UPDATED…
It was rather frightening to watch at 12:30am this morning. I thought I dozed off and was dreaming. But I wasn’t.
It was our school board, who after emerging from a two-hour closed session, reconvened at 12:30am to discuss (again) Eastern Guilford High School, specifically the Eastern-only Bond, and saying on-the-record that the County Commissioners promised to pay for the rebuilding of the school, bond or no bond.
The frightening part was watching GCS Board chairman Alan Duncan, who went into a 10-minute diatribe blasting and bad-mouthing the county commissioners, nearly calling them liars.
“They’re simply not telling the truth,” was the phrase Duncan repeated several times, in referring to recent published statements from the commissioners about the Eastern-only bond, and their recent vote a few weeks ago.
Coupled with Terry Grier’s recent FOX-8 interview, all they’re doing is stirring up bad blood between both boards, and someone is going to have to go in and clean up this mess.
Maybe…just maybe, it’s time to lock both boards up in a room, throw away the key, and force them to iron out their differences. Because right now, they’re acting like children…actually worse. My seven-year old acts better than some of these folks. It’s embarrassing to the county, it’s embarrassing to the state, and our children are the ones getting hurt.
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UPDATED, 2/1/08, 11:09AM: N&R has an updated story, as Duncan’s rant was in context with the Board “deciding not to stand in the way” of the County Commissioners adding an Eastern-only bond to the May ballot.
Joint coverage from Piedmont Publius here.
E.C. 🙂
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Guilford School Watch 
This is no way to do the public’s business. Like it or not, the school board and the county commissioners have no choice but to work together. More importantly, they all work for us – the taxpayers.
Alan Duncan should be ashamed of himself for playing politics with the Eastern Guilford High School situation. Those kids deserve a replacement school as soon as possible. Pointing fingers and calling names isn’t going to get that done.
Like I said in an earlier post, Duncan has been school board chairman for five years and the results have been underwhelming. It’s time for someone else to get a shot at leading the board of education.
I agree, JS. What I saw last night was a an elected official that was not a good steward of the public trust. And it’s happening more and more and more. It’s tiring and bothersome. It’s a huge slap in the face to the EGHS family, who have to endure these wounds all over again. It’s sad.
[…] Huey is a better man than I am. Long after I was in dreamland, Huey sat up and watched the Guilford County Board of Education emerge from a lengthy two-hour session, after which board […]
There appears to be more to the story. This week’s Rhino Times had some insightful comments from County Commissioner Billy Yow, who says the school board can’t vote to remove a bond from the ballot – only the commissioners can do that.
So all this talk of the school board “not standing in the way” is just that – talk. The school board never had the power to take Eastern Guilford off the bond in the first place. The vote they took last week was just a bluff; it had no real legal authority.
As it turns out, Billy Yow called Alan Duncan on his bluff. Looks like the ol’ country boy outsmarted the high-powered attorney.
Careful Alan Duncan, you might find yourself on a T-shirt illustrated by our friend, Billy Yow!