Rules were not followed earlier
Murphy – Jamie Hill asked the the Cherokee County Board of Education on March 12 to do what’s “right,” but so far no board members have shown interest in doing so.
Last fall, the board thought it was unable to pass a grandfathering clause for a policy that eliminated valedictorians and salutatorians across the district. However, according to Hill’s research on Robert’s Rules of Order and parliamentary procedure, including speaking with national experts, the votes were there for the clause to be adopted.
During the October meeting, the vote was three in favor, one opposed and two abstentions. At the November meeting, the vote was four in favor, one opposed and two abstentions.
Both times, the board believed the vote failed because a two-thirds vote was required, including abstentions. However, Hill learned that the abstentions shouldn’t have counted, and that it should have passed.
She asked that the board bring up the issue again and vote the same way – this time counting correctly.
“If I knew that procedures weren’t executed properly, I would want to go back and correct them,” Hill said.
As of last week, no board members had informed Superintendent Jeana Conley that they would like to revisit the grandfathering clause at the next meeting. Board Chairman Jeff Tatham said he had no interest in redoing the vote.
“I do feel like even the ones that supported the grandfathering have moved on and would not want to see it brought up again,” he said, “but I could be wrong.”