Tension filled the air during a special meeting of the Harrison School Board on Tuesday, Jan. 31.  The special meeting was called in order for public comments to be voiced.  Retired assistant superintendent Bill Ray Lewis and more than 30 people were in attendance.  The audience was split between member of the Boone County Transparency in Government Group (TIGG) and adiministators and teachers of the school district.

The tone of the meeting was marked by accusations, verbal sparring, and emotions ran high as Bill Ray Lewis questioned the intentions of several of the speakers and accused the School Board of running from him during the past year.  Charges of Lewis using half-truths and edited recordings of telephone conversations to make his point were levied by Harrison Superintendent Melinda Moss. Retired teacher and administrator of the alternative school Hank Thompson was repeatedly interrupted by Lewis and Thompson’s allotted 15 minutes at the podium degraded into a verbal sparring match.

Sonia Arvin was the last person to speak at the meeting and claimed that she had been hung up on when she had contacted the administration building about the meeting.  She also said she was dismayed by the confrontational and tense atmosphere that dominated the meeting.  She stated that she was not interested in the personality conflicts that are flaring within the School District and all she wanted to know was what the board is doing.