County school board members on Thursday hit a County Commission plan to divy up the proceeds of the sale of the East Brainerd Elementary School property by having commission members and school board members for each district decide how to spend one ninth of the money.
Board members also said the commission was holding school officials "hostage" over the issue of ordering new camera systems to provide coverage for all 82 county schools.
The County Commission on Feb. 20 voted to use $2.2 million from the sale of the Ooltewah Elementary property for the cameras - provided that funds from the East Brainerd Elementary property be divided among the nine districts.
County School Board Attorney Scott Bennett said the East Brainerd School property is owned by the county schools.
He said the school board could not "suspend state law" and agree to terms involving school property that is not set to go up for sale for about a year.
The board voted 8-1 in favor of a resolution that "respectfully requests that the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners purchase the recommended security cameras and coordinate with school system officials to have these cameras delivered and installed as quickly as practicable."
The resolution also says that after the sale of the East Brainerd property that the county schools "will make specific recommendations" to the County Commission "regarding the proposed use of these funds, taking into account the total amount of monies realized from the sale of this property, the many needs of the schools throughout Hamilton County, and the Hamilton County Board of Education's statutory obligation to act as the steward of school funds."
Dr. Steve Highlander voted no, saying he did not want to "butt heads" with the school funding authority.
Board member Rhonda Thurman said the commission action was not only "holding hostage" the security camera funds but also a road she said is vitally needed so that Daisy Elementary students no longer have to travel through the Soddy Daisy High School campus.
She called the plan to split up the funds according to the dictates of the commissioner in conference with the school board member "foolhardy." She said she did not know how that could be done in an equal fashion. She said, "You're going to make somebody really mad. You're going to make a lot of mamas mad."
Saying she had always had a good relationship with the commission, Ms. Thurman said, "I feel like we're stepping on each other's toes. I just don't feel like this is the way to go about things."
Dr. Greg Martin said, "We need those security cameras tomorrow."
David Testerman said he "resented" the commission stance. He said, "This money belongs to the children of Hamilton County."
He said commission members "have their discretionary funds," but school board members do not.