Board of Education dodges decision on grant money for G-10

A discussion on the County Commissioners’ $10,000 grant offer to air its meetings on the G-10 channel was left off of the agenda at the Board of Education meeting this week.

Onslow County Commissioners recently appropriated $10,000 in the form of a grant to the Onslow County Public School System to air board meetings on G-10.

The Board of Education voted in August to air its meetings through G-10 and made a request to the commissioners for the grant money. Instead, School Board Chairwoman Pam Thomas said, the commissioners came back with additional strings attached to the funding.

 “We had to go to City Hall (for our meetings); (our meetings) had to be aired live; we had to use city staff (to do the taping); and we would not be able to use any of the money to showcase students or staff,” she said.

She said a discussion on the grant was not included on the agenda because the board had already voted on a media plan to have the school district’s staff tape the meetings and schedule them to air on G-10.

“We may look at (the tape) and decide it’s not a quality product, but I think it’s going to be good,” she said.

But not all board members agreed with the course of action or the interpretation of the vote on the media plan.

Board member Jeff Brown said the media plan briefing included airing board meetings and a vote to accept the media presentation only. He wanted the meeting minutes to reflect the exact wording in the motion.

After some debate, the board unanimously agreed to remove the August meeting minutes that included the motion and vote on the media presentation from Tuesday night’s consent agenda.

“I do not believe the intent of the motion is clear, and I want (the minutes) to read exactly the way the motion was made,” Brown said after the meeting. “If you listen to the tape, we voted just to accept the presentation, not to have anybody move forward with anything else.”

Brown said he also sent a formal e-mail prior to the board meeting requesting a discussion of G-10 and the grant money from the commissioners be put on the agenda, but it was not included.

“The minutes change everything,” he said. “I assumed we would clear it up and then we would move forward and have a discussion and make a decision on the grant money. By us not taking action on the grant we may have lost a $10,000 opportunity from commissioners.”

However, Onslow County Manager Jeff Hudson said the board may have another chance to discuss the grant proposal.

At what he said was the advice of the county attorney, an interlocal agreement has been drawn up with regard to the grant. Hudson also said the board gave him “further guidance on grant stipulations and how to structure the grant.”

If commissioners approve the interlocal agreement it will be forwarded to the Board of Education, he said.

“Once they have the interlocal agreement they can make a fully informed decision whether they want to take the grant money,” he said.