{"id":10430,"date":"2012-02-29T10:07:21","date_gmt":"2012-02-29T15:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=10430"},"modified":"2012-02-29T14:27:18","modified_gmt":"2012-02-29T19:27:18","slug":"come-and-gone-the-story-of-a-school-board-ethics-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/2012\/02\/29\/come-and-gone-the-story-of-a-school-board-ethics-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Come and Gone: The Story of a School Board Ethics Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Controversy came and went on the Wake County school board last week. Superintendent Tony Tata accused two board members of ethics violations and said they implicitly endorsed personal attacks against him. By the end of the week, Tata apologized for the accusations.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6155\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignright\" style=\"max-width: 255px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6155\" title=\"tata_official_front\" src=\"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/tata_official_front.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"255\" height=\"226\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Photo courtesy of WCPSS<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Superintendent Tony Tata<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In an email, Tata questioned the ethics of school board Democrats Susan Evans and Christine Kushner. The email was sent the day after Great Schools in Wake, a liberal advocacy organization supported by both board members, released a statement critical of his work on the controlled-choice assignment plan.<\/p>\n<p>After a response from Kushner and Evans, Tata ramped up his criticism at a board meeting Tuesday. He said both board members violated ethical standards by supporting the group and were under its \u201cstranglehold,\u201d the News &amp; Observer reported.<\/p>\n<p><strong><center>Timeline of Tata Events<\/strong><\/center><br \/>\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/frames\/sb-timeline\/timeline.html\" title=\"Ethics Accusations Timeline\" width=\"600\" height=\"300px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><br \/>\n            <!-- Alternate content for non-supporting browsers --><\/p>\n<h2>Ethics Accusations Timeline<\/h2>\n<h3>Sorry, You Need A Newer Browser \ud83d\ude41<\/h3>\n<p>        <\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The week ended with Tata rescinding his assertion that either member had violated ethical standards and apologizing for suggesting otherwise.<\/p>\n<p>It marked the first time that Tata has publicly and vocally taken sides in the politics of the school board since taking office in January 2011.<\/p>\n<p>Tata <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/320956-tatasinitialemail2-18.html\">charged in his initial email<\/a> that Evans and Kushner\u2019s association with the group was an obstruction to good governance and ultimately has a negative impact on students.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/320931-2-17-12-great-schools-press-release-final.html\">GSIW press release<\/a> that fueled Tata\u2019s accusatory email quoted the group\u2019s chair, Yevonne Brannon, as saying \u201cTata\u2019s actions continue to erode the public\u2019s trust.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Brannon was referring to various components of the new controlled-choice assignment plan, such as cost and bussing. The group believes the plan is rushed and should be delayed. The press release was one several that have been critical of Tata\u2019s decisions.<\/p>\n<p>Tata fired off to Kushner and Evans the following day:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAttacks on my character such as those yesterday, which each of you implicitly endorse through your association and support of GSIW, undermine our ability to move forward as an effective governance team &#8230; We have many difficult decisions ahead of us and our decision making process is ill-served by endorsement of knowing false statements by groups vying for air time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The press release does not overtly attack Tata\u2019s character, but accuses him of sending up a \u201csmokescreen\u201d to mask hidden costs of the new assignment plan.<\/p>\n<p>Tata accurately notes that, <a href=\"http:\/\/media2.newsobserver.com\/smedia\/2012\/01\/26\/18\/45\/jklDR.So.156.pdf\">in its latest report<\/a>, AdvancED credited him with calming the political waters of Wake County (it referred to him as a \u201cstabilizing force\u201d) rather than eroding the public\u2019s trust.<\/p>\n<p>Kushner and Evans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/320957-evanskushnertata2-19.html\">wasted no time responding<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI must assume you know your broadside attack on me and another board member is, and that you intended it to be, a public record,\u201d wrote Evans. \u201cI believe this raises a serious question in judgment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kushner goes on to say it is not the first time she has been \u201cbroadsided\u201d by Tata, only last time it was done in person.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is not an acceptable way to treat a board member,\u201d she concludes.<\/p>\n<p>Evans\u2019 tone was equally perturbed.<\/p>\n<p>The set of emails drew across-the-board coverage from major news outlets and Tata was met with a deluge of questions at last Tuesday\u2019s board work session, where he escalated his claim and charged that Evans and Kushner made ethical violations and were under a \u201cstranglehold\u201d by GSIW, <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.newsobserver.com\/wakeed\/superintendent-tony-tata-warning-about-potential-ethics-violations-in-board-member-ties-to-gr\">the N&amp;O quoted him as saying<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wcpss.net\/policy-files\/series\/policies\/1035-bp.html\">board code of ethics<\/a> states that board members should \u201crender all decisions based on the available facts and independent judgment and refuse to surrender that judgment to individuals or special interest groups.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the meeting Yevonne Brannon said \u201cstranglehold\u201d couldn\u2019t be any further from the truth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s the proof of it?\u201d she asked. \u201cGreat Schools in Wake came out saying we strongly support delaying the plan. They [the board members] didn\u2019t delay the plan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In fact, it also <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.newsobserver.com\/wakeed\/new-wake-county-school-board-members-discussed-draft-resolution-for-delaying-student-assignme\">came out last week<\/a> that board member Jim Martin had floated a draft resolution to delay the plan via email with Kushner and Evans. But in the end, Martin and fellow new board members decided they wouldn\u2019t overturn the decision to implement the plan on schedule.<\/p>\n<p>This story was trumped in the media by Tata\u2019s email and his further assertion that board members made ethical violations by supporting GSIW.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, the NC NAACP <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wral.com\/news\/education\/wake_county_schools\/story\/10773882\/\">sent an open letter<\/a> to Tata asking him to reconsider his critical remarks.<\/p>\n<p>By Friday, Tata <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/320930-jointstatement.html\">released an apology<\/a> that also bore the names of Chair Kevin Hill, school board attorney Anne Majestic, as well as Kushner and Evans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe all agreed that Ms. Evans and Ms. Kushner have not violated any ethical rules or principles in their work as board members. Mr. Tata has apologized to these board members for suggesting otherwise and has acknowledged that he should have handled his concerns in a different manner,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n<p>All in all, it was a week that caught more traction for the divisive politics of the school board than a single GSIW press release ever has.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week Tony Tata took sides in school board politics more publicly and vocally since he started the job as superintendent a year ago. The week began with him accusing two board members of ethical violations and ended with his apology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24024,"featured_media":6024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,23,55],"tags":[493,64,63],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10430"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24024"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}