BOE 'emergency' vote under scrutiny

Knox County’s law director is taking a close look at school board chair Lynne Fugate’s declaring an emergency at the August meeting to allow a vote on Knox County Schools’ five-year strategic plan, Betty Bean of the Knoxville Shopper reports.

“We’ve received a lot of questions and complaints from the perspective of open-meetings laws and whether voting on a plan that doesn’t take effect until 2015 fits the definition of an emergency,” David Buuck, chief deputy law director, told the paper.

Fugate declared the emergency after a one-minute meeting of the board’s executive committee – Superintendent James McIntyre and herself – when Mike McMillan invoked personal privilege to postpone a vote for 30 days, Bean continues. McMillan said he wanted four new board members (who will be sworn in Sept. 1) to have a say. Invoking personal privilege is an established school board practice.

Check out Betty's complete story RIGHT SMACK HERE.

Couple quick notes from da Porch:

McIntyre will appear on Inside Tennessee this Sunday at 9:30 a.m. on WBIR 10News, and I asked him about this (show taped Tuesday).

As is typical, he kind of danced around it, including when asked what impact a delay would have. He noted that the board has spent more than a year working on it, blah, blah, blah. That said, I don't blame them. If I spent a year working on something, I'd be reluctant to turn it over, too.

(Go ahead, flame away. I don't care.)

I think in the end, though, it is what it is. People get up in arms over this thing, but if you've ever actually read the plan (I have), then you'll know that it doesn't really say anything!

It's nothing more than a bunch of feel-good platitudes.

There's been some discussion that McIntyre and Fugate railroaded the plan through the current BOE because they were worried that the incoming members wouldn't approve it.

Yes, that could very well be the case. But, there's nothing stopping the new board from coming in, making changes, even killing the strategic plan.

In then end, I don't think it really matters.

We'll see.