Andrews – The will of the board was one thing, but the decision was quite another, thanks to Robert’s Rules of Order.
The Cherokee County Board of Education seemed ready to end its six-month controversy Thursday night over removing valedictorians and other individual honors. However, a lengthy discussion, two abstentions and a free civics lesson on parliamentary procedure resulted in no changes to the new Latin Honors System, which was put in place for this school year in the spring.
The affair is not over yet, as one board member plans to bring this back for a final vote in November in response to a handful of parents who have been outspoken about their kids getting a chance to finish what they started.
On Thursday, board member Tim West proposed a grandfather clause that would let both systems operate for the next three graduating classes. Frank and Jamie Hill spoke in public forum in support of the move, with Jamie firing back on things that have been said publicly throughout this process.
“I am angry that my involvement in my child’s education is questioned,” Jamie Hill said, adding that the controversy was an attempt to “put a Band-Aid on something and shut parents up.”
Tracy Palmer, who also has been outspoken since the summer, said, “It is not OK to hurt one child to help others.”
“The kids feel like they are being punished. They are trained to follow rules, now they have changed the rules.”
Hill and Palmer both said they support the Latin system. They just want it to run in concert with the old system for the current upperclassmen.
Keesha Curtis, the policy chairperson who brought the matter back up for discussion in the first place, was ill Thursday and not in attendance. The vote was postponed from the September meeting as well because only four members attended, which proved critical to the outcome again this time.
Dr. Jeff Martin and Chairman Jeff Tatham said they would abstain from voting on the matter. Martin’s daughter, Ellie, was salutatorian last year, while Tatham has a child in the ninth grade participating in AIG classes.
The remaining members voted 3-1 to grandfather the next three classes in, but Robert’s Rules declare that a seven-member board must have “an affirmative vote of a majority of the whole membership of the council.”
Without Curtis’ vote, the measure was defeated. A second vote was taken on a previous amendment to allow the top two students to speak at graduation, but that, too, was put down by a 3-2 vote – leaving everyone back where they started when the new policy was passed.
Superintendent Jeana Conley said after the latter vote that she was disappointed to see that compromise element of the policy be removed. For the moment, that leaves the decision on graduation speakers in the principals’ hands.
Curtis, recovered from her illness over the weekend, said Monday she will bring the matter to a head at the next meeting, one way or the other.
“I want it to come to a correct vote, and after that I’m done,” she said. “I absolutely am in favor of grandfathering the kids in, and I feel very strongly about it. I feel like it is not fair to the kids who have worked hard toward this goal, but we need to make the decision final one way or the other.”
Curtis confirmed she would have been the fourth vote to add the amendment had she not been ill. Despite his abstention, Martin questioned whether the amendment was right for the school system.
“Does this get us where we want to go? Dr. (Lisa) Fletcher’s plan was trying to get us there,” he said.
Tatham said after the meeting that his abstention was meant to keep his vote from being perceived as having anything to do with his son’s situation, though the motion on the floor at the time was only for grades 10 and up. West proposed an additional amendment for the freshmen, which includes Tatham’s son, but that never made it to a vote.
The next school board meeting is at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14, at Peachtree Elementary School.