A local parent questioned during a Monday Elkin Board of Education meeting whether a teacher was dismissed from her job in the town as a result of a secret recording made by a student without the teacher’s knowledge or consent.
Board Chairman Richard Brinegar said following Monday’s meeting that he could not confirm or deny the accusations as it relates to personnel issues.
“Imagine a place where every conversation, every interaction, every moment is subject to premeditated secret recording. Imagine a place where those recordings are used selectively in a partisan manner to tarnish reputations and silence voices. Disappointingly, this dystopian scenario is a reality in Elkin City’s school board,” said Amanda Brewer during the public forum on Monday.
Brewer, a local parent with children at Elkin City Schools, said that, “a dedicated teacher has been dismissed based on a covert recording made by a student without the teacher’s knowledge or consent.”
In North Carolina the law states that there must be consent from at least one party in order to record an in-person conversation. There is also no consent required to record conversations in public where there is no reasonable expectation of privacy.
Despite the fact that recording someone speaking in a classroom does not violate any laws, Brewer went on to say, “Teachers, like all human beings, deserve a workspace where they can communicate openly and honestly without fear of secret surveillance.”
She added that using the recording to dismiss a teacher “sets a dangerous precedent where any educator could be unfairly judged, unjustly punished, based on selective snippets of conversation.”
Brewer also said the incident “sends a chilling message” to educators and students.
“It teaches students that secret recordings and manipulative tactics are acceptable and a means to an end. This is not the climate we want for our schools. We must cultivate trust, respect, and openness if we hope to foster a healthy atmosphere.”
She concluded by urging the board to implement “clear policies regarding recordings and privacy.”
Elkin High School Assistant Principal Heath Foster also spoke during the public forum. He suggested that school administrators should be consulted when evaluating the potential renewal or non-renewal of contracts. Foster began by highlighting portions of a survey of staff that indicated that the administration team is highly trusted and supported by the teachers.
“I want you to understand that educators in our building trust that their administration is vested in what they are doing on a daily basis and also know that we support them as professionals in the classroom. I’m speaking tonight because I’d like to recommend to our board that when it comes time to renew an educator’s contract that they might consider including, when needed, the very people on those conversations who are in the trenches with the teachers daily who are actually charged with evaluating them multiple times a year.”
Brinegar said on Tuesday that he couldn’t say anything about the incident other than it was a “personnel matter” and he was not at liberty to confirm or deny that recordings of a teacher lead to the dismissal.
“Some of the things that were said were true,” Brinegar did say.
“She made us aware of some things we need to do,” he said, referring to Brewer’s comments.
“She made us aware of some things that we need to talk about. And that’s the beauty of public comments, people make you aware of things. I appreciate public comments, that’s important,” he said.
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