The Wake County Board of Education is considering drafting a letter that would essentially apologize to Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens for board member Ron Margiotta?s comments about the settlement arrangement for Jim Black?s $1 million fine.
At a school board meeting this afternoon, several members floated the idea of writing a letter to the judge that would distance themselves from Margiotta, state the opinion of the board, and thank Stephens for his decision to accept two parcels of real estate in lieu of cash to settle Black?s fine.
At the same time, some board members expressed concern to school board attorney Ann Majestic that they were never informed of the impending deal until reading about it in the news media.
Margiotta raised some concerns about the validity of the appraisal that Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby and school board attorneys used to gauge the value of the properties.
The appraisal is a ?restricted use and appraisal,? and is intended for the use only of the individual who commissioned it (in this case, Black?s son).
But the school board did not discuss the issue for very long, as Majestic said that they had no authority to influence the decision reached by the DA and Black?s attorneys.
Judge Stephens caught some attention last week when he blessed out Margiotta ? by implication and not by name ? for criticizing his decision to allow Black to use property rather than cash to settle the fine.
