Article From The Daily Herald Newspaper
Candid camera
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Giles man claims school board policy infringes rights
By SKYLER SWISHER/sswisher@c-dh.net
PULASKI — A Giles County blogger said Wednesday his First Amendment rights are being squelched by a policy that bars unapproved cameras from school board meetings.
Allen Barrett says the policy is directed solely at him in response to articles and videos on Giles Free Speech Zone, an Internet website that has been critical of the Giles County School Board.
“They are trying to stop news from being disseminated to the community,” he said.
The policy, which took effect Tuesday, states “the press or individuals shall not bring a camera, camcorder or photographic equipment to board meetings without consent of the board.”
The board made provisions to allow the local print media to take photographs during the meeting and for a public-access television channel operated by Pulaski Electric Service to film proceedings.
Kathy Norman, chair of the school board, said the policy is in place to prevent disruptions and would not apply to parents photographing their children receiving awards or other honors during a meeting.
“It’s in place in case something inappropriate should happen or want to be done,” she said.
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The policy does not stipulate how consent should be given for a camera to be used. It also includes no exception for photography by parents.
Director of Schools Tee Jackson said the policy was not directed toward any single person. He said the board was updating its policy manual and received legal advice from the Tennessee School Boards Association.
“We make sure we meet all the necessary standards and laws,” he said.
A spokesman with the Tennessee School Board Association could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Barrett said he is the only person who films the school board’s meetings. He has posted several of the clips on YouTube, an Internet website that allows users to post videos.
“Clearly, what they are doing is they are trying to stifle public communications,” Barrett said.
One of those videos showed an argument between Barrett and Nashville attorney Charles Cagle, who was representing the Giles County School Board. That video led to allegations of assault because of an alleged push to Barrett’s chest.
Story created Jul 03, 2008 - 16:13:41 EDT.
posted by Allen Barrett | 8:49 AM
38 Comments:
I must apologize for the way the article is posted. I wanted it to be completely accurate so I cut and pasted but this format is the only way it would paste.
The allegations of assault against Charles Cagle were settled with Cagle pleading guilty and being place on diversion and paying all court cost.
As an attorney for the Giles County School System, which has increased its budget 6%($6,000.00 dollars to $16,000.00)this year for legal fees, how much involvement did Attorney Cagle have in making this new policy?
Read the policy stated in this article then read Mrs. Normans comment about taking pictures and see if you find any conflict? This Board led by Mrs. Norman and earlier by Mr. Michael Gonzales has allowed the director to ruin the morale of teachers, more than double the administrative staff, subvert the financial management act and FALSIFY the school budget, let contracts without a bid process among other things. Allen Barrett
We have an amazing group of people formulating the education of Giles county children! Will the next generation respect simple truth, honor, The Constitution, written laws, and fellow human beings? Impossible!
We have a head educator, who consistently falsifies public funding documents, conjures reports to create positive images of failure, and even lies about trivia. The positive images of failure are coming at an incalculable expense to the moral and well being of those who are actually trying to teach things of value and substance. The cost in terms of spending to fail is even more ridiculous. How can this be?
The head of the board of education appears to be an upright citizen of fine moral character. The same can be said of the core BOE members who blindly support the director’s action with unity and purpose! Instead of outrage, we see unequivocal support for literally everything the head of education does. All fingers are in the pie! Money is the issue, because the cost of an imperial staff, loyalty, and opulence is extreme. The need for money morphs from want, to need, to lust, and to taking by whatever means. We understand that a common thief or con artist randomly taking or taking by deception correlates to arrest, trial, and jail. Here, the cause is used to justify the means. Got to take to keep the cause alive is taking because the opportunity exists! A cause permeated by illegitimate means surely turns to evil and failure! Supporting and rewarding evil makes one that which they support and reward!
Where are the Christians in Giles County? Giving that which belongs to someone else, to someone who doesn’t deserve it, sounds a lot more like a crook than a Christian! Trying to set up a two bit dictatorial empire in Giles County is something you would expect in a comic book.
WAB, keep up the good work. Who do these yahoos think they are, making up one rule for one guy, but turning right back around and saying that it doesn't apply to others since they are using cameras for other purposes? The people we have put in charge are so afraid that the public is going to find out what really goes on behind closed door meetings.
wab..
Yeah, keep up the "good" work. I'm sure you will go down in history as the greatest muckraker ever. Ridiculous.
I think what bothers you most is the fact that NOBODY asks your input into the formulation of an educational plan for Giles County students.
Want to change the School Board simply vote for Christy Glover and Don Story in the upcoming election.
Everyone has seen the abilities of Billy Kennedy on the Board, no one can say yes quicker to Mr. Jackson than he can. Of course Mrs. Norman don't count in this because she has already graduated to the "yes" person hall of shame.
Mr. Stogner is the spouse of the Minor Hill principal so you can imagine how unbiased his voting will be. Mr. Jackson and Mr. Kennedy have done more work for Mr. Stogner that they have for Mr. Kennedy, guess he thinks it's all sewed up in Lynnville. Allen Barrett
WAB if you had your camera on the night the meeting was in Jackson's office after the meeting, you would have had a tape of his statement on Sigmon. That is why he asked to meet after the meeting since it is not taped then.
I don't know who is right or wrong in this, BUT not allowing the meetings to be videoed shure looks like there is something to be hide.
The people of Giles county need to know what goes on in these meetings.
Oh how we miss George Martin. He kept us up to date and wasn't bias.
Sorry about sure (shure).
439 - you forgot the reason no one asks Mr B for his input of an education plan in Giles County
They don't have a plan other than spending to oblivion!
YOU HATE ANYONE WHO MIGHT CLUE YOU IN!!!!!!!!!!!
Time to call in the ACLU and fight for your cause. No cameras for a meeting. This could go all the way to a court of law. Go for it.
Casio
so now they wont allow cameras so noone will know what is going on in a school board meeting, thats your thinking. uh, last time i checked the meetings were open to the public. seems to me anyone who wants to know what is going on can go and find out for theirselves. no need for a camera if your there.
as for the increase in budget for legal fees, reckon crap like this has anything to do with it. if people would stop filing these ridiculous lawsuits against the board then maybe then could spend that money on education instead of having to pay for lawyers to deal with the nonsense.
Had the lawsuits been 'ridiculous' they would have been thrown out of court at the start. They were not, so obviously the plaintifs were legit.
As to attending a meeting will tell you what is going on - dream again. There are more meetings held in Gils county, illegally, since they are not made public when they should be, then you have the decisions made behind closed doors, over the net, phone, so when the meetings happen they go so smoothly because decisions have already been made. Many of the meetings are just a show for the public that does attend.
To Anonymous of the 7 July 10:28 post.
Where do you think they would seat everyone if the whole county showed up for a meeting? There have been times when the place has been in violation of fire codes by having so many people in the building already.
To Anonymous of the 8 July 7:35 post. I fully agree with you. Board members have have been pressured and strongly criticized for refusing to meet and discuss business in the "pre-meetings" held with Mr. Jackson.
The cameras are really more of a minor thing when you consider that now you have to submit a written request five days in advance with specific topics on which you wish to speak when the agenda doesn't even get published five days in advance most of the time.
Some questions to consider: If as it is claimed by the Director this policy was adopted by the last School Board more than two years ago why is it only now being implemented? When did this current School Board discuss and vote to implement this policy? Would it not stand to reason if as claimed the previous School Board created these restrictions but did not implement them that the current Board would have had to vote on implementation?
I read the entire book of proposed changes back in October 2008 and not one word was written about these changes, so the question is were these changes slipped into the book since October without the approval of the current Board?
Not only is this a clear attempt to limit information being given to the public it is a very clear violation of our individual rights of speech. For a school system to have so little regard for the U.S. Constitution, the laws of the land and the citizenry is cause enough
for a major change in personnel.
When the leader has proven to be corrupted by the frequent lies and deceptions he creates that person should not only be fired he should be jailed. Allen Barrett
7 10;28 If everything was done legally there would be no cause for lawsuits.
Just what would they do if a lot of people showed up for a board meeting? I went to one years and years ago and we stood up around the wall. I don't care to do that again. So I don't go anymore.
It looks like to me Tee and the Board members would want the meeting taped in case they need proof of something.
But if you want to hide something you don't want any proof.
To Mr. Barrett and others interested, you may not get to video it, but there are small, tape recorders you can put in your shirt pocket and tape what is said. No one will know you have it unless Big T has the police there to search everyone.
I'd LOVE for the cops to do a bodysearch on me just so I could attend a crappy school board meeting! Now that would be a lawsuit for sure.
You guys are not paying attention. You are wrong when you say that these meetings cannot be videotaped. They ARE being videotaped and played for the public on PES Channel 3. Look into it...
It's literally a damned zoo! Why not change the directors job description to agree with what he does - just like the budget amendments after skoo is out.
Start with liar, liar till pants on fire. Book cooker. sneaky. & most likely to corrupt others - Give em an A+ with a gold star & be legitimate about it. He's as good as it gets!!
Yea, and how many people are hooked up to that cable service, not many.
Mrs. Norman is quoted in the Columbia Daily Herald saying the policy was put in place for a very important reason, this is her quote word for word, "It's in place in case something inappropriate should happen or want to be done". That statement says it all in what it reveals.
Would reasonable people want to have a video record of any "inappropriate" happenings but would the Board want a video record of the Board "wanting to do something inappropriate"?
It's amazing how stupid people look trying to defend an indefensible act.
Question, if this policy was approved over two years ago why was it only put into effect last Tuesday? If the policy was approved by the old Board but not implemented until now why wasn't the new Board considered in approving it for implementation? Would it be acceptable for the County Executive to create a policy but not implement it then two years later after a new County Executive was installed have it automatically become policy without the new Executive even knowing it existed?
Let's be candid about this matter.
Two people in the last three years have brought video cameras to the board meeting. In one video an assault took place by Mr. Charles Cagle against me. He denied this happened until the video was posted on this blog after which he pleaded guilty, apologized, was placed on diversion for a year and paid all court cost. Now Mr Jackson says they received legal advice from the Tennessee School Boards Association
before approving this policy. Well guess who is the attorney for the Tennessee School Boards Association, yep none other than good ole Charles Cagle. You think that fish don't stink? This policy has but one purpose and that is to prevent me or anyone they deem unacceptable from questioning the Board and having video evidence of the response.
Consider this, the requirement to speak is now a five day written prior request specifying which subject on the agenda you wish to address. The requirement for the agenda to be posted publicly is only three days in advance of the meeting and many times it doesn't show up until the day of the meeting. Unless a person is psychic who can they make a request to speak about a specific issue on the agenda before that agenda even exist? This is just another way to keep the deception alive and the people in the dark. Allen Barrett
Mr WAB
Time to ask the ACLU to step in.
You are right...this fish does stink badly. It's like they want to have this rule there, but not abide by it 100% of the time, only when they deem it necessary to abide by the rule.
Way past time to get very active and make sure the two existing board members GET REPLACED in trhe very near next election (AUGUST)!
It really doesn't matter how "nice" a person is, if they are supporting corruption for any reason, they need to go with gusto. "Gotta get more money", is what motivates & nourishes corruption - we have it in spades in the dept. of ed!
You complainers never quit, do you? I noticed two of them were again in the letters section of this week's paper. I can't for the life of me understand why such disgruntled people would want to live in such a terrible and corrupt county.
I can't for the life of me understand why such complacent, spineless people as the writer of 5:24 want to live at all, unless of course you are one of the terrible corrupt.
Anon July 8--9:21 Who gets PES Channel 3? I'm not familiar with it. Do you have to live in Pulaski city limits, or have cable, or what? I don't live in city limits and can't get cable.
Did Mr. Cagle plead guilty?
To anonymous of the 9 July 7:25 post.
He pleaded guilty, apologized, was placed on diversion for a year and paid all court cost. Allen Barrett
anonymous 5:45
Nope. I have no connection whatsoever to those you people like to call corrupt. I just stand opposed to your tactics. If you don't like the elected officials, then vote them out at the next election. If you have hard evidence of wrong, turn it over to the proper authorities. I hate to keep reminding you nd the omniscient one, but that's just how it is. If neither option appeals to you, I hear places like Detroit and San Francisco could use people of your intelligence and leadership abilities.
It must be time for a change. I needed to talk to the school member representing the Lynnville area about a school incident at Richland School. I called several times and left my name and number and requested that Billly Kennedy please return my call, but surprise I never received a response to even inquire why I was trying to contact him. I know he had the correct number because I later talked to another school board member for another area, who was concerned and surprised that Billy Kennedy had not contacted me. He said he would be sure that Billy Kennedy and T Jackson had my number and information--still no call from either one. Why does there need to a School Board representative elected by the people if that elected person does not want to talk to the voters and see what is going on or where they can help the schools in Giles County? We need someone to represent the voters who is concerned about all tax payers that they represent--not just getting immediate family members a job in the school system.
I know i heard Wilburn say on the PES playback "As i told you on the phone" while he was sucking up to Tee.. Now if all these conversation are going on while on the phone how can anyone know what is being said to anyone?
It was obvious that they had already made their deal ahead of time & knew what was going to be brought out at the Board meeting.
For God's sake people wake up & smell the coffee!!!
I loved the way Campbell finally stood up & called it like it was when he said "What about next year?" & Tee had no response at all.
I realize that was the old meeting where they sent it back.
If you listen close enough you can catch those little blips like that one about being on the phone.
They have been telling you over & over again that these closed door deals are going on all the time but you just focus on WAB & kill the messenger & miss these outright admissions of violations of the "sunshine law".
Your tax dollars at work folks.
OH bad word, bad word, bad word, gonna go to infernity for sure. The bag man is back in action. Miss Prissy's got Mr. T hid in the closet & ain't no one gonna get the goods on him as long as they can't see him in action. Some say you can see him with everything imaginable & he'll wave his arm & cape it's all gone - out of sight & out of mind. Specially good at doing it with your money. Just can't get it on candid camera & ain't no use worrying till we do.
Silly post. Sounds like the Riddler is back.
Giles County must be in a rain forest where it never rains & the moonshines all day long
Don't like it here? Hop a bus North. We will try to get along without you!
8/10
You're the one who wants to turn Giles County into Mass-a-twosh-its. If you you want Teddy's good live, maybe he'll buy you a ticket just in time for you to vote for him! I'm gonna step all over your ears to make sure GC stays like it was! Tighten up or truck on out.
Normans statement of not wanting vidios in case something inappropriate happened or wanted to be done sure sounds like they expect to be in the wrong.
There's a story about a sweet little person who went to the pet store to get a critter with the biggest toothy smile in the world.
Took it home & the damn thing bit her head off - turned out to be an alligator. Reminds me of Norman
sound more like pelosi
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