Newspaper Page Text
Continued From 1A
THURSDAY. APRIL 29. 2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 9A
Texts
manipulated. They are sup
posed to lead children. No
way. I say they all have to
go,” said Lowe, encouraging
the crowd to pressure Young,
Finley, and board members
Aaron Holland and Steve
Smith to resign.
Lowe said the texts show
that others inside the system
were also collaborating to un
dermine Townsend by the fall
of 2020 after he had only
been hired months earlier in
April of 2020. The texts
showed that Young and
Board Attorney Phil Lan
drum had approached the
school finance department to
see how much the buyout of
Townsend’s contract would
be prior to the meetings on
January 15 and January 18th
where Townsend was noti
fied that he would be re
leased. Townsend was not
officially terminated until
Feb. 23 with the school sys
tem buying out his remaining
contract for $420,000 so he
could be terminated with “no
cause.”
“The $420,000 is egre
gious, but this behavior is
worse,” said Lowe.
Christopher Pence, who
ran unsuccessfully against
Finley last year, spent more
than 22 hours piecing all the
printed screen shots of Fin
ley’s texts together. He said
that there are clear gaps
where they couldn’t follow
the whole chain. There were
also a handful that were
redacted for no obvious rea
son. Some of the slides pre
sented at the town hall
meeting in the community
center showed a single text in
the middle of a chain that was
blacked out.
The Impact Pickens lead
ers said since they hit the
open records jackpot with
Finley’s texts, they attempted
to get the texts of other board
members and staff to see who
else was complicit, but they
were informed that the
records were not available,
apparently indicating that
other school employees and
board members had not
saved text messages. The
texts would still be available
on the providers’ servers but
retrieving them would be ex
pensive and difficult. Impact
Pickens members were not
sure if that would be possi
ble.
In a later discussion, Phil
Landrum said he had already
dealt with requests to turn
over texts when Townsend’s
predecessor (Carlton Wilson)
was similarly terminated a
year earlier and at that time
he concluded the law didn’t
require anyone to keep text
messages on personal phones
but if they did, they must be
produced if they involve of
ficial business and are re
quested.
The texts obtained from
Finley provided a scorching
behind-the-scenes glimpse of
efforts from October of2020
through April of 2021, a pe
riod that saw Finley elected
board chair, the balance of
power shift on the board as
Aaron Holland was ap
pointed to the board,
Townsend’s termination, and
Young’s hiring as superin
tendent.
“The board members were
actually scheming at least as
early as October of 2020 and
their plans included bringing
Carlton Wilson back,” Lowe
said, noting it may have
begun even earlier but they
didn’t request any earlier
records.
The full collection of the
texts and the presentation
from Impact Pickens is avail
able at their Facebook page.
Below are some of the key
points made by Lowe and
Pence during the town hall
meeting Saturday.
October 19, 2020 - Aaron
Holland was appointed in a
unanimous vote to replace
Joetta Youngblood on the
board. Youngblood has sided
generally with Townsend
supporters Tucker Green and
at that time Donna Enis.
After Holland’s appoint
ment, Finley texted to Young
that she was surprised that
Green and Enis didn’t oppose
Holland’s appointment. “I
don’t think they realize, they
just shot themselves in the
foot,” she texted.
November 2020 - Hol
land texted to Finley that he
was praying about the
changes and was hesitant to
make the move too fast.
In a later text Finley said
she was ready to throw “a
grenade” if Holland didn’t
support removing Townsend.
However, as Pence specu
lated during the presentation,
it remains unknown what the
“grenade” was.
November 2020 texts be
tween Young and Finley are
not fully clear but show that
Young is advising staff mem
ber to give glowing reports
on something, to “play his
game. The board knows
what’s happening.”
January 6 - In a text be
tween Finley and board
member Steve Smith, Finley
texts that board member
Aaron Holland has talked
with incoming board member
Tommy Gartrell and they be
lieve he will go along with
the termination as well.
January 11 - A text from
Finley to Young mentioned
specifically bringing Carlton
Wilson back, with Finley
saying “I also called CW this
a.m. to make sure he knew
you were going to be interim
to allow Aaron and Tommy
time to interview him. I as
sured this was not a change in
our ultimate goal, just didn’t
want to blindside him.”
January 14th - Chair Fin
ley says “The Queen is not
happy” after Gartrell was
elected vice chair instead of
Steve Smith.
In texts from January 11
through the 15th Finley tells
Smith she didn’t want “to tip
my hand about Friday,” but
that Tony had “told me how
to say it.”
Following the January
15th meeting, Townsend was
by all practical measure dis
missed. He cleaned out his
office and had his school
phone and e-mail shut down.
However, the public reac
tion to this meeting came
back so negatively to
School Board Chair Sue Finley asks at one point,
“aren V texts so much better? ” Perhaps if she had
known all hers would be the subject of town hall
meeting, she might have had a different opinion.
Below, Finley’s texts are the black with flowers;
Tony Young is the T.
< Tony Young
CM
©c
If ihose two knew Aaron it
wouldn't be 4-c, Lol
L
53M PM
Aren't texts so much better
than whispering or passing
notes?!.
(T_~j)f Absolutely (
©>
That extra money was
due to a state audit. It had
nothing to do with last
months collections.
! I'M
CC
< Tony Young
Tuesday, November 3, 2020
Our admins are very
nervous that they've been
asked to present to the
board Friday. Just wanted
you to know.
©c Shoot no. Lol. ; 12(
:03 PM
Do you suppose this is
hie: wau of rloino nnrt of
Above, a text message from Sue Finley to Tony Young.
In his rebuttal, Young said he often used “Lol” or thumbs
up symbols to appease his bosses and re-direct the conver
sations.
! know. I did. Steve did. Sigh...
Aaron still wants to wait until January, but
says he has lost all confidence in RT and is
on board with us. 1 told him if he decided to
back out, i was going to throw the grenade.
! will not have the community think that I
knew he did something(s) illegal and didn’t
do anything about it. That got his attention.
Come on January!
Text message from Sue Finley above and below.
<
Me
2:02 PM, Dec 10
< ©
Sure. I may be in the shower then heading to
pick up I . I’ll text instead. Steve said a
few days ago you were feeling discouraged.
Steve and I are going to (try) be good until
Jan mtg so Aaron has no reason not to vote
for us. Once we are in leadership position we
can be more forceful. As for tonight, I called
Wallace a few days ago to verify that he is not
recommending football coach for renewal.
Steve and I wanted to make sure be we don’t
trust. Anyway, if we are given a different story
on PAR, we will calmly ask Wallace to come
in, etc. This will be evidence of lying In front
of everyone. If PAR is accurate, NP. After
January bd mtg if 2 newbies still won’t pull the
trigger, Steve and I (after having Phil review
our statement for potholes) plan to go to Dan
Poole and pull out the big guns. So, things may
appear calm and uneventful tonight, but we
have a plan. Don’t give up!
< Steve Smith
a
9:00 PM
I've talked to Tony and
will call RT in a.m. Just
don’t want to tip my hand
about Fri. Tony told me
how to say it. : 7 ,
Awesome
fulnm-rWg rrmrch-nllg
i HL'tA Irifir.FTF.iif.fV^arf
Text message with Finley in black and Steve Smith as S
All texts came from Impact Pickens presentation.
Townsend’s firing that the
Impact Pickens speakers felt
the board decided to settle on
Young as the interim without
any public mention of Carl
ton Wilson.
In an undated text ex
change Finley texted that
Steve “wants Carlton now,
which I do, too. But you have
to keep the long range goal in
mind.” Young replied that, “I
hate the Carlton part, but he
will understand.”
Sue also texted to Tony
that she “dreaded” telling
Carlton Wilson they wouldn’t
be bringing him back
quickly.
Wilson had flatly denied
in a previous conversation
with the Progress editor that
he had been involved in the
turmoil over Townsend.
When contacted Monday,
Wilson said he hadn’t seen
the presentation but was
aware it had taken place. He
would not comment at that
time as he hadn’t seen, but in
tended to watch it.
Following the presenta
tion of the texts by Pence,
Lowe said it would be up to
the community to put pres
sure on school officials to
change this “culture of fear”
they have created. He said
Impact Pickens’ Christopher Pence shows the paper
copies of the texts they were provided through an open
records request. Pence said he had more than 22 hours
piecing the fragments and chains back together.
this level of plotting and ma
nipulation silences others in
the system.
“Anyone who defends this
behavior is an enemy of kids
and schools, “ Lowe said.
On the recall itself, Lowe
said they had been stalled by
a legal challenge from board
members Smith and Holland,
but the court system will
allow them to conduct dis
covery, and based on what
they found in the open
records request he can’t
imagine what else they will
find.
Continued From 1A
Supt.’s
Response
that board members would be
calling and texting his assis
tant directly, but he had in
structed board members to go
to Young with questions and
concerns, Young said.
Young said he was filling
his role as liaison and trying
to foster better relations be
tween his superior and the
board. When Impact Pickens
alludes to this as plotting or
scheming with the board, it
was him listening to frus
trated board members, trying
to soothe over issues and im
prove communications be
tween the board members
and superintendent.
Young acknowledges that
many of the texts from Board
Chair Finley went too far,
which he attributed to her
being frustrated by a lack of
response when she ap
proached Townsend directly
with concerns. Young wanted
to emphatically state that he
didn’t originate or encourage
any of the bashing of the su
perintendent. He says it’s im
portant for the public to
remember Finley, and other
board members, were his
bosses and he was charged by
the superintendent himself to
be courteous with their con
cerns whether by text or
phone.
“She did send some texts
that were outlandish and I re
sponded with a thumbs up,
smiley face or lol,” Young
said. “I was trying to appease
her and also not go further
down that road. Anyone who
has had a boss text them
something should under
stand.”
Young said he got stuck in
the middle of frustrated staff
(whom he did not want to
name but said they were at
the administrative level) who
were going to Finley and
board member Steve Smith
as they were viewed as the
most accessible. And then the
board members were trying
to work with Townsend and
not getting anywhere and it
was creating a lot of tension.
“I was running around try
ing to plug holes,” he said.
“And I failed to manage the
relationship between the
board and superintendent.”
Young, with Landrum’s
input in this part of the inter
view, said frustration with
Townsend went directly back
to his lack of clear communi
cation on what was needed
from the staff. They also said
he had a leadership style that
“produced frustration.”
When board members
began plans to terminate him,
the relationship with the
board and staff had soured,
though through December it
was possible to be salvaged,
Young said. However, they
say events occurred during a
December executive session
that may have led board
members to lose confidence
in Townsend. Specifically,
the text included in the Im
pact Pickens presentation al
luding to board member
Aaron Holland losing confi
dence in Townsend “is an
event, not a plot,” Young
said.
“There was ‘no cause’ for
the termination, such as an il
legal act, but the relationship
was not productive to the dis
trict. That is fair to say,” said
Young.
Young said Finley and
Smith were feeling this frus
tration from the staff and they
in turn were turning to him -
their board liaison to fix
things.
As to Carlton Wilson,
Young treaded a fine line. He
acknowledged that both
Smith and Finley were
strongly in favor of bringing
him back. Young said he
liked Wilson but didn’t work
to bring him back though he
knew that Finley and Smith
had made plans and told
other board members they
wanted to see him inter
viewed to replace Townsend,
but that interview never hap
pened. Young said his text
that he felt bad for Wilson
was genuine. “I knew he
wanted the job and I’m sure
he was disappointed to not
get the interview.”
He said the characteriza
tion of it as “plot” goes too
far, but from the day the pre
vious board terminated Wil
son “it had stuck in their
craw.”
“This is retributive jus
tice,” Young said. “The
whole ‘I got your superin
tendent. Now we’re going to
get yours. And now Impact
Pickens wants this one
[Young]. It’s like the old Hat
fields and McCoys and it’s
got to stop.”
As superintendent, Young
is in an odd position in that
he is still working off an ex
isting teacher contract which
will expire in June and being
paid the same pay rate as he
was as assistant superintend
ent. He is set to retire in De
cember. So the board will
have to make a decision in
the next month about his fu
ture.
Young said he had not in
tended to continue working
under Townsend but feels a
duty to staff to stay on as
long as the board wants him
to provide some stability. He
said there is no one else in the
system that could immedi
ately step in should he resign,
and that would throw the sys
tem back into chaos. He has
offered to work on a 30-day
rolling basis with no buyout
clause, meaning the board
could keep him as superin
tendent on a monthly basis as
long as they feel he is the best
choice.
“I can’t walk away right
now,” he said. “I owe that to
the staff.”
Finally, Young said he
saw no way to diffuse the
openly hostile environment
between the board and Im
pact Pickens but it is having
a serious morale effect on the
staff. He also said that the ef
forts by Impact Pickens to
have the system audited over
the SACS will likely draw an
investigation, but cautioned
this may ultimately harm stu
dents.
“We have already de
fended one [SACS] investi
gation [over this situation]
and I have confidence that we
can defend another,” he said.
But if people are constantly
contacting SACS they may
ultimately penalize the
school district and that will
hurt the students the most, he
said. If the system does lose
SACS accreditation, students
from Pickens may not be eli
gible for HOPE scholarships.
Landrum and Young said
that their response to Impact
Pickens’ presentation would
also be used to respond to an
ticipated inquires from ac
crediting investigators and
lawsuits. They intend to have
the rebuttal ready later this
week on the school’s website,
pickenscountyschools.org.
&N#WBALL
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Monday, May 3, 2021
Arrowhead Country Club
Golf Ball Dro
3 Chances to WIN!!
$100, $150 & $200
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Purchase by calling Chamber at
706-692-5600
Proceeds support Youth Leadership &
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