Battle Between Councilman And School Superintendent Ends In Apology
Thursday, Aug 07, 2008 - 05:31 PM
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FAYETTEVILLE, NC -- A two-month long battle between a Cumberland County Schools superintendent and a Fayetteville City Council member has ended in an apology.
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But not before some controversial words were exchanged.
This all started back in June when school staffers told Councilman Charles Evans about a roach infestation at T.C. Berrien Elementary School.
Evans took the complaints to Schools Superintendent Bill Harrison, but he wasn't satisfied with the school's response.
That's when he went to the media and when he says things turned bad.
Evans tells us Harrison compared him to the former Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry because of Evans' past history with drugs.
In an e-mail from Dr. Harrison to school board members he writes: "I think he's no better than and just as much an embarrassment to this city as Marion Barry was to Washington."
Seven years clean now, Evans thinks Harrison's comment had another motive behind it:
"To divert attention from the lack of attention that a lot of inner schools are receiving. Matter of fact, a lot of schools that have a high minority presence, I do believe," according to Evans.
Dr. Harrison has since apologized for his remark but Evans thinks he should resign.
And now some school board members are recommending putting a written rebuke in Harrison's personnel file.
"The letter in the file does exactly that, it makes a point and we've made our point, so we'll move on," said Cumberland County School Board Member Mary Emily Royal.
NBC17 tried to speak with Superintendent Harrison today but his office told us he was unavailable.
As for the letter of reprimand, board member Mary Emily Royal says... a decision is expected Tuesday.
Regarding the complaints of roaches at T.C. Berrien, we checked out the school for ourselves.
And the only bug we saw inside the entire school was a single dead fly.
Not to mention, this past April, The Cumberland County Department of Health gave the school's cafeteria a rating of 96.5.
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