WILMINGTON — The law firm hired by the New Hanover County Board of Education to conduct an internal investigation has billed over $21,000 to date. The vast majority of the invoiced cost came from investigations into former Superintendent Dr. Tim Markley — but it seems one of the reports was never delivered to the board.
That report was from an investigation into alleged attempts by Markley to intimidate and silence a parent, conducted by the Brooks, Pierce law firm.
Internal investigation of the whole district … but mostly Markley
In early July of 2019, the Board announced it had hired Brooks, Pierce attorney Jill Wilson to conduct an investigation into the past policies and practices of the New Hanover County School (NHCS) district and even past iterations of the board itself.
To date, Wilson’s firm has invoiced the Board $21,312.68 — a total of 95% of which has been billed for two investigations into misconduct by Dr. Markley. Only $975.43 has been billed for other services, but neither the Board or Wilson has responded to questions about what those services may have been.
It’s not clear why Wilson and her team have done little besides investigating Markley. The Board has been understandably open-ended on both the scope and timeline of Wilson’s investigation and its possible that Wilson and her team are waiting for the ongoing investigations by the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office and the State Bureau of Investigation to conclude before pursuing additional work. Neither the Board or Wilson responded to questions about the dearth of work not related to Markley, or whether the investigation was being directed by the Board of Wilson’s team.
Two investigations
The more expensive of the two investigations, costing $14,825.25, stemmed from allegations made by UNCW Professor Dr. Clyde Edgerton in early August of 2019. According to Edgerton, Markley contacted his superiors at UNCW in an attempt to pressure him into ceasing his criticism of Markley and the district, specifically over the racial inequity of the Forest Hills Spanish immersion program.
Over the next two months, Wilson interviewed Edgerton, and reportedly Markley, and possibly others. Wilson’s report was turned over to the Board, which used it to make a decision to suspend Markley without pay for five days in early October of 2019. In a statement, the Board said they found evidence that Markley did, in fact, attempt to intimidate Edgerton (although, as evidenced by Edgerton’s continued outspoken criticism, Edgerton was not effectively silenced by these attempts).
A second investigation was conducted after another parent whose children attended NHCS schools petitioned the Board to re-open a complaint against Markley for taking similar actions. The parent, who first discussed refiling his complaint with WECT, asked that his name be withheld to protect him from retaliation; specifically, the parent was a deputy with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office (NHCSO), where employees can be fired at will without the appeal process provided to Wilmington Police Department officers or other public employees.
According to the parent, Markley contacted his employer — namely Sheriff Ed McMahon — in an attempt to prevent him from advocating for his daughter. Markley’s complaints were documented as part of an Internal Affairs report that clearly stated that the “superintendent” had contacted Sheriff Ed McMahon on at least one occasion. (Asked for comment, the Sheriff’s Office said it could not comment on personnel matters.)
Brooks Pierce invoiced the Board $5,512 for the reopened investigation. According to the district, “[b]ecause the [parent’s] investigation is a personnel matter, the district will offer no comment on its status.” However, the parent confirmed that he had been contacted by Wilson and told the investigation had ended.
It’s worth noting that in the four months since the parent’s complaint was reopened, Wilson had not been able to secure an interview with Markley. Apparently, one had finally been scheduled but Markley reached his agreement with the Board in early February, prior to the interview.
So, Wilson stopped the investigation (and stopped billing the district — thus, the lower fee of the second investigation compared to the Edgerton investigation). Instead, she filed a report, and delivered it to the district.
What happened to the report?
The problem is, the Board doesn’t seem to have received the report. Board members Judy Justice and Nelson Beaulieu both said they had not seen a copy of Wilson’s report on the parent’s allegations.
After several emails and phone calls, Chairwoman Lisa Estep responded on Monday morning, but did not say whether or not she had ever received the report. Instead, she said only that the district’s new Chief Information Officer Ann Gibson would be answering questions about the report — a response that doesn’t quite make sense, since the contract with Brooks, Pierce is with the board, not the district. Gibson said only that NHCS had no comment on the investigation.
The question remains, what happened to the $5,500 report on Markley’s alleged misconduct?
The question is important for several reasons.
- First, if thousands of taxpayer dollars were spent on the report, there should be some record of where it is.
- Second, if the report contained damning information about Markley, it puts the Board’s agreement to pay him nearly a quarter-million dollars as part of a separation agreement into a new perspective. Markley’s first offense caused the board to suspend him for five days. What would a second offense have done? Would Markley have been able to negotiate such a lucrative exit deal with two strikes on his record?
- Third, if the report does conclude that Markley attempted to intimidate a parent, the situation is left without closure or accountability — and future employers will not know about Markley’s conduct.
- Lastly, if the Board doesn’t have the report — why not? Who did Wilson turn the report over to, and why didn’t they shared it with the board (since it would seem to be the Board’s property).
Send comments and tips to Benjamin Schachtman at ben@localvoicemedia.com, @pcdben on Twitter, and (910) 538-2001
