DATE: Thursday, June 12, 1997               TAG: 9706120469

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: MANTEO                            LENGTH:  105 lines

PROPOSED PANEL WOULD STUDY SCHOOL FUNDING THE SCHOOLS' PLAN WILL BE FLESHED OUT FOR THE DARE COMMISSIONERS.

With few specifics, Dare County Board of Education Vice Chairwoman Virginia Tillett Tuesday night unveiled the first step in a process that could lead to the next bond referendum on school building needs.

Tillett, appointed by Board Chairman Fletcher Willey to head a consensus-building effort on facilities, called for the formation of an executive committee, made up of five to seven members, as well as subcommittees composed of residents of all parts of the county.

The selection method for the leadership panel has not been determined, Tillett said. As for subcommittee members, two to four representatives would be chosen by each school board member.

The seven board members would chair the subcommittees, Tillett said. Tillett will flesh out the proposal at next Monday's meeting of the Board of Commissioners.

``I'd challenge my fellow board members to find teachers, parents, students, civic folks, anyone who would be interested,'' Tillett said.

Tillett said the executive committee would be a key component in building a ``People's Plan'' to meet future educational facilities needs.

Board members endorsed the idea in concept. But some want assurances that the makeup will be balanced between the three geographic areas of the county - the northern beaches, Hatteras Island and the Roanoke Island/Mainland.

``I just hope it represents the entire county,'' Board Member Donna Buxton said.

Tillett is scheduled to appear before the Board of Commissioners at 9:45 a.m. as part of the governing board's regular agenda.

In a related matter, Dare County Commissioner Cheryl Byrd urged the board to allow a cooling-off period before plunging into another referendum process. Byrd's remarks came in the public comment period of the meeting.

Byrd asked the board to reconsider demographic and economic data and other information before pressing forward with a new referendum.

``I think there are some elements of the community that want to push again,'' Byrd said. ``I think you need to resist that and stand back and be deliberate.''

In another related matter, bond supporter Alex Argiroff read a letter from Maureen Liverman that contended that First Flight Middle School teacher Christy Hodges was biased in assigning her seventh grade civics class an assignment on the controversial May 20 referendum.

The assignment touched off a confrontation between Hodges and board members Buxton and Susie Walters. The Dare County Association of Educators filed a grievance in connection with the First Flight Middle School incident.

Board members said the incident was overblown.

The Liverman letter also contended that Hodges instigated an incident at a local restaurant prior to the May 20 referendum, in which her brother-in-law placed a ``Vote No'' sign on the restaurant property, co-owned by bond supporters Nick and Carol Nuzzi.

Subsequently, Hodges apologized to the Nuzzis, and said she played no role in the sign incident.

In a letter read in part at Tuesday's meeting, the Nuzzis tried to strike a conciliatory tone.

``I have already received numerous calls concerning this issue from a broad range of the community - from parents to city officials - alluding to stories that are not even accurate and way beyond the facts,'' Nick Nuzzi wrote. ``In looking at this episode and seeing how what began as a small incident can be blown out of proportion, I believe we can make some correlation to the incident at First Flight Middle School involving Donna Buxton and Christy Hodges, and how that episode probably started as an innocent mistake and to this day is being carried too far.''

Hodges took issue with the Liverman allegations. She defended both the essay assignment, and denied any involvement in the restaurant incident.

``It is my responsibility as a social studies/language arts teacher as part of the North Carolina curriculum to cover current events issues,'' Hodges said. ``This is not the first time my kids have written letters to the editor. It just happened to be a hot issue the children were interested in.''

Hodges said all 55 of her students wrote letters, and 29 were published.

``None of the letters made a plea to voters or to the board members,'' Hodges said.

As for the sign incident, Hodges said she apologized to the Nuzzis and the other owners of the business, and said her brother-in-law put up the sign, without her permission. She said she asked her brother-in-law to apologize to the owners. He does not live in the area.

``It did not have anything to do with my position as an educator, or my position on the bond,'' Hodges said. ``I feel as the Nuzzis and Octavios do, that this has been blown out of proportion.'' The Octavios and the Nuzzis are co-owners of the restaurant.

But Deobrah Harris-Ivery, the North Carolina Association of Educators regional representative, said she plans to speak with NCAE attorneys concerning the Liverman letter and its reading at the meeting. ``There is a provision in North Carolina school law for dealing with complaints,'' Harris-Ivery said. ``I want to check with our attorney to see if this qualifies as a complaint. The kind of things he charged in a public meeting that may have an impact on a former teacher of the year may not be proper. This is not an accusation against the school board. We are simply trying to determine if this was handled properly.''

In other action:

The board tabled approval of its meeting schedule for 1997-98. Some board members, including Buxton, Walters and Allen Burrus, asked that the panel consider moving meetings into the various communities around the county. At this point, a majority of the board's meetings are held in Manteo.

Walters drew applause from some in the audience when she suggested rotating the monthly meetings, putting four in Manteo, four on the northern beaches and four on Hatteras Island.

Superintendent Leon Holleman told the board that some preliminary repair work is being done on the roof at Manteo High School. The leaking roof has been at the center of controversy since last December, when students, teachers and parents complained that mold and mildew caused by the leaks caused respiratory illness.

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