CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- A new school board ethics policy protects accusers and accused alike during investigations, Bradley County board members say.
But the lone dissenter said the policy has major flaws, and his position is supported by a Tennessee School Boards Association attorney.
Retired Bradley County Judge C. Van Deacon and school board members Terry McGuire and Charlie Rose wrote the new policy that the board adopted last week. It sets up a screening committee to receive complaints about Department of Education employees, and an ethics committee to investigate complaints forwarded by the screeners.
Anonymity is guaranteed unless the ethics panel forwards a recommendation to the school board for action.
The plan protects those facing accusations that may turn out to be false, Mr. Van Deacon told the board.
"On the one hand you have someone wielding a sword, but this document acts as a shield for those accused," he said.
Mr. McGuire said the board's attorney, Chuck Cagle in Nashville, likewise reviewed the policy and said it could be a model for others.
But board member Troy Weathers, who voted against adopting the policy, distributed a letter from TSBA attorney Joel Moseley citing "grave concerns" with the policy.
Mr. Moseley wrote that the policy usurps authority reserved by law for the director of schools, that it violates the Tennessee open meetings law and that it could interfere with negotiated contracts with employees.
Mr. McGuire responded that neither committee would "usurp or supersede any authority (Schools Director Johnny McDaniel) or his staff may have when it involves the investigation or disciplining of anyone under his charge."
On the Sunshine Law, Mr. Moseley wrote that "any argument that the Screening Committee is not a governing body simply because it does not advise the board directly is a transparent ruse."
Mr. Van Deacon told Mr. Weathers that the new policy includes all the provisions in the TSBA's own model ethics policy.
The TSBA recommends local boards write their own policy and file it with the state's ethics committee, Mr. McGuire said.