Not everything went the way the new Wake County school board majority wanted today.
Because of an error, the board was unable to vote tonight on the terms of the contract with Thomas Farr to be special interim legal counsel. It's likely though more a case of delaying the inevitable.
Here's the background.
The Farr resolution had been added to today's agenda as a policy related action item. It was lumped in with 33 revisions to policy that are considered minor.
For the past year, the board has been routinely approving revisions to policy as part of an ongoing review. The board has been reviewing the policy changes at the committee of the whole meeting before voting on them during the regular meeting.
But the new board has had so much to do since December that the policies have never been discussed during COW. As a result, tney've been pulled from agenda.
The same thing happened today when the board agreed to pull all the policy items when they adopted the agenda. The problem, unknown at the time, is that it also meant they dropped the Farr resolution.
Later on, school board chairman Ron Margiotta realized the error. But board attorney Ann Majestic said that now that the agenda had been passed it would required a two-thirds majority to amend the agenda.
Margiotta said he'd call a special meeting just to vote on Farr because the odds of getting a two-thirds vote on this issue aren't good.
But when school board member Keith Sutton said he'd vote to amend the agenda because it was going to be approved eventually anyway, Margiotta called for a vote.
But Kevin Hill, Anne McLaurin and Carolyn Morrison voted no. With Sutton, they had five votes. But Margiotta couldn't provide the sixth vote because he can only vote when there's a tie.
Look for Margiotta to schedule the special meeting soon.
Comments
Speaking of COW, where can I
Tue, 01/05/2010 - 23:35 — WakeCountyParentSpeaking of COW, where can I find the minutes of these meetings?
There was a span of about 15 mins today during COW that I thought they were ALL crazy for sitting in that cramped little room. It's no wonder the BoE makes so little progress in getting things accomplished. Just when you think you have an issue ironed out and are ready to move forward, one of your colleagues jumps in to stir the pot. Yes, Mr. Sutton, I am looking at you, sir.
You're going to have to get
Tue, 01/05/2010 - 23:41 — KeungHui (author)You're going to have to get them directly from the district. Only the minutes of the regular meetings are posted online. I have the minutes for each COW meeting as part of the board packet I get.
While the room is cramped, past boards have said it promotes more collegial atmosphere sitting around a table with staff to discuss things.
Cutting off your nose to spite your face....
Tue, 01/05/2010 - 23:30 — Bob_SconceSo, Hill, McLaurin and Morrison would rather schedule a special meeting for a single resolution than just allow the resolution to be voted on tonight.
I don't see any principled reason for making that choice. All it does is add more work for everybody. It's silly.
Is it the case that the chair is barred from voting unless there's a tie, or is it only tradition?
It's board policy that the
Tue, 01/05/2010 - 23:44 — KeungHui (author)It's board policy that the chair can only vote to break ties. (The rule has been winked at work sessions.) They've looked at changes over the year but never dropped this policy restriction.
At one point early last decade, a civil rights complaint was filed by a parent because their board member, Bill Fletcher, couldn't vote when he was chair. The parents claimed they were being denied proper representation. It was dismissed by the feds.