Ashley Hunter, ECB Publishing, Inc.
Starting the regularly scheduled school board meeting on Monday, Sept. 10, the Jefferson County School Board handled the approval of the consent agenda before moving on to comments from the public.
It was a packed house on Sept. 10 as multiple groups and individuals gathered to express their concerns or opinions before the board.
“So much false information has gone out about this board,” said Board member Shirley Washington, adding that sometimes when she hears information being spread about the school board, she doesn't even recognize her board under all the 'false news'.
“If you have any questions tonight, please, ask us for clarity,” Washington added.
Starting the citizen comments session was Jefferson County local – Meery Ann Frisby.
As she approached the guest podium, Frisby posed a question pertaining to the board member's involvement with the various organizations or churches who had recently posed interest in either the old Jefferson Elementary campus or Howard Middle School campus.
“If there is a conflict, I think the board should declare it. If there's not a conflict, then that's the way it goes...I think the public ought to know if there's a conflict,” said Frisby, asking the board to publicly state at that meeting whether they were, or weren't, members of either the First Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Association (who is interested in Howard Middle School); True Wisdom New Hope IDC (who is interested in Howard Middle School); or the 11th Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Inc. (who is interested in Jefferson Elementary School).
Following Frisby's request, School Board Attorney Tom Reeves advised the board members that should they be members of those organizations or members of a church that is affiliated with those groups, he would recommend they reveal that information.
“Certainly, if you were involved in one of those churches, that would be something you'd want to reveal,” said Reeves. “I don't know if that would necessarily be a conflict, but it might.”
Board members Charles Boland, Gladys Roann-Watson, and Bill Brumfield all denied having any personal connection to the organizations that Frisby was inquiring about.
When it came to Board member Shirley Washington's turn to speak, she requested Attorney Reeves clarify what direction he was giving the board in this matter.
“I think I said that if you were involved in one of those churches, you'd probably want to reveal that. It depends on your capacity with the church whether or not there'd be conflict,” said Reeves.
At this point, Frisby again asked her question of personal involvement with the groups but directed it to Washington.
“I'm not denying my church,” said Washington (though she did not clarify to which group her church belonged).
“I'm not asking you to, I'm just asking if there's conflict,” Frisby said, before asking Chairperson Sandra Saunders if she was affiliated in any way with one of the groups.
“I am a member of the 11th Episcopal District and very proud of it,” said Chairperson Saunders.
Mary Ann Frisby thanked the board members and left the podium
The second citizen speaker for the evening was Earlene Knight, who addressed the board regarding her concerns related to the possible sale or lease of Howard Middle School.
“Why are we considering leasing for one dollar a year when we have been offered $300,000?” asked Knight, as a beginning to her session at the podium.
Board member Washington asked Knight to clarify which building she was referring to, and after Knight directed their attention towards Howard Middle School, Board member Bill Brumfield spoke up, saying that the board had not made a decision on which, if either, offer to accept.
“I didn't say decided; I said why are we considering leasing it for a dollar when we've been offered $300,000 to get it off our hands?” Knight again
“I'm going to speak for myself right now,” said Brumfield. “We have to be fair to everybody. If you came up and said 'I'll give you $10 a year', we'd listen to you. We can't tell people 'no, you don't have any money so we aren't going to do it.' I think the fair thing is that we let people who want to be [involved], voice what they'd like to do.”
Earlene Knight stated that she understood the concept of listening to everyone's offer, but reiterated that of the two parties, one was making an offer of $300,000, while another was just $1.
“Earlene, you're missing the point. We have not decided to start with – but the thing I'm saying is, we did have a group that came to us and they wanted it for a dollar a year, and we had another group show up and they wanted to buy it,” Brumfield said.
Brumfield also added that any decision made by the board would still need to pass the approval of the Department of Education, and that it would be wrong of the board to ignore the group that came before them first (The First Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Association) just because the second group (True Wisdom New Hope) had offered more money.
Earlene Knight attempted to continue speaking, but Brumfield interjected over her: “I know what you're saying, Earlene.”
“I have one other question for you, Mr. Brumfield,” Earlene Knight continued, before questioning if the school board lawyer was drafting up 11th Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Inc.'s proposal for the Jefferson Elementary School, and if it meant that county taxpayers were paying for Reeves' services in this occasion.
“I'm sure he's getting paid for it, yeah. But you are missing the point,” Brumfield added before he launched back into the fairness of considering everyone equally no matter what money they initially brought to the table. “We're trying to be fair.”
Not finished, Knight continued: “I just want to know, are we paying for the lawyer?”
At this point, the conversation between citizen and school board had mostly been between Earlene Knight and Board member Bill Brumfield, but Board member Washington spoke up now.
“I want to say this...Jefferson High School – Jefferson County High – all those buildings are being utilized. The Board gave all of those buildings to the county for a dollar and nobody said anything,” Washington stated.
According to Washington, her concerns were that the recent negativity regarding the School Board's options to lease or sell Howard Middle School as well as Jefferson Elementary School was due to the fact that both schools had histories as African-American schools.
“Nobody said anything about Jefferson County High School when all of those buildings are being utilized now for a dollar. It's so amazing how, because these two black schools are being recommended that so many people have something to say,” added Washington. “Look at the A Building, look how much money being put into the A Building over at the high school, but no one is saying anything about that...everything is fine there. It's amazing how everybody so concerned now about Jefferson Elementary and Howard Middle School.”
Further, Washington shared School Board Policy 6.504, which regards the policies for the disposal of school property and states: “The School Board shall take diligent measures to dispose of real property only in the best interests of the public. Disposal may be by sale to the public, by sale or transfer to governmental entities, or by sale or donation to nonprofit entities.”
“This board has the authority to do this,” said Washington.
For the first time during the citizen comments section, Board member Charles Boland spoke up, sharing his own viewpoints regarding the handling of the properties.
“From the get-go, I wanted to put it up for bid and give the public the chance to make a bid on this property because the taxpayers built these schools and we need to give each and every person, each individual a chance to get on this property if they want to,” said Boland.
According to Boland, having a bid process would also be more favorable to the DOE in getting the state department to approve any contract or bid that the Jefferson County School Board accepted.
Chairperson Sandra Saunders spoke up for the first time during Earlene Knight's comments.
“All these people that have come before us, with the dollar or whatever it was, they have come with a plan. It is a plan that, again, would benefit not a church.”
According to Saunders, it didn't matter which church she was attending or if that church was affiliated with one of the interested parties, as the church wouldn't benefit anyway.
“If an entity comes before us and they decide they want to do something for the entire community, then it's a conflict to all of us,” added Saunders. “These people (First Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Association) are from Jefferson County, these are people who have given their all and all in Jefferson County.”
In addition, Chairperson Saunders stated that until tonight, no one had come before the board and addressed their concerns publicly.
“These schools have been sitting there. Nobody put an eye on them. Nobody came to the board to say anything...I don't even think it's about the community anymore,” said Saunders. “Make sure that when you do [come before the board], make sure it's not because what is happening now. Make sure it's because you want to see something prosperous happen."
Further, Saunders agreed with Washington's mentioning of the high school building sale to Jefferson County, stating that if the school board had given buildings away for $1 in the past, why couldn't they do it again?
“These buildings have been here long enough. It's no sense on everybody getting all in an uproar,” Saunders added and shared that naturally, the larger money offer might sound more appealing, but they needed more proof than just a show of money to make a decision on who would be the best stewards of the campuses.
After Chairperson Saunders had stated her views on the situation, Board member Brumfield reminded both the board and their audience that the deed for the Howard Middle School property was still under examination by School Board Attorney Reeves and the Sneed Family, due to the latter's belief that the ownership of the property was supposed to transfer back to the Sneed Family should it ever cease to be used as a school.
At the Sept. 10 meeting, Attorney Tom Reeves and the Sneed Family were still investigating into past deeds to see if the original deed has such a reverting clause.
Earlene Knight summarized, stating that she just wanted what was best for the Jefferson County School District, and mentioned the shortness of funds that the district has been experiencing.
Saunders stated that the school board might not have a lot of money, but they had enough.
Though Arbulu butted in, reminding the board that there were still expenditures that she was paying from previous administrations, and money was still fairly tight around the district. “We're not out of the woods,” Arbulu warned.
At the end of Earlene Knight's public comments, Board member Washington had more to say:
“When I view the news, and I see Tallahassee, Leon County, Gadsden County, Madison Counties and surrounding counties, how the people are working together – I see that. I see how they are trying to put things together to build up their community. But the minute we try to do something...just a few people in this county are all the time getting something stirred up to try to hinder progress from working together. I wonder sometimes, it is a curse on Jefferson County that we can't move? That we can't work together? This is 2018, and it still reminds me back of...back then. I'd rather not say. That's what this still reminds me of. When are we going to move? If we just sit back and let people control what they want, we'll never progress.”