Does school board shift signal a change? | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    The Beaufort County Board of Education changed officers at its January 15, 2013 meeting. Cindy Winstead was elected chair, replacing Mac Hodges and Terry Williams was elected vice-chair to succeed Winstead who had been serving as vice chair.

    The election was delayed a month due to the absence of a board member in December when officers are normally elected. You can watch the election in the video clip below. What you will not be able to see in the video is who voted for whom. As we understand it, subject to correction when the official minutes are published, those voting for Winstead were: Mike Isbell, who made the nomination, Barbara Boyd-Williams, Terry Williams, Carolyn Walker and Winstead. Voting for Hodges were: Theresa Banks, Eltha Booth, E. C. Peed and Hodges.

    Winstead took over presiding and called for nominations for vice-chair. Mike Isbell nominated Terry Williams while Etha Booth was nominated by E. C. Peed. Voting for Williams were: Mike Isbell, Theresa Banks, Cindy Winstead, Carolyn Walker and Williams. Voting for Booth were: Barabara Boyd-Williams, E. C. Peed, Mac Hodges and Booth.

    You can watch and listen to the action in the video clip below:



    At the same meeting Supreintendent Don Phipps gave a presentation on School Safety and Security. You can hear that presentation in the clip below:



    Commentary

    The election of Cindy Winstead may signal a fundamental change for the Beaufort County Board of Education. We certainly hope so. Although Winstead is a veteran board member, she has not been viewed as being in the "good ole boy inner circle" of power that Hodges was in for many years, even before he became chair. Hodges is the kind of board member who has a reputation for wheeling and dealing behind the scenes, and as some would say, "under the table." Hodges has been at the heart of several scandals in the school system, not the least of which was the debacle when he interfered with the assignment of five teachers at Eastern Elementary school in what was widely viewed as retaliation against the teachers in favor of his wife, who was pushing a high-priced reading program that was later shot down as a result of corruption with owners of the publishing company and key staff people at the U. S. Department of Education. Hodges' wife ran that program for the N. C. Department of Public Instruction and was therefore associated with the scandal, whether she was to blame or not. The Eastern teachers saw through the charade and opposed the program. Hodges worked with Jeff Moss, the then superintendent to have them moved out of Eastern. With the support of the NCAE, two of the teachers filed suit and the school board eventually settled out of court by paying them for damages and legal fees.

    Hodges was also seen as a strong ally of former chairs Bryant Hardison, who led the board in the filing of a funding lawsuit against the county and with Robert Belcher who also got the school system in legal trouble with student discipline cases that eventually went all the way to the N. C. Supreme Court. The school system lost those cases also.

    But the most notable scandal with which Hodges was associated was the spending overrun on the school bond issue. The board went six million dollars over budget and ended up building more excess space (1200 seats) where it was not needed and under-building where more space was needed. Those 1200 excess seats are the equivalent of 3 schools, or a minimum of 20 million wasted.

    Both Belcher and Hodges were slow to realize the dud they had in Jeff Moss and supported him in many things that cost dollars, lost public support and demoralized many employees. The system lost several of its best people because of Moss.. They hid a million dollars in the school food service fund while they were suing the county claiming they didn't have enough money.

    Our bias against both Blecher and Hodges is more with the way they operated than with the specific results, as bad as they were. They have been the least transparent school board chairs we have ever known in over 44 years of observing and working with school boards. Typically, under their leadership the board spent as much, if not more, time in closed session as it did in open session. They used a committee system that split each board member's involvement in board matters and resulted in the public not seeing how most of the decisions were actually made.

    Again, while Winstead has served on the board during this time, to her credit she did on occasion challenge what Blecher and Hodges were doing. But there were times when she looked to be becoming "one of the gang." She shepherded the building of one of the most expensive "weight rooms" that has ever been built in the region at "her" school (Northside). But one could argue that her efforts were nothing compared to what Belcher and Hodges did for their districts in "buying" their continued re-elections with "low information voters." (Keep'em in the dark and bank on name recognition.)

    So hopefully the dumping of Hodges is a signal that this school board, as currently constituted, will turn over a new leaf and become more responsible and transparent in how they operate. That remains to be seen and will likely not be determined solely by Winstead but rather by the next school board election or two. Change comes slowly sometimes, but eventually good people come forward and with Carolyn Walker's election this past time to replace Belcher, who was elected to the County Commission, and the other members who were not a part of the Belcher/Hodges dynasty now appearing to be taking control, maybe, just maybe there is hope. We have an excellent superintendent now and a solid leadership staff. If Winstead leads the board to function the way school boards are supposed to work with good superintendents then we believe Beaufort County has a bright future.

    But Winstead will face big challenges. The system is slowly losing students and becoming more minority. Then while the total population is static there are major shifts in the demographics, not the least of which is in the Washington Attendance Area where most of the excess seats are located (with the exception of Aurora and Southside) while the growth is next door in Chocowinity. Thus, student re-assignment looms in Winstead's future. That will require strong leadership, particularly in dealing with the budget crunch, the planning function, and in generating public involvement and support--something this board has been very weak in.

    We wish her well and commend those board members who voted for a change. But stay tuned. We'll let you know how it goes.