New law removes Guilford school board member

Aug. 18—A new law that state legislators adopted this week says that a man who was appointed to the Guilford County Board of Education in April now is no longer a member of the board.

But that board member, Bill Goebel, says the new law is unconstitutional and he will fight it.

The new law was pushed by Rep. Jon Hardister, R-Guilford, who also had been behind a law passed in March that sought to force the school board to seat Michael Logan to represent District 3. But that law called for the nomination to be made by the full executive committee, while Logan had been nominated by only the members from District 3.

Because of that discrepancy, board attorney Jill Wilson said the school board was free to choose anyone to fill the vacancy left when Republican Pat Tillman resigned after being elected to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners. Goebel, who like Logan is a Republican, then was swiftly nominated and approved on a party-line 6-2 vote.

Hardister's new legislation, which took effect upon its passage, calls for the term of anyone appointed to the school board after Dec. 1 to end as soon as this legislation became law.

The Guilford County Republican Party said in a prepared statement that the new law was necessary because of illegal actions by the school board's Democratic majority.

"From inception, the Guilford County Republican Party has been in compliance with the law to recommend a qualified nominee to fill the vacancy for the District 3 seat. However, the 6 Democrats on the Board were derelict in their duty refusing to seat the lawful nominee. In lieu of litigation that would have cost the taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars the GCRP has looked to the NC General Assembly (NCGA) as the higher authority to intervene and settle the dispute," the statement said.

The party's executive committee will meet Aug. 30 to elect a nominee to fill the District 3 seat. Any qualified Republican voter residing in District 3 can apply. Email inquiries should be sent to contact@guilfordgop.org.

Goebel and his attorney, Chuck Winfree, told the Greensboro News and Record that they are exploring what to do.

Republican school board members Linda Welborn and Crissy Pratt filed a lawsuit in May seeking to reverse Goebel's appointment, arguing that it resulted from violations of the state Open Meetings Law as well as laws governing the filling of board vacancies. That lawsuit remains pending in court.