DATE: Thursday, May 29, 1997                TAG: 9705290430

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: MANTEO                            LENGTH:   84 lines

DARE SCHOOL BOARD MAY REORGANIZE MOVE FOLLOWS RESOUNDING DEFEAT OF $59 MILLION SCHOOL BOND ISSUE

In what he characterized as an attempt to salve wounds opened by the recent contentious school bond proposal, Dare County Board of Education Vice Chairman Fletcher Willey has requested a meeting to vote on reorganizing the school board.

``This is an effort to begin the healing process and move forward with the things that need to be done,'' Willey said Wednesday.

The special meeting will be held at the Dare County Board of Education office in Manteo at 5 p.m. Monday to discuss election of a new chair and vice-chair.

Donna Buxton, who has been criticized by bond opponents, was voted chairman at the board's organizational meeting in December 1996. Voters elect board members to 4-year terms. But school board members elect their own officers for one-year stints.

Buxton said she was taken aback by Willey's action.

``I was shocked at the way it was handled,'' she said Wednesday. ``Two minutes before the meeting was to begin . . . It was not the approach that should've been taken.''

Prior to the school board's closed session on personnel matters Tuesday afternoon, Willey asked Superintendent of Schools Leon Holleman to add reorganization of the school board to the agenda. After board members Buxton and Loretta Michael questioned the legality of adding the item at the last moment, Holleman agreed to contact the Institute of Government for legal advice. He was told the law was ambiguous and it would be safest to reschedule with at least 48-hour notice to the public.

Although school board members agreed to postpone the matter, Michael, Buxton and Susie Walters' desire to put it on the June 10 Board of Education meeting agenda was overruled in favor of the special meeting.

``I had no problem with it being handled at the regular meeting,'' Buxton said. ``I would like to know what the urgency is.''

Buxton said she has asked the state Attorney General to rule on the legality of restructuring the board mid-term.

But Willey said that as he understands the law, the board is allowed to elect its leaders after elections and as often thereafter as it believes it to be necessary.

He said the reorganization proposal began evolving shortly after voters soundly defeated the $59.5 million school bond by a 7,698-to-2,167 vote May 20.

Willey said he called Buxton on Tuesday to inform her of his intentions. He declined to say who he had in mind to replace Buxton, or if he had the panel's support.

``The 7-to-2 rejection (by voters) of our previous bond plan was enough to convince me that we needed to re-examine that plan and begin a new effort to develop a facilities plan that's a people's plan,'' he said.

``What I would like to see is we begin the process of healing the divisions that have occurred.''

He added: ``I have the utmost respect for Donna Buxton.''

Buxton said Willey told her ``his intent is to become chairman.''

Holleman said that despite the unexpected complication, school board members acted civilly throughout the three-hour closed session.

``Everyone conducted themselves in a most professional matter,'' the superintendent said.

Michael said she was concerned that Willey was proposing to take board action at an open meeting that was not advertised as such. Plus, she said, the board should have enough time to discuss the matter and learn the state education rules on changing leadership.

``I did not find this out until just before I walked into the meeting,'' Michael said. ``I felt like it was improper.''

Michael also said she did not see what benefit rushing reorganization would be to the board or the community.

``I don't understand why we should not have the time to think it out and follow proper procedures,'' she said. ``I'm not sure what the advantage is.''

Buxton admitted that she believes her position on the board is threatened, although she said she should have seen it coming because she was elected by only a 4-3 margin. Saying that the entire board backed the bond proposal, she added that she is puzzled about what would be gained by reorganization.

``In talking to the Institute of Government, their concern is what mine is: What is the implication to the credibility of the board? My feeling is when you're elected as chairman, you serve your one-year term,'' she said.

``I would question if this was, in fact, divisive in itself,'' she said of Willey's reorganization plan.

But Buxton added that she would accept whatever action the panel chooses. ``If it is, in fact, legal, it is the board's prerogative. I try to be a good board member,'' she said. ``Regardless of what happens, I will try to be a productive board member.''

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