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| Knoxville School Board Member Recommended to be Removed From Board |
POSTED 10:40pm 2/18/09 If a majority of the members of the Knoxville School Board have their way, one of their colleagues will be shown the door sooner rather than later.
The board Wednesday night voted to send a letter to Knox County Regional Superintendent of Schools Bonnie Harris, recommending that member Tim Rickard be removed from his seat, due to, in short, alleged disrespectful and unprofessional conduct.
Rickard read from a letter dated February 5th, written to him by School Board President Gale Trulson, which accused Rickard of an extremely harsh demeanor.
"Your conduct at board meetings, and when you interact with staff, has led to complaints against you, and feeling that nobody wants to work with you," Trulson wrote. "Your most recent conduct at the January 21st meeting was another example of your use of intimidation, coercion, talking down to other board members, and general disrespect."
Rickard is accused of telling board members to, "shut up" during closed sessions, calling Superintendent Larry Carlton a liar, and berating a district secretary over the phone.
Rickard says he does admit to being passionate about school issues, and won't, "rubber-stamp" district policies and proposals like the rest of the board will.
The vote was four-to-two to recommend Rickard's ouster -- Rickard and member Hillard Byom voted no, who said he wished there could be some sort of compromise before Wednesday night.
Trulson had a Knoxville Police officer in attendance ready to escort Rickard out of the meeting if necessary.
(Knoxville School Board Member Tim Rickard, left, states his case during Wednesday night's board meeting. WGIL News Story and Photo by Will Stevenson.) |
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| 02 18 09 by Newsroom |
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