Mortellus
Oct 31, 2018
In fall 2018, community members seeking records of TJCA's governing committees encountered incomplete files, searches of former employees' computers, and weeks of correspondence. One committee's recovered minutes even contradicted the Board chair's recollection of its existence.
What happened: In October and November 2018, several members of the Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy community submitted public records requests seeking minutes from the school's governing committees. The requests were ordinary in substance: records of what the Academy's Personnel, Finance, Curriculum, and Resolution and Transition committees had discussed during previous years. Obtaining them proved considerably less straightforward.
According to TJCA's own correspondence, school personnel searched multiple computers, including files associated with former employees, in an effort to assemble the requested records. Some initial collections were incomplete, requiring additional searches and supplemental production. One request presented an especially revealing problem. When Jerry Early asked for minutes of TJCA's Resolution and Transition Committee, Board Chair Ray Maxwell initially said he was unfamiliar with a committee bearing that name during his chairmanship.
After several weeks of correspondence, TJCA produced handwritten minutes and a separately typed version covering meetings during the summer of 2017. The recovered records identified Maxwell himself as an attendee at an August 11, 2017 committee meeting—despite his earlier statements that he did not recall the committee meeting after he became Board chair. The episode unfolded during a turbulent period for TJCA's governance, following the controversial departure of founding headmaster Joe Maimone and growing community concerns about Board accountability. The records subsequently recovered concerned far more than routine administrative housekeeping. They documented discussions about restructuring school leadership, employee compensation, contracts, human resources, and the relationship between administrators and the governing Board.
What was established:
June 2017 — Board Creates a Resolution and Transition Committee
At its June 6, 2017 meeting, TJCA's Board approved a significant reorganization of school leadership based on recommendations from attorney David Hostetler. The plan established a collaborative administrative team comprising the headmaster and the principals of the Upper and Grammar campuses, each reporting directly to the Board through its Executive Committee. The Board also authorized a Resolution and Transition Ad Hoc Committee, chaired by Paul Foley, to help implement the changes. The committee's responsibilities were associated with broader recommendations concerning the school's administrative structure, personnel arrangements, governance, and leadership transition. The same Board action extended the terms of existing parent and teacher representatives pending further review and recommendations by the new committee. These responsibilities made the committee an important part of TJCA's institutional decision-making during 2017. In August, the full Board's minutes recorded Foley reporting that beneficial changes were being made to the school's environment and that the committee would continue meeting. Those publicly recorded statements would later become central to Jerry Early's questions.
October 31–November 29, 2018 — Jerry Early Seeks Transition Committee Minutes
On October 31, 2018, Jerry Early requested minutes for all 2017 and 2018 meetings of the Resolution and Transition Committee. After receiving no substantive production, he followed up on November 6 and again on November 16. On November 18, Maxwell replied that the school was attempting to locate the information but that he was unfamiliar with a committee using that title during his chairmanship. Early supplied references to the committee in TJCA's Board records.
The following day, Maxwell explained that school staff would search for any surviving minutes. He also stated that the documents were maintained on school computers rather than directly by individual directors. Maxwell wrote that he had been elected chair in August 2017 and did not recall the committee meeting afterward.
On November 20, he offered an explanation for the committee's formation: former Board Chair Paula Staley had been studying for the bar examination, and the ad hoc committee allowed another director to chair meetings involving Executive Committee members. Maxwell suggested that the committee became unnecessary when he assumed the chairmanship. Early accepted that explanation as reasonable but continued questioning whether the committee had been formally dissolved and whether its records were complete. He also pointed to the August 2017 Board minutes, which recorded Foley's statement that the committee would continue meeting.
The correspondence continued until November 29, when Maxwell supplied two versions of the committee minutes: scans of handwritten notes and a typed transcription prepared by the committee chair.
The Recovered Minutes Contradict Maxwell's Recollection
The minutes ultimately provided by TJCA documented committee activity on June 20, July 11, and August 11, 2017, along with canceled meeting dates. The typed record for August 11, 2017, specifically lists Ray Maxwell among those attending. That meeting occurred ten days after Maxwell's election as Board chair. The discrepancy is notable because Maxwell had previously written that he did not recall the committee meeting after he became chair and had suggested that its purpose ended with his appointment. The recovered records also demonstrate that the committee's actual discussions extended beyond temporarily assigning someone to chair meetings.
Its June and July proceedings addressed an attorney-proposed administrative structure, reporting relationships, employment contracts, and recruitment for a human resources position. The August 11 minutes documented the hiring of a human resources official and identified salary inconsistencies between the state teacher pay schedule and TJCA's own compensation system.
The committee directed the administration to develop recommendations for a more equitable salary structure while considering the Academy's budget surplus. These were substantive decisions and discussions affecting the school's employees, leadership, and financial priorities.
The salary discussion is particularly significant when considered alongside the February 2020 controversy, in which TJCA teachers publicly confronted the Board about years of below-scale compensation. The recovered 2017 minutes establish that discrepancies between the state salary schedule and TJCA's compensation practices had been discussed at the committee level years earlier.
Handwritten Notes and Typed Minutes Raise Additional Questions
The original Resolution and Transition Committee records were handwritten on two sheets of TeamCFA stationery. The notes were sparse, containing abbreviated descriptions of administrative discussions, staffing matters, salaries, and committee business. The typed version organized those notes into a more readable account of three meetings. Maxwell explained that the committee chair had prepared the transcription to make the original notes easier to understand.
Early was dissatisfied with the quality of the recordkeeping.
In his November 30 response, he criticized what he called the "kindergarten style of minute taking" and questioned how the handwritten and typed documents could represent the same proceedings. His concern highlights the difficulty of reconstructing institutional decisions when the original notes contain little explanation of what was discussed, what conclusions were reached, and who was responsible for carrying out decisions. The available documents establish that TJCA provided both versions. They do not establish that either was deliberately altered.
November 2018 — Gina Greene's Request Requires Searches of Former Employees' Files
The Resolution and Transition Committee was not the only source of difficulty. On November 1, Gina Greene requested Personnel and Finance Committee minutes covering 2016, 2017, and 2018.
TJCA's subsequent explanation acknowledged that minutes had been recorded by individuals who no longer worked at the Academy. Staff searched several computers in an effort to assemble the records.
On November 18, Maxwell told Greene that the documents initially provided by staff were incomplete and that he had requested another search. Greene responded by emphasizing that committee minutes should document proceedings contemporaneously and asked that the records supplied reflect their original versions. Maxwell replied on November 19, explaining that he meant the collection was incomplete, rather than alleging that individual minutes had been created or changed after the fact. He also complained about the time school staff had spent retrieving the documents.
According to Maxwell, the Upper Campus principal had spent nearly two days searching for the requested records instead of performing her ordinary duties. He attributed some of the difficulty to employee turnover and the dispersal of historical committee files across different computers.
The Personnel and Finance Committee documents were provided later that evening. The exchange revealed a records system in which producing several years of governing committee minutes required substantial manual searching rather than retrieval from a readily accessible, organized archive.
November 2018 — Mary Ellen Barker Receives Incomplete Curriculum Committee Records
Mary Ellen Barker submitted a separate request on November 1 for Curriculum Committee minutes from 2016 and 2017. On November 15, TJCA's information technology director forwarded committee documents to Upper Campus Principal Dianna Bridges, who transmitted them to Maxwell. Bridges noted that very few Curriculum Committee minutes were available.
After examining the files, Maxwell concluded that the materials did not fully answer Barker's request. On November 18, he informed her that the information received from staff was incorrect or incomplete and that further searches were underway. The school supplied one collection of Curriculum Committee minutes on November 19.
On November 20, Maxwell forwarded two additional sets of minutes that had not been included in the original merged file. One concerned an October 25, 2017 meeting; another concerned April 25, 2018. The latter document contained detailed discussions about academic rigor, enrollment pressures, standardized testing, curriculum expectations, and the Academy's changing student population. Its significance illustrates precisely why preserving committee minutes matters.
Without these records, substantial discussions about the school's educational direction could be absent from an examination of the Board's public decision-making.
December 2018 — State Review Criticizes Committee Recordkeeping
The same period brought formal scrutiny from the North Carolina Office of Charter Schools.
Following governance complaints submitted by parent organizer Dr. Ingeborg Collins, state officials reviewed TJCA's Board procedures, meeting records, purchasing practices, and conflict-of-interest documentation. In its December 27, 2018 findings, the Office of Charter Schools specifically observed that the Academy's committee meeting minutes lacked detail.
That deficiency became especially important in the state's examination of a construction contract awarded to a company owned by a Board member's father. Although the official Board minutes recorded that the interested director abstained, state reviewers found no documentation establishing that he left the meeting while other directors evaluated the conflict or that the necessary conflict-of-interest discussion occurred. The Office of Charter Schools subsequently required TJCA's directors to complete governance training by July 31, 2019. It also recommended improving committee and full-Board minutes so they would clearly document the steps taken to identify and address conflicts of interest. The state findings reinforce the significance of the earlier records disputes. Poorly documented proceedings do more than frustrate people requesting information. They can make it impossible to determine whether important safeguards and procedures were followed.
What was not established: TJCA eventually produced records in response to all three requests examined here. The correspondence does not establish that officials intentionally destroyed, concealed, or falsified committee minutes. It does establish repeated difficulty locating historical records, incomplete initial productions, and shortcomings in the documentation of committee proceedings. The available materials do not show that a court determined TJCA violated the Public Records Act or Open Meetings Law in connection with these particular requests.
Original evidence:
TJCA — Jerry Early Request for Resolution and Transition Committee Meeting Minutes, October 31–November 30, 2018.
Preserved correspondence among Early, Board Chair Ray Maxwell, school administrators, and legal counsel David Hostetler, together with the original handwritten and subsequently typed committee minutes.
TJCA — Gina Greene Request for Personnel and Finance Committee Minutes, November 1–19, 2018.
Preserved records request, correspondence concerning searches of former employees' files, and the Academy's production of committee minutes.
TJCA — Mary Ellen Barker Request for Curriculum Committee Minutes, November 1–20, 2018.
Preserved correspondence documenting the initial incomplete collection, additional searches, and supplemental production of Curriculum Committee records.
Official Board records:
TJCA Board Minutes — June 6, 2017. Documents formation of the Resolution and Transition Committee and its connection to administrative restructuring.
TJCA Board Minutes — August 1, 2017. Records Foley's statement that the committee would continue meeting and Maxwell's election as chair.
North Carolina Office of Charter Schools — Collins Grievance Closure Form, December 27, 2018.
Preserved state findings addressing Board governance, committee minutes, conflict-of-interest procedures, and required corrective action.
Applicable law:
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115C-218.25 — Application of North Carolina's Public Records Act, Open Meetings Law, and records-retention requirements to public charter schools.
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 143-318.10(e) — Requirement that public bodies maintain full and accurate minutes of official meetings.
Subsequent developments: The December 2018 state findings demonstrated that weaknesses in TJCA's committee documentation had consequences extending beyond the public records disputes. The Office of Charter Schools required governance training and recommended clearer records of Board and committee proceedings, particularly where conflicts of interest arose.
TJCA continues to publish historical full-Board minutes through its website. However, those records do not necessarily provide the detailed discussions that occurred within the committees responsible for developing recommendations before matters reached the full Board.
The records recovered in November 2018 demonstrate the value of committee documentation. They preserve discussions about administrative restructuring and employee compensation that might otherwise be difficult to reconstruct from regular Board minutes alone. Further documentation concerning TJCA's records-retention procedures, committee minute-taking responsibilities, and any changes adopted following the 2018 state review would help establish whether the identified weaknesses were addressed. TJCA Truth also welcomes contemporaneous committee agendas, original handwritten notes, electronic files, and records showing how historical committee documents were organized, preserved, and transferred when employees left the Academy.
Report from the community: The principal firsthand accounts in this entry come from the people who sought the records. Jerry Early's correspondence documents repeated attempts to obtain Resolution and Transition Committee minutes and his growing frustration with the explanations he received. His concerns extended beyond the delay itself. He questioned why a committee that had addressed significant administrative matters was so difficult to trace through the school's records and why its original notes contained so little detail. Gina Greene similarly challenged the difficulty of obtaining historical committee records and specifically asked that original documentation be preserved and supplied without alteration. Mary Ellen Barker's request produced a separate example of records being supplied in stages after the Academy identified omissions in its initial collection. These requests were not abstract demands for transparency. They concerned records of decisions and discussions that affected how a publicly funded school was governed, how employees were managed, and how educational priorities were established.
No additional firsthand interviews with the requesters, former committee secretaries, or employees responsible for maintaining the historical records have yet been obtained by TJCA Truth. TJCA Truth welcomes experiences from former Board members, committee participants, school administrators, employees, and community members who requested or maintained TJCA records during this period. Accounts involving missing committee minutes, incomplete productions, document preservation, or the transfer of records following staff departures would be particularly valuable. Contributors may request anonymity, and private correspondence will not be published without permission.