A video of the Neelyville School Board meeting Sept. 21 where four board members resigned was provided Monday to the Daily American Republic newspaper. The video revealed comments from each person on why they were resigning.
The prevailing reasons for the resignations were “being disrespected and treated like dirt” and “don’t feel like I’m wanted on this board.”
Former Neelyville School Board President Vernon Barker was the last to resign. He followed vice president Dean Fisher and members Robert Burgett and Wayne Willcut.
Barker said, the resigning board members are “some of the best people that I’ve had the pleasure of serving.”
“I will start off saying when I ran for office, I spoke in the community about issues and concerns regarding the school,” Barker said. “I agreed we had some serious concerns about our school and our leadership the past year and a half. It has been made painfully obvious there is a current toxic and borderline violent environment.”
Barker explained, the school board cannot implement an effective change “unless it’s welcomed by a select few. The men who stepped down before me have been harassed, bullied and defamed relentlessly to ensure all control is by a small group.”
Before Barker’s resignation, Burgett talked about how the board has been able to increase the starting teachers pay.
“I think that’s a great accomplishment,” Burgett said.
Burgett criticized letters sent out about the president and vice president, calling them harassment and intimidation, as well as 78 emails targeting him.
“I’ve done nothing but good,” Burgett said. “I have served my country. I’ve stood up for people, our staff and our students. I think we all should come together and talk together to get rid of harassment, intimidation, but I’m tired. I had to move my son out of the school district.”
Remaining board members are Paul Petty, Jim Hover and Jill McGruder.
Hover also has reached out to the Daily American Republic with about comments he made at a previous meeting. In previous DAR articles, Hover was quoted as saying at the June 27 meeting, “If you’re a sitting board member for this amazing school system, get over your ego, get over your power. It’s not a difficult thing to take a few steps back amid our division in the school system in your care and see that you are racist, discriminating and that you have lost sight of what it means to serve.
Hover provided a copy of his prepared speech from that meeting, in which the correct wording stated, “Resigning does not mean you’re a coward, ignorant, racist, or discriminating, but you have lost sight of what it means to serve.”
A clearer audio recording presented Tuesday to the Daily American Republic confirmed Hover’s words matched his planned statement almost exactly, and the initial quote of the June meeting was incorrect.
The staff at the Daily American Republic deeply apologize for this mistake and any issues it caused the Neelyville community. The DAR is grateful to the Hover family for their help in rectifying it.
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