atkinson, was swearing an oath to uphold the United States and North Carolina Constitutions administered by Niki Dennis, Clerk of Superior Courts, a rights violation was being made in the lobby. Mr. Daine Smith, a Bladen County Schools’ parent on the agenda to speak, was also told he could not attend the meeting and would have to wait in the lobby area until it was his time to address the Board. Charlotte asked the Deputy to call the Sheriff because her First Amendment rights were being violated.
After the meeting continued a while longer, Mrs. Valerie Newton with Bladen County Schools stepped out of the meeting, put her hand on Charlotte’s shoulder, and told her she could not be there even though she was with the press.
According to the Deputy, the Bladen County Sheriff, Jim McVicker, informed him not to remove Charlotte from the meeting. If Bladen County Schools wanted anyone removed, they would have to go and take a warrant out for their arrest at the magistrate’s office.
However, by this time, the meeting was well underway, and if Charlotte were to enter to cover the meeting, it would have been a disruption. Mr. Smith was called in to address the Board a few moments later, asked questions, and commented, but the Board did not answer any questions except the first three questions Mr. Smith asked.
“Can they see me?” Mr. Smith asked. “Yes, they can see you,” Mr. Roger Carroll, Bladen County Board of Education, replied.
“Is this an in-person meeting?” asked Mr. Smith. “Yes, it is,” Mr. Carroll replied.
Mr. Smith followed with, “If so, why can’t the media and I attend the meeting?”
Mr. Carroll stated the Board is following the Governor’s guidelines, and they were allowing Mr. Smith to address the Board.
Mr. Smith expressed his appreciation for the opportunity to speak to the Board and how he finds it unacceptable that the public has been completely isolated from the Board’s presence and that his questions to the Board have gone unanswered.
One of Mr. Smith’s concerns is the quick hiring of the new Superintendent, his lack of qualifications for the job, and the new proposed raise for Dr. Atkinson. According to Mr. Smith, Dr. Atkinson is licensed in Music K-12 and Instructional Technology Specialist – Computers. In contrast, the former Superintendent and some principals have much more experience and higher education.
Mr. Smith referenced prior communications to the Board that have gone unanswered. He said, “Maybe Dr. Atkinson is the best candidate; I don’t feel that any of you could say that with any certainty since no one else was considered. Truthfully, it’s most likely there were several violations in his hiring.”
Then he asked, “Could we, the parents in this district, get a commitment from this Board to be more thorough, take a little more time, maybe even select a sub-committee, and by all means be more transparent moving forward?”
After a long silent pause with no response from the Board, Mr. Smith said, “I’ll take that as a maybe.”
Mr. Smith also challenged the Board members to stop complaining about Charter Schools and start competing with them. He said, “Every time a student or teacher moves out of this public school system and into a Charter, it directly reflects the poor education or poor conditions they were experiencing in the public system. This School Board is ultimately responsible for our students and teachers.” Mr. Smith questioned the 2021-2022 Budget Projection on the evening’s agenda and asked why the Superindent was receiving a larger raise than the teachers.
Lastly, Mr. Smith mentioned the State’s adoption of a new Social Studies curriculum. He asked if the Board reviewed the new social study standards and if the local Board recommend any suggestions on standards to the NCDPI or the State Board of Education. Mr. Smith’s concerns were left unanswered by the Board members, and he left the meeting peacefully.
According to the Bladen County Schools 2021 – 2022 Budget Projection unanimously voted for by the Bladen County Board of Education during Monday’s meeting, the budget is based on the current year budget with an increase for salaries, retirement rate, and hospitalization rate.
The note on the front of the proposed budget draft states:
Increased salaries by 7.5%
Increased in retirement rate 1.5% (21.68% to 23.18%)
Increase in hospitalization rate 1.5% (6,326 to 6420)
In the details of the budget draft under CLASSROOM TEACHERS line items, it states:
SUPPLEMENT – TEACHER: Proposed Budget 2021-2022 – $773,010.97 and the Current Budget is $743,279.78, which is around a 4% increase.
STIPEND – TEACHER OF THE YEAR: Proposed Budget is $9,415.35, and the Current Budget is $9.053.22, which is around a 4% increase.
Under the CENTRAL OFFICE ADMINISTRATION line items, the draft states:
SALARY – DO Administrators: Proposed Budget is $406,792.49, and the Current Budget is $368,138.00, which is about a 10.5% increase.
SALARY – SUPERINTENDENT (18.25%): Proposed Budget $39,050.70 and the Current Budget is $35,340.00 which is about a 10.5% increase.
SUPPLEMENT – ADMINISTRATIVE: Proposed Budget is $48,665.31 and the Current Budget is $44,041.00 which is about a 10.5% increase.
BladenOnline requested an explanation of the proposed budget increases via email to all Bladen County Board of Education members and Mrs. Valarie Newton with Bladen County Schools. However, there has been no return correspondence from any of the Bladen County Schools officials at the time of publication.
During the Monday evening Board of Education meeting, Ms. Harrison explained parts of the Proposed 2021 -2022 Budget.
The Board is asking the county for an additional $213,529.46 over the 2020-2021 budget. According to Ms. Harrison, “the numbers are a projection based on the governor’s budget.” She told the board members the Superintendent’s proposed budget increase included hospitalizations, retirement, social security, and salary, but the teacher’s proposed budget increase doesn’t include the hospitalization or benefits. She also noted, “You know we don’t pay teacher’s salaries out of local funds. That’s only administrative funds.”
Charlotte Smith with BladenOnline also emailed all the board members and Mrs. Newton questions about the Budget Projection and a lawsuit noted on the agenda for Monday evening.
Below are the questions Charlotte asked in her email. Charlotte has asked questions about the Social Studies Standards to the Board of Education before, and emails have gone unreturned.
“Has the School Board reviewed the new social studies standards? What do you think of these standards? Has the local Board made any suggestions to NCDPI or the State Board of Education about our education standards?”
“Can you please explain the proposed pay raises for the teachers and the Superintendent in the Proposed budget? Are there any more proposed raises for our local teachers?”
“What is the Carter lawsuit concerning Bladen County Schools that was on the agenda?”
At the time of publication, no one has replied to Charlotte’s requests. Listen to part of the Board meeting on our YouTube channel linked below.
Other items covered during the meeting were as follows.
The Consent Agenda was approved.
The Action Items were approved, which included the Summer School and Reading Camp Pay, Banking RFP, and the Architectural Services for Tar Heel School Construction.
The Board approved changing their next Board meeting from May 10, 2021, to May 17, 2021, due to the Superindent being out of town.
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