The tension inside the District Office Board Room Tuesday night was palpable from the invocation, raising the temperature on an otherwise cool evening. It was as if somewhere, someone had lit a very long fuse on a very strange bomb, and the community had gathered here to watch it explode.

Shortly before 8 p.m. it did exactly that, with the hall errupting with shouts of “Liar!” and “Hypocrite!”

After a relatively normal progression of board business, the school board’s youngest member, Danielle Miller (Dist. 2), issued an oral report to her constituents on her first five months on the board.

“I’m observing a lot of things,” Miller said, “and I think the most important thing is that the citizens expect us to act fairly and impartially and right now they don’t think were acting as such.

“I would like the record to reflect that I am not a part of opposing the SACS investigation,” Miller continiued.

“I question the leadership of the full board. I am quite puzzled and upset that we are allowing failure to take over. I am puzzled because the board has yet to take on our responsibility and gain good leadership.

“I would rather be separated from this board to stand up for what’s right than to stand up for what’s wrong.”

Following the statement, acting superintendent Marie Milam expressed that she had taken personal offense to Miller’s point of the board’s lack of leadership.

When Miller tried to clarify her statement, she was ruled out of order by chairperson Catherine Kennedy.

But to no avail.

Very quickly, the hall exploded in a flurry of insults, both from the hall and between board members.

After several attempts to bring the meeting back to order, Kennedy loudly adjourned the meeting – without entertaining a motion to do so.

“We get a lot of people speaking from what they think they see and what they think they know,” board member Annie McDaniel (Dist. 4) said in response, “and not speaking from actually being involved in our schools and actually having children in our school district and actually listening to those children express what they’re actually learning.

“Are we doing the best? No.

“Are the people who are speaking doing the best? No.

“Are the people who are speaking even contributing at all? I’ll let your heart be your guide.”

Last week a special review team from SACS (the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools) was greeted with a full-court-press defense when they arrived in the district to assess whether the Fairfield County School System is meeting their standards.

“The team was notified upon arrival that the superintendent, district staff and board of education members would not participate in scheduled interviews,” said Jennifer H. Oliver, Vice President of Communications for SACS.