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Sullivan North principal blasts county commissioners over funding shortage

By J.H. OSBORNE

BLOUNTVILLE - Sullivan County's school system needs a little old-fashioned "commitment and support" from the County Commission, the principal of one of the county's four high schools said Monday.

Sullivan North High School principal Richard Carroll spoke during the public comment segment at the Sullivan County Commission's monthly meeting. Carroll, with 38 years experience in education, said he can recall a time when Sullivan County's system was a draw - when its pay scale and the county's perceived commitment to education attracted teachers.

That's no longer the case, Carroll said. "We have a serious funding problem in our school system," Carroll said, citing budget cuts to education funding by the commission earlier. Among what Carroll called major concerns were keeping quality teachers and returning sheriff's deputies to the high schools.

School resource officers (SROs) - assigned to a particular school by the sheriff's department - were trimmed from the county's budget over the summer.

Since this school year began last month, Carroll said, there have been two "very volatile" situations unfold at North when "a physical attack nearly occurred."

"We desperately need that SRO officer in our school," Carroll said. North also lost six faculty members over the summer, Carroll said - all left for better-paying jobs.

He said "more and more is expected" of teachers and staff each school year, but there is "less and less to do with." "Teacher morale is at the lowest I've seen it,'' said Carroll.

It was the second time in as many months that a high school principal described the situation as "desperate" for Sullivan County's schools. East principal Mary Rouse appealed to the commission for restored funding last month, also citing trouble finding teachers and the need for SROs in schools.

Also during public comment Monday, a Bristol, VA., resident told the commission "it's about time to remove" a plaque featuring the Ten Commandments from the lobby of the Sullivan County Courthouse. Lewis Loflin said other counties in Tennessee have lost court battles over similar displays. He said he plans to come back to the commission and request to place a plaque in the courthouse "in tribute to Francis David, a victim of violent fundamentalism."

"I will not fill out any forms or submit anything to the Christian censorship committee," Loflin said, in apparent reference to the County Commission's established process for displays such as the Ten Commandments plaque. Such displays require that requests - there is a commission-approved application form for those making the request to fill out - to go before the commission's Building Committee.

In other business Monday, Commissioner Wayne McConnell again deferred a resolution he is sponsoring that calls for a referendum on a countywide wheel tax. McConnell first raised the issue in June and has deferred action on the resolution each month since.

It originally called for a $26-per-vehicle annual wheel tax. McConnell accepted another commissioner's amendment Monday, changing the amount to $13.

Copyright September 16, 2003 Kingsport Times-News.

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Letter to the editor, September 5, 2002

SRO valuable

In response to the editorial July 27 about the need for school resource officers and if they were a deterrent to drug usage, many benefits of an SRO cannot be measured in numbers. Their presence stops many situations before they develop.

During summer school there was a situation where three young men came in the building wanting to see a summer school student. They were told this was not possible and to please leave. As they left, they were cursing but did not leave the campus. It took three phone calls and 25 minutes before a sheriff's deputy arrived. We never heard the end result.

However, red flags were raised, especially since there was a report and investigation of possible drug activity earlier in the day. The sheriff's office cannot be blamed. There are more pressing problems than having a suspicious car in the parking lot. If there had been an officer on campus the situation would have been handled differently.

Police officers are trained to do investigations. Teachers and administrators who search students or use any type of force to get them under control can be fired. An officer can take the offender to jail. Officers know the right questions to ask, how to do a search, types of suspicious behavior, and have immediate resources not available to teachers.

Their presence keep outsiders from entering campuses. The number of reported drug and other offenses might go down, not because there is less activity, but because there isn't a professional on duty to conduct investigations.

Carol Woodard
Kingsport

On top of disrupting school over religion, we have a Rev. Poff that wants to ban Halloween as Satanic.

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