WILMINGTON — For a month now, former general counsel Wayne Bullard has failed to turn over his phone records to the New Hanover County School district in compliance with a formal public records request.
The request stems from several incidents where Bullard was seen filming ‘call to the audience’ speakers during New Hanover County Board of Education meetings. Bullard selectively filmed several speakers who criticized Bullard directly or the district in general.
Several of those speakers, and one board member, called Bullard’s behavior intimidation, and the district said “[i]t is not policy or practice for videotaping or photography to occur from the board table at any time.”
Port City Daily originally reported the story on Monday, March 9. The following day, Bullard resigned. In a statement, Bullard said he had done nothing illegal — and, despite what NHCS had said, denied he had violated board policy. Bullard called accusations of intimidation “absurd,” and accused some of the speakers he filmed of launching their own “outrageous attacks” against him.
Bullard also said he filmed the speakers to ensure he had a ‘personal copy’ — although the meetings are comprehensively filmed and archived by the district and maintained on NHCS’s YouTube page.
On Wednesday, March 11, the day after Bullard announced his resignation, Port City Daily filed a formal public records request with NHCS, asking for Bullard’s phone records. The request included all texts, images, and videos sent from Bullard’s phone. Because Bullard had made his resignation effective on March 17, he was still an employee of NHCS at the time of the request.
The district initially attempted to reject the records request, stating that because it was Bullard’s personal phone, it was not covered by state statutes governing public records.
However, after further discussion and a review of state law and case history pertaining to public records, NHCS agreed and asked Bullard to turn over his records on Tuesday, March 17 — Bullard’s last day as an NHCS employee.
One month later, Bullard has not complied with NHCS’s request. Bullard did not respond to a request for comment sent to his personal email.
Send comments and tips to Benjamin Schachtman at ben@localvoicemedia.com, @pcdben on Twitter, and (910) 538-2001
