Deborah Prickett accuses Susan Evans of "lying" about Panther Creek High ninth-grade deal

Wake County school board member Deborah Prickett is flinging some harsh words and accusations at fellow board member Susan Evans about how the decision was reversed to lease an office building for Panther Creek High's ninth-grade center.

In an email Friday sent to board members, Superintendent Tony Tata and other senior staff and the news media, Prickett accuses Evans of "lying" about her initial vote on the lease. Prickett writes that after rescinding the deal "we have no direction and nothing accomplished except Susan Evans feels better."

Here's the text of Prickett's email:

As I reflect on the circumstances surrounding rescinding the vote for the Panther Creek 9th grade center, I see confusion stemming from Susan Evans lying about her vote to the public and Board members. Now, there is conflict brewing between communities, stressors put unfairly on staff and other Board members, and misinformation that occupied the media (not necessarily their fault-anyone could have cause to pause) which resulted in a decision to take away choice from the public and undermine a Board vote. Let’s look a little more into the details (documentation is listed below).

When Susan Evans offered to air her feelings of insecurity on WRAL regarding her vote, she lead the reporter to believe that she cast a “no” vote. Did she fess up, contact the reporter, or try to set the record straight when this went into print and aired? No. She continued to send emails to parents, me, and other Board members that the vote was 6/3 or 7/2 (did other Board members say this, based on Cindy Sinkez’s email (see below), which Board members personally told her this?) raising doubts while commanding me not to send another email out in the community until I made sure the vote was right while copying the entire Board and staff in the process. Even after staff and I went to extremes to get the accurate vote count which by the way was 8/1 (only Jim Martin voting “no”), she let the air of doubt lurk in the public eye choosing not to correct her falsehoods—a plan that as we know today worked well for her. I see this act as undermining Board actions and misleading the public causing an atmosphere of fear and suspicion at the expense of Wake County families. All of this posturing resulted since Susan Evans was too angst-ridden to admit she didn’t like the way she voted and was bound and determined to change that affirmative vote no matter who or what was sacrificed. This action conflicts with the Code of Ethics for School Board members that state, “Take no private action that will compromise the Board or administration…”

Debra Goldman and I gladly said we would revisit the situation since we really did want to discuss the options more and seek public input. This was evident too as a motion was made at the Board table Feb. 21st at the Special Called Board meeting (9th grade center was the only action item) by Debra Goldman to reconsider site selections at the March 6th meeting giving time to process since we had two viable choices at this point. The motion failed with a 5/4 vote with the Republicans losing in an effort to seek public input. Now, we don’t have one choice at least for the 2012-13 school year or Board direction.

How can the vote go from 8/1 to 5/4 in a matter of days; being a workable idea Feb. 7th to an unattractive idea on Feb. 21st when nothing really changed even in another work session discussion except for possibly more emails from unapprised parents that were shifting in sentiment as more information was sent to them (I had approximately 50 emails)? We’ve discussed the concept for about 2 years in the context of facilities and growth. Why did Hill, Sutton, Kushner, and Evans change their vote? Why were GSIW members sitting and conversing with the parent on Feb. 21st who appeared on NBC-17 and other media venues and who emailed Susan Evans challenging the Pleasant Grove site for her rising 9thgrader? Again, we have no direction and nothing accomplished except Susan Evans feels better. Why did Chairman Hill place this item on the agenda for a vote in the first place (timing?), and why did Susan Evans send an email to the Chair, Vice-Chair, Superintendent, and staff members 2-11-12 (see below), requesting that she be involved in the agenda setting process which is done by the Chair, Vice-Chair, Superintendent, and key staff members?

So, we have a rescinded vote and no 9th grade center plans for the Panther Creek area, but, Susan Evans is relieved, awarded, and satisfied. Is this ethical behavior on the part of Susan Evans, and how often are we going to have to deal with this display of public pandering?
 
Deborah
 

Details:  For clarification, Cindy Sinkez is the Panther Creek parent who appeared on NBC-17 and staff first thought the vote was unanimous since the WCPSS audio tape that is used for minutes did not indicate any “no” votes. Jim Martin failed to turn on his microphone during this vote, and Martin’s faint “no “picked up only on the WRAL video. The WRAL video tape was ordered and reviewed and Board members were polled again; so, the final vote changed to 8/1. Everything below was copied and pasted from the actual email.

February 8, 2012, 3:57 PM

Ms. Sinkez,

Thank for sharing your thoughts on the 9th grade center. I must admit that, I too, am frustrated that this decision was put before the Board without much preliminary information and that we were pushed to vote on something so important as the location of a schoo,l without the benefit of time to weigh the options sufficiently and without the benefit of public notice. In hindsight, I wished that I had pushed to delay this vote and I will continue to ask questions of the Board and staff about how this could have been done better.

Best Regards,

Susan Evans

February 8, 2012, 8:24 PM

All,

I am sharing one of several emails I have received today. I am really feeling that the rushed decision on this was not in the best interest of the community. Please advise if there is any way to reconsider.

Thanks,

Susan

February 8, 2012, 8:27PM

To: Deborah Prickett/Superintendent/WCPSS@Staff
From: Susan Evans/Superintendent/WCPSS
Date: 02/08/2012 08:27PM
Cc: BoardMembers@STAFF, Anthony Tata/Superintendent/WCPSS@STAFF, Donald Macpherson Haydon/AuxiliarySvcs/WCPSS@Staff, Melissa Allen/Superintendent/WCPSS@STAFF
Subject: Re: Panther Creek 9th Grade center

Ms. Prickett,

I must clarify that last night's decision was not unanimous. I voted against it as did at least one other person, I believe. Please do NOT tell another parent that this was a unanimous decision.

Ms. Allen, can you please verify the vote on this from Tuesday nights meeting?

Thank you,

Susan Evans

February 8, 2012, 8:40 PM

Cindy,

I just wanted to say that Ms. Prickett's indication of a unanimous vote is inaccurate. I have asked the Board secretary, Melissa Allen, to review the minutes and confirm the vote, but it was either 6 to 3 or 7 to 2. I am not certain whether Ms. Prickeet's memory is bad or if something else is going on here???

Susan

To: Deborah Prickett/Superintendent/WCPSS@Staff
From: Cynthia <csinkez@nc.rr.com>
Date: 02/08/2012 08:59PM
Cc: Susan Evans/Superintendent/WCPSS@Staff, Melissa Allen/Superintendent/WCPSS@STAFF
Subject: Re: Panther Creek 9th Grade center

I was informed personally by 2 board members that they voted no on this item. I think that there needs to be review.

Cindy

Sent from my iPhone

To: Deborah Prickett/Superintendent/WCPSS@Staff
From: Susan Evans/Superintendent/WCPSS
Date: 02/08/2012 08:41PM
Subject: Re: Panther Creek 9th Grade center

I am sorry to hear the records are incorrect. But I did not vote for it and I am pretty sure I was not the only one.

To: Susan Evans/Superintendent/WCPSS@Staff
From: Deborah Prickett/Superintendent/WCPSS
Date: 02/08/2012 08:38PM
Cc: BoardMembers@STAFF, Anthony Tata/Superintendent/WCPSS@STAFF, Donald Macpherson Haydon/AuxiliarySvcs/WCPSS@Staff, Melissa Allen/Superintendent/WCPSS@STAFF
Subject: Re: Panther Creek 9th Grade center

Mrs. Evans,

I called Melissa today to get the results of the Board vote. She checked the information and told me the vote was unanimous in regards to the 9th grade center for Panther Creek.

Deborah

This is the original quote from the WRAL article 2-10-12 (which was recently corrected by reporter, Stacy Davis, when I sent email to her with the accurate voting results:

"We had no time to do outside investigation, ask questions, investigate the site. We had no time to get input from the community," said school board member Susan Evans, who voted against the move.

http://www.wral.com/news/education/wake_county_schools/story/10716195/

To: Deborah Prickett/Superintendent/WCPSS@Staff
From: Susan Evans/Superintendent/WCPSS
Date: 02/11/2012 08:35PM
Cc: amajestic@tharringtonsmith.com, BoardMembers@STAFF, Anthony Tata/Superintendent/WCPSS@STAFF, Cris Mulder/Communications/WCPSS@STAFF, Donald Macpherson Haydon/AuxiliarySvcs/WCPSS@Staff, Judith Peppler/Transformation/WCPSS@STAFF, Melissa Allen/Superintendent/WCPSS@STAFF,justinq@wncn.com, khui@newsobserver.com
Subject: Re: Agenda Items request for 2/21/12

Just to clarify...I am not quoted as saying that I voted against it. That is something the reporter decided to say on her own that was disappointing to me as I did not specifially say that. I was very careful, based on the fact that the open session vote was still being clarified. I suppose the reporter could assume I was not in favor, but in the interview I only discussed feeling like the Board had been rushed to make a decision without adequate time to perform due diligence. If you watch the interview you will see that I did not discuss the vote.

Susan
 

The emails below discuss Susan Evan’s desire to be a part of the agenda setting meetings and Chairman Hill’s response (notice the date this was sent, 2-11-12:

Susan,

I am not aware of any time over the last 4-5 years where anyone but leadership has been involved in the pre-board or executive committee meetings. This meeting is not a public meeting and provides the Chair and Vice-Chair an opportunity to brainstorm with the Superintendent, as well as setting the agenda for our public board meetings.

I am not inclined to open this meeting to various and/or rotating members of the Board. We usually complete business inside 45 minutes and effective use of time is important.

Thanks and have a good rest of the weekend!

Kevin

Kevin L. Hill, Chairman
Wake County Board of Education
District 3
Email: KLHill@wcpss.net
Vmail: 919.850.8867
Fax: 919.841.4377

-----Susan Evans/Superintendent/WCPSS wrote: -----

To: Kevin Hill/Superintendent/WCPSS@STAFF, Keith Sutton/Superintendent/WCPSS@Staff, Anthony Tata/Superintendent/WCPSS@STAFF, amajestic@tharringtonsmith.com, Melissa Allen/Superintendent/WCPSS@STAFF, Judith Peppler/Transformation/WCPSS@STAFF
From: Susan Evans/Superintendent/WCPSS
Date: 02/11/2012 07:51AM
Cc: BoardMembers@STAFF
Subject: Pre-Board Meetings

Leaders,

I have been told by previous School Board members that any member of the Board can attend the Pre-Board (Executive Committee Meeting) where the agendas for the next Board meetings are discussed, if they wish. I am interested in attending these on occasion and would like to clarify whether there is a policy that addresses this one way or the other.

If this is acceptable, I would like for the time and place of these meetings to be made known to us on the Weekly Board Postings that Ms. Allen sends our to us each week.

Thank you,

Susan Evans