Letter to Governor and State Superintendents

Governor Bev Perdue


Dear Madam Governor:

I am sure the situation regarding the Burke County Board of Education has come to your attention. I have written about the Board’s exploits on my blog, www.barkburke.com for some time now.

I understand that you may be hearing from many Burke citizens regarding the handling of the superintendant’s (Mr. David Burleson’s) contract – as a lawyer, I think that the termination of the contract prematurely was a terrible decision fraught will all kinds of liability. I think that the majority school of the school board has been less than cordial to Mr. Burleson for years, and their treatment of him has been an embarrassment. If you have read anything about Mr. Burleson, you would find that he is an exceptionally nice, pleasant, capable person, and that there would be no reason to treat him with so much derision., let alone terminate his contract prematurely.

The superintendent issue is only one of many problems the school board has caused. To wit:

I have been contacted by several teachers who feel that they have “targets” on their backs. Ms. Norman has contacted school offices to see which teachers took days off on days that she held afternoon school board meetings regarding Mr. Burleson.

Mr. Buff has gone so far as to call principals and ask them who they voted for in the last school board election – not an actionable crime, but inappropriate nonetheless.

Ms. Norman spends hours at the central office going through personnel files.

Ms. Norman continually holds meetings in venues that do not accommodate the attending public, and people are made to wait outside of the building in which she holds the meetings. Ms. Norman was quoted in the local newspaper as saying “Mr. Burleson only has 200 supporters” and then insisted on having the meetings in a venue that accommodates 85 – demonstrating that she willfully holds meetings in small venues to limit public participation.

Ms. Norman stifles public comment. She has ruled that only items on the school board agenda can be discussed during a board meeting – so if a member of the public wants to talk about any other aspect of the school –needed repairs, praising teachers, commenting on curriculum – they are not allowed to speak.

Mr. Rob Hairfield has admitted sending emails containing racist jokes to friends and acquaintances. This is highly inappropriate and offensive to most of the citizens of Burke County.

Mr. Hairfield insists on being present at meetings in which the principal makes determinations regarding school budget, although these meetings should only include administrators and the principal.

Ms. Karen Sain votes according to her Christian Conservative constituency, and declares so in open meetings (you may hear her do so if you listen to the meeting recordings available on the school system website.)

In conclusion, we are very upset that we seem to have no recourse in this matter, and our legislators have told us there is nothing they will do. The SACS-CASI is a very serious issue, but several board members have commented that it does not concern them, and one even made the statement that the SACS-CASI issue has nothing to do with the board.

It is true that 3 members of the board come up for re-election in November. Although that is true, even if all three of these positions are filled by people who have a sense of their fiduciary duty to the schools and citizens of this county, the board majority that is running the system into the ground will still be in control.

Please help us.

Sincerely,

Catherine Thomas
1660 Plantation Ct.
Morganton, NC 28655
(828) 433-9207

PS - I am also including a recent letter to the board from the ACLU regarding the board's refusal to allow public comment.