Editor, The Smithfield Times:

On Jan. 12’s Isle of Wight County School Board meeting agenda under Consent Agenda is approval of the Dec. 8 board meeting’s minutes. My opinion: These minutes have been “sanitized” by Chair Denise Tynes to keep her coverup going.

At the December meeting, board members Jason Maresh and John Collick keyed in on policy FFA, the controversial policy Tynes and board member Michael Cunningham used to vote by resolution to name the Career and Technical Education building after Dr. Jim Thornton in September.

At the 5:18:20 mark of the video of the Dec. 8 meeting, Maresh says while looking at the board attorney: “As it stands, the board has previously voted to name the CTE building after a policy that was not valid, correct?” The attorney replies: “That’s correct. The board relied on an incorrect version of an operative policy.”

The word changes are “building” to “facility” and “operative” to “inoperative” on the Dec. 8 minutes. Why? Earlier Collick asked the lawyer a question about policy FFA and said: “Now that we know there was a different policy voted on June 11, 2015, then what is presented to us for second read, that should be the policy in place. Shouldn’t that be the one we should be working with?” The attorney replies, “That is correct.” This is not in the minutes. Why, I ask Chair Tynes, who controls the minutes’ formulation.

Since Tynes and Cunningham have been exposed by the new board members and Collick for using the wrong policy version, Tynes is deliberately falsifying or omitting, in my opinion, what they and the lawyer have said for the minutes.

Too, have all of the citizens who spoke during board meetings about policy FFA had all their questions answered in writing? If not, why not, Chair Tynes?

 

Herb De Groft

Smithfield