Community member tells Jackson County Schools board she needs two years and pledges to help restore Clark Art School

A reconvened meeting of the Jackson County Schools Board of Education included a last-minute agenda amendment to allow a community member identified in the transcript as Miss Brazelton to speak, during which she asked the board for time and support to restore a local school and described volunteer commitments and financial pledges.

Miss Brazelton, a community member, told the board she had been working on the issue for several weeks and asked for “two years to turn this school around.” She said there were initially “13” pledges and “as of this morning, there are around 20 pledges,” and that volunteers were available to assist with reading programs. She also said parents had contacted her about enrollment and registration changes affecting kindergarten and pre-K. “Education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governance,” she quoted from Brown v. Board of Education, and added, “$20,000 worth of pledges made to the schools. Give us time and see what we can do. That's all I ask.”

The board first amended the agenda to allow Miss Brazelton to address the board; the motion to add her to the agenda passed on an aye vote, according to the record. Board members read the rules for public participation before she spoke; the rules -- as read into the record -- said each speaker was allotted four minutes, that speakers should limit remarks to concerns about school operations and programs and observe decorum, and that the board would listen but would not act at that time. The rules also said the board would not hear personal complaints about school personnel during the public session and noted alternative means for filing personnel complaints.

No formal board action related to Miss Brazelton’s remarks was recorded in the transcript; the board moved on to its listed business after public comment.