Just the facts ma'am: Was bogus BOE 'ethics violation' a political ploy?

Hoo-Haw, man they got some funny stuff going on over there on the school system’s side of county government. Heh.

So, get this: The Knox County Board of Education was set to meet on March 5 to talk about “allegations of a potential ethics violation and consideration of possible action and recommendations.”

The supposed violator? BOE member Mike McMillan.

The reason? For being transparent.

Hahahahahaha. Naw, I’m not kidding.

McMillian forwarded a PUBLIC RECORD to a newspaper reporter and a state representative.

Yet, South Knoxville parent Kristi Kristy (and by default BOE member and BOE Ethics Chairwoman Indya Kincannon) wanted to conduct kangaroo court.

However, on Friday the school system sent over a public notice that said the committee meeting “has been canceled due to the withdrawal of the complaint.”

Well wait a minute!

According to the News Sentinel, Kristi Kristy “decided not to file an official complaint.” (KNS story right here if you have money for a paywall.)

Huh? So was a complaint filed or not? And if one wasn’t filed, then why would Kincannon schedule the meeting?  That doesn’t make sense. Right?

Surely this wasn’t a political move against McMillan, the one BOE member who has not fallen in line with the rest of the board?  

Naw. No way!

Heh. Right. This whole thing stinks. The ethics committee isn’t supposed to even bother with these matters unless the chair receives a complaint that is “in writing and SIGNED UNDER OATH by the person making the complaint . . . .”

You can find the BOE’s Code of Ethics right smack here. 

However, the committee was going to go ahead and discuss it anyway. Without a sworn statement!

OK, so enough rambling. Let’s get to what was in that PUBLIC RECORD and what McMillan did and didn’t do.

Without further ado, it’s time for some Porch factoids:

FACT: On Dec. 6 at 3:11 p.m. Kristi Kristy sent District 9 BOE member Pam Trainor an email asking that it be sent to the Board and Superintendent Jim McIntyre. In the email, Kristy touted the good superintendent’s awesomeness and was upset that someone depicted him as Adolf Hitler in a now-viral YouTube video in which “McIntyre” raged about teacher concerns and expressed dismay that he might have to go back to teaching himself. You can find the video right here by the way.

FACT: Kristy wanted Trainor to redact her name from the email because she was concerned that teachers would like go over to her house and/or harass her, or some such nonsense.

FACT: At this point said email was NOT a public record (according to the county law department).

FACT: It BECAME a public record once Trainor forwarded it on – as requested by Kristy – to the school board members and once they received it.

FACT: Pam Trainor did NOT redact Kristy’s name.

FACT: Shopper reporter Betty Bean and State Rep. Gloria Johnson asked McMillian for a copy of that PUBLIC RECORD later in the day and he honored their OPEN RECORDS REQUEST.

FACT: This whole thing is silly. If Kristy wants to be mad at someone, she should be mad at Trainor for not taking her name off the email.

FACT: These facts come from PUBLIC RECORDS. And NO, I didn’t get them from McMillan. Heh.

So, click right smack here for a set of documents that includes an email from Kincannon to Kristy that says the ethics committee will hold a hearing despite the fact that there was no signed-under-oath complaint; and two different emails from Kristy to BOE member Lynne Fugate – one that basically blames McMillan for all the world’s problems, and another that, just. . .  wow.

Further, for another set of bad boys, click right smack here for the original email that caused this whole mess AND a Jan. 10 letter from Knox County Law Director Richard “Bud” Armstrong telling Kristy that she doesn’t have a case! (Hey, I had to get the factoids from somewhere.)

Now, if the BOE really wants to look into a violation, then the board should address a potential solicitation violation committed by a certain political candidate it happens to support.