Editorial: Board's confusion is insulting to public

The Beaufort County Board of Education's recent decision to eliminate open public input at its meetings tells all one needs to know about why it is failing.

The board has a major problem in the lost public trust in Superintendent Jeff Moss.

Its response is to say the public cannot mention names when addressing the board, unless it is to thank or praise someone. This would be expected in Cuba. But the absurd censure should be quashed in the strongest way here in America.

For new chairman Mary Cordray to trot that insult out as her first move shows where this board is: out of touch with reality, tone deaf to the public, asleep at the wheel and determined to keep it that way.

This insult is layered on top of the board's utter confusion at every turn.

The board is late in evaluating Moss. Then it muddied the water by changing its evaluation forms. And in a stunning move, the board said the evaluation would not include the issue of Moss changing district standards so that his wife could be hired for a newly created $90,000 district job.

When the public got wind of this nepotism, board members declined to address it under the guise that it would be taken up when Moss' annual evaluation rolled around.

We should say that the board has refused to talk about it in public. Behind closed doors, it apparently has discussed the district's major problem, because one member indicated there are differing viewpoints on what it should do.

To suggest that the hiring of his wife won't be part of Moss' annual review is flabbergasting.

As board member JoAnn Orischak stated: "We can't move forward as a board, as a school district, and get beyond this until we address it as a board."

It is disappointing that so few on the board can see that.

Board member Paul Roth characterizes the nepotism as unfortunate "but the person who was primarily responsible has resigned." He was referring to former chairman Bill Evans. While it nice to hear that a board member will publicly air an opinion, it is delusional. The problem is Moss.

Already, Moss' unethical behavior has grown to engulf a dazed and confused school board that doesn't have enough sense to realize there's a fire, much less how to put it out. The board thinks it can solve the problem by ignoring it, meeting behind closed doors and muzzling the public.

The public is not buying it. That's a terrible shame because public school students and staff need public support. But the public will not support what it cannot trust.

This story was originally published November 14, 2015 at 11:10 PM with the headline "Editorial: Board's confusion is insulting to public."