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| Knoxville School Board Members Speak Out on "Rude" Member |
Bullying. Coercion. Disrespect. Vulgar language. Threatening demeanor. Those are words the President of the Knoxville School Board used to describe one of the board's members.
The District-202 School Board Wednesday night voted to recommend to the Knox County Regional Superintendent of Schools that she remove Tim Rickard as a board member.
Board President Gale Trulson wrote Rickard a letter February 5th accusing him of acting disrespectful toward other board members, insulting Superintendent Larry Carlton, and yelling over the phone at a District secretary, among other things.
Board member Darcy Thorp says she knows she hasn't been on the board as long as other members, but says one closed session with Rickard was enough for her. "I'm sorry. It's not a boardroom-type of behavior," Thorp said, "and that's not a message we want to send to our kids. We need to be together as a group. We're going to have conflicts, we're going to argue with each other. But we're not going to cuss each other out."
Board Vice President Fred Neubert says he agrees. "You do have a tendency to be a little contentions now and then, Tim," Neubert said. "When you get riled up, you tend to attack people instead of pushing ideas. And that's not good."
Rickard accused Carlton of having a, in his words, "my way or the highway" attitude, and the board of being, "a rubber-stamp committee."
The vote to recommend Rickard's ouster was four-to-two with board secretary Robert Bogard absent. Rickard himself, and Hillard Byom voted no. |
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| 02 19 09 by Newsroom |
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