County School Board member Rhonda Thurman said Thursday she was caught off guard by a controversial school board pension plan that was approved last Thursday.

She said, "After that board meeting I felt like Dr. Register, Joe Conner and Davis Lundy were back in charge. I had flashbacks of votes for an outgoing $150,000 superintendent's consulting contract and a four-year superintendent's contract extension that were made by an outgoing school board. I hoped that those days were over."

Ms. Thurman said, "Thursday, Aug. 19, started with my first customer at 7 a.m. I had a customer every 30 minutes without taking a lunch. I took my last customer at 3 p.m. in order to get to a 4 p.m. reception for outgoing school board members. At 5 p.m. I walked over to the school board meeting that had roll call and then broke for an executive session that ended at 6 p.m.

"After the executive session we immediately sat down to start the board meeting. I did not see the pension proposal until I sat down at my station to start the board meeting. The item was not on the original agenda nor was it on the amended agenda that has the amendments highlighted in red ink. The proposal was added when the chairman asked for us to add it at the last minute before the agenda was submitted for approval.

"The proposal was put at each board member's station along with three manilla envelopes containing supporting documents for other things on the agenda. Along with all of this paper, we have at our stations our laptops, I have a printed copy of the agenda that is normally over 100 pages long and my notes marked with sticky notes to mark things I want to pull from the consent agenda. We also have mail we receive at the central office as well as invitations from various schools and organizations.

"At first glance I thought the proposal was to allow us to invest our school board pay into a retirement account. Then I noticed the second page said something about 'prior years'. I was not going to vote for something I was not clear about and the school board attorney said if you have all the facts, as an elected official you should vote up or down. However, if you do not have all the facts you should pass. So, I passed.

"I have a few questions for tonight's meeting. First, who initiated the pension proposal? What board members were made aware of the pension proposal before the meeting? How was the decision made as to what board members would be 'briefed' about the pension proposal before the meeting?

"Whoever the new board chairman is should not allow last-minute items that are not an absolute emergency to be added to the agenda. The new chairman should also make the superintendent sit in front of the board so it does not look like he is in charge. This would also allow all board members to look him in the eye."