Letter to the Editor from John Williamson

Submitted by John Williamson:

“Let’s be clear about the reasons for the potential loss of a certification by the Gilmer County School System: the violations cited by the AdvancedED review are not due to any significant deficit in board policies, but of the questionable ethical and meddling activities of individual board members. Although policies are in place, board members have demonstrated a failure to comply with policies, procedures, laws and regulations.

The Gilmer County School Code of Ethics, for example, states that each board member will “recognize that the authority of the board rests only with the board as a whole and not with individual board members and act accordingly,” will “support the delegation of authority for the day-to-day administration of the school system to the local superintendent and act accordingly,” and will “not undermine the authority of the local superintendent or intrude into responsibilities that properly belong to the local superintendent or school administration, including such functions as hiring, transferring or dismissing employees.” According to the AdvancedED review current board members have violated this code multiple times.

Unless the board members recognize the need to change their behavior Gilmer County Schools may not maintain accreditation. The consequences include graduating students not admitted to colleges, no HOPE scholarship money and the loss of our system charter.”