A message from Seawell Elementary School was sent to all members of the school’s email network system on Monday, and a concerned parent has since passed along the message. The subject of the email: Taking Back Our State Town Hall Meeting. The meetings are to include Sen. Dan Blue and Reps. Rosa Gill and Yvonne Holley of the North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus (NCLBC) and the Democratic and Senate Caucus of the General Assembly. A series of meetings are going to be held with the first meeting taking place on Oct. 14 at 6:30p.m. at the Martin Street Baptist Church in Raleigh.
The email states that the purpose of the town hall meetings is “to give members of the NCLBC, other local elected officials, community partners, and business leaders the opportunity to update the community on the Affordable Health Care Act and other related health issues, the impact of recent legislation dealing with voter suppression and education, problems associated with local human services and unemployment as well as the economy.”
A source within Seawell Elementary said principal Marny Ruben wanted the email sent out. Ruben failed to return our calls regarding the email.
Seawell is in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools system.
Public funds should not be used to endorse or oppose a referendum or particular candidate, according to a General Assembly statute regarding public schools.
Using public networks to send out partisan information is not specifically cited in the statute, but it does begin to raise some questions. Is it right for a school to send out emails regarding partisan events using the public email network? Should schools send out partisan information at the taxpayers’ expense? What should the cutoff point be between the information schools can include in their emails and the information they cannot?
Here is a copy of the email that was sent out:
From: email@blackboardconnect.com
To:
Date: Mon, 14 Oct 2013 05:00:16 -0700
Subject: Town Hall Meeting
A message from SEAWELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
FYI
What’s Up: Taking Back Our State Town Hall Meeting
RALEIGH, NC -Members of the Raleigh delegation that include Sen. Dan Blue,
Reps. Rosa Gill and Yvonne Holley of the North Carolina Legislative Black
Caucus (NCLBC) and the Democratic and Senate Caucus of the North Carolina
General Assembly will host a series of Town Hall meetings during the
Interim Session of the North Carolina General Assembly. The first in this
district will be Monday, October 14, 2013 at 6:30 pm at Martin Street
Baptist Church, 1001 East Martin St, Raleigh, NC.
The purpose of this town hall meeting is to give members of the NC Black
Legislative Caucus, other local elected officials, community partners and
business leaders the opportunity to update the community on the Affordable
Health Care Act and other related health issues, the impact of recent
legislation dealing with voter suppression and education, problems
associated with local human services and unemployment as well as the
economy.
What: What’s Up Tour: Taking Back Our State Town Hall Meeting
Who: North Carolina General Assembly members of the North Carolina
Legislative Black Caucus and Democratic House Caucus
Where: Martin Street Baptist Church
1001 East Martin Street, Raleigh, NC
When: 6:30 pm
This e-mail has been sent to you by SEAWELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. To maximize their communication with
you, you may be receiving this e-mail in addition to a phone call with the same message. If you wish to
discontinue this service, please inform SEAWELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN PERSON, by US MAIL, or by
TELEPHONE at (919) 967-4343.
I’ve not seen too much on this… I think it should be getting a bit more coverage than it has so far.
It’s disturbing that we have public school employees using taxpayer resources for blatantly partisan activities. There should definitely be some accountability.