09/30/16 — Attorney suggests larger board for Wayne Preparatory Academy

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Attorney suggests larger board for Wayne Preparatory Academy

By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on September 30, 2016 9:57 AM

The attorney for Wayne Preparatory Academy led a Town Hall meeting for the charter school Wednesday night at the Goldsboro Event Center, addressing recent concerns about the board and bylaws.

The school on Tommy's Road opened in August 2014.

The five members of the board took their seats in the front of the room, while Glenn Barfield, who represents the school and the board, stationed himself at the podium.

"As you all know, recently the board created a portal for questions to be directed to the board," he began. "I know there's been a lot of concerns expressed about our parents contacting the board."

He explained his role as being to respond to the questions that had been submitted and referenced an earlier meeting that took place at the school. On Tuesday evening, he had met with about 40 concerned parents for about three hours.

Their issues had centered more around how the school is funded, a discussion those in Wednesday night's audience did not seem interested in continuing. Midway through the more than two-hour session, Barfield asked if the group wanted further information on financial matters, receiving a rousing "no" from the gathering.

Question submitted for the Town Hall meeting focused more on how board members are appointed and their accountability.

As a non-member non-profit, the original board was chosen when the school started and is "self-perpetuating," Barfield said.

There are no term limits and it essentially operates with the requirement that there must be a unanimous vote for a board member to come on or be removed. The school needs more functional by-laws, Barfield said.

"My recommendation to the board will be for the bylaws to provide for a larger board, probably nine members," he said. "There's a lot of work to do by the board. It's really probably too much to be done by five people."

One of the weaknesses at the public charter school, he noted, lies with the management company, Banyan, hired when things were first set up. The company was later fired and is currently involved in a lawsuit. Barfield was retained by the school in November 2015, and has worked with the board "on a whole range of matters," he said.

"There's no dissension among board members," he said. "We don't have a board member here that wants that kind of control."

He hinted that a recent firing of an employee was done within the constraints of the law, explaining that ultimate authority for hiring and firing lies with the board.

Dismissing the employee, who served in the after school program, was in no way a "snap decision," Barfield said.

"The issue before the board involved safety and security of the children," he said. "Some might disagree the extent that was an issue. I explained to the board a significant liability could result."

He said he could not be more specific, as it was a personnel matter.

Several audience members raised questions about the potential "random" firing and whether such practices would be applied to a teacher or could affect job security at the school.

"The board is committed to not reducing staff for budgetary reasons unless they think it's the last avenue," Barfield said.

He said there have been many rumors circulating and rather than perpetuate those, suggested a more reasonable approach when decisions are made that are not popular.

"Some of the problems we have been encountering here in the last couple months have arisen because when the board has made hard decisions, instead of internalizing those, (say), now what I'm going to do is the best I can," he said. "I think sometimes that's not what's been done."

The five-member board -- Sharon Thompson, chair; John Ankeney, L.J. Stanley, Amanda Wells and Michael Woods -- allowed Barfield to do the bulk of the talking.

Mrs. Thompson interjected at one point, thanking the parents and staff for attending.

"The conversations we're having are not easy, they're unpleasant. It's not been a good few days for me either," she said. "We have no intention of cutting (jobs). Our goal is to have the best possible school."

She said at previous community meetings, she had announced the "last thing" the board wanted to do was cut personnel. She added that she would welcome having a larger board and has dedicated herself to making the school a success.

"We care about the kids. Are you missing this?" she said. "Do you remember how excited we were that we got the occupancy for open house Saturday before school started on Monday? Where has all that excitement and all that enthusiasm gone?

"We want you involved, and I don't know what's happened, and it breaks my heart."

She said security checks and balances had been put in place -- financially, lacking a treasurer, a one-year contract was made with a management company, with an auditor and CPA also hired to manage the books -- and the board is very diligent about being transparent.

Barfield's advice for the audience -- "Pull together, tolerate some things (you) don't necessarily agree with."

He also reminded them that the school documents are public information.

"With some notice, any of you are allowed to see every last item down to the deposit slips and the checks," he said. "There's nothing that's not available."