Board Of Education Votes Superintendent Out

The Bertie County Board of Education has voted to end the reign of Dr. Nettie Collins-Hart over our school system. Though her support this night was vocal and angry, there still has not been any reasonable explanation of what she has accomplished versus actions her supporters say she has taken. They can point to lots of actions she has taken, and there are of course a number of actions she has taken that her supporters don't mention, but the list never includes accomplishments indicating our children are getting a better education. At some point just taking actions that will "some day" improve our children's education, but have not yet, is simply not enough.

What are some of her actions her supporters don't mention?

She closed down two of our elementary schools, requiring that many children be bussed many miles to other schools. There is little question that though it was ordered by Judge Terrence Boyle, if Dr. Collins-Hart had not orchestrated the strategy to close the schools, they would have had a great chance of staying open. What has this really accomplished?

In the middle of tonight's attempt by her supporters to rev up support for Dr. Collins-Hart's continued employment, one of the parents from Merry Hill silenced the crowd when she asked, "where were you when we were trying to keep our school open?"

There is also little doubt that Dr. Collins-Hart was responsible for closing down an evening basketball program that kept many of our children off the streets and out of a drug culture. Some unfortunately succombed when Collins-Hart reversed the previous exemption the program had been granted and shut it down. This is just one small example of many actions that suggested indifference to what was best for our children when it conflicted with her penchant for bureacracy.

It is not true that Dr. Collins-Hart was ever short of money, though she proclaimed that the money she was given was "woefully inadequate" (her words). She had more money per child than 75% of the school systems in the state. Despite this money, and a raise in county funds that was the largest in Bertie County's history, Dr. Collins-Hart castigated the County Commisioners at almost every opportunity.

Rumors abounded that she even participated in an attempt to unseat some of the Commissioners that she opposed. No Superintendent should ever involve themselves in politics. They should especially not involve themselves in politics and then fail. We do live in a democracy. She openly appeared to oppose some of the members of the Board of Education. No matter how vocal her supporters, the Board of Education was elected by the people and they do have a right to believe that the people who voted for them should have a voice in how our education system is run. Many stories abound that suggest Dr. Collins-Hart simply demanded the right to reign over our school system as she saw fit. This included such actions as charges of nepotism in the selection of employees, an action that usually follows success in politics.

Tonight, there was a surreal experience. While the Board of Education was in closed session, Dr. Collins-Hart's supporters took over the Board Room and conducted a private pep rally for her. Those present who were not supporters were ignored or intimidated if they suggested that this public forum was not appropriate for a private pep rally. They were told that disagreement with them was racism. This is another legacy of Dr. Collins-Harts tenure. Vitriolic attacks have been launched on anyone who disagrees with her. The vote tonight saw some of her supporters screaming and cursing people as they left the room. This is another legacy that our county can do without.

In the end though all the anger was to no avail. The continued failure in their test scores indicates clearly that our education system is still failing our children. Dr. Collins-Hart cannot avoid her responsibility for that failure. She was the Superintendent during the continued drop in scores. There are a lot of people who care about seeing our children get a good education. 3 of them voted tonight to replace this Superintendent with someone who will make that a priority. That is what this vote really means.