By Miles Layton

Good morning

Happy Mother’s Day!

Per Gates County, let’s start with this email I received Saturday night, after I went to bed after a brutally long day, regarding our story about the exchange between the Gates County Commission and the Gates County Board of Education.

See our story here about that.

Email comes from Commission Chair Emily Truman at 9:32 p.m. Saturday:  

Good evening! 

I am not one to typically forward emails to any sort of media without request, I do however believe in full disclosure of information and not pieces of it. So sending this for clarification and context of public record. Also, I know that some of my fellow Board might call out that the Board of Education did not request this meeting in response to our memorandum, but that we had actually sent a request for the meeting Wednesday (that request is not included in the attached thread).

Appreciate all you do for helping to inform the citizens. In the below thread you can see the two emails from today prior to the one that you were included in. 

Have a great night! 

Emily Truman

—

Per this editor, let’s back up a moment – why am I publishing these exchanges? Not to stir the pot, but to provide transparency.

After living and working in West Virginia for many years, often covering Governor Joe Manchin – who is a great leader – I got a rare glimpse into a public official who had a firm belief that transparency in public matters is always best.  Not every politician or public body is that way and when they are not, a cancer builds that threatens the citizens’ trust for their government.  

Say what you want, Gates County has been very transparent throughout this budget and school consolidation process.

Long story short, here is the email chain Truman sent late Saturday to clarify the back-and-forth between the commission and the school board.  

Let’s start with the Memorandum that Truman sent Friday, May 8 at 4:51 p.m.

MEMORANDUM

TO:                                 Leslie Byrum, Chairman

                                          Gates County Board of Education

FROM:                          Emily Truman, Chair

                                          Gates County Board of Commissioners

SUBJECT:                        Statement of Intention

RE:                                  FY 2026-2027 Budget for the Gates County School District

DATE:                            May 8, 2026

At its special meeting, this afternoon the Board of Commissioners discussed its funding options for the next fiscal year and approved a statement of intention, by majority vote (Truman, Berryman, Forsythe) in favor and one opposed (Rountree) as follows:

First, it is the Board of Commissioners current inclination to fund the school current expense in the amount of $2,953,000.

Secondly, it is the Board of Commissioners current intention to appropriate separate funding for the closure and relocation costs to facilitate the consolidation of three elementary schools to two facilities.  The governing body will act expeditiously subject to the review and approval of the School District’s plan of action and full closure report.

Third, the County will take possession of the Buckland Elementary School property at the end of the current fiscal year.  As such the County will assume responsibility for the costs of closure, utilities, maintenance, insurance and security of the facility and campus.  Any future use of the former Buckland Elementary School property will be determined and approved by the owner, the Board of Commissioners.

Fourth, the Board of Commissioners is currently inclined to provide certain guidelines and restrictions for the use of local funds, including but not limited to the prohibition of using local funds for salary supplements and/or stipends for central office staff, in line with general statutes, effective July 1, 2026.

Fifth, it is the Board of Commissioners current inclination to fund school capital outlay in the amount of $100,000.

It is the desire and goal of the Board of Commissioners to be good stewards of taxpayer funds and seek to build a strong and effective relationship with the Board of Education.  We expect the leadership (Chair & Vice Chair) of both boards to meet monthly with the Superintendent and County Manager and our respective Finance Officers to address future funding for projects and priorities.  Likewise, it is the Board’s intention to continue our quarterly joint meetings of both full boards.

Best,

Emily Truman 

Here are the other emails Truman sent Saturday night to provide clarification:

From Byrum on Saturday, May 9 at 7:20 a.m. 

Good morning Friends,

I received a letter from Dr. Williams on Thursday stating that he didn’t feel the need to have a special call meeting on May 12th.  Therefore I didn’t call a meeting to be posted.

He stated that we have prepared and presented a budget for the 2026 through 2027 budget to the Commissioners earlier.  

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call me or email me.

I hope Ms. Emily and Ms. Renee have a Blessed and Wonderful Mother’s Day!!!

Thanks again,

—

Sincerely,

Leslie Spencer Byrum

From Truman Saturday, May 9 at 4:55 p.m: 

Good afternoon! 

We have posted notice of the meeting and will be following through on our end with holding the meeting. It was mentioned during our last time together that there would likely be the need for another joint meeting prior to the end of budget season. I can appreciate that your Superintendent doesn’t see the need, but with the budget being a topic that felt quite incomplete by the end of our last meeting, I would hope that the Board of Education, as is allowed per statute, would follow through with calling and holding the meeting on their own regard. The Superintendent is able to call a meeting, but the Board Chair can also call a meeting if they deem fit. My Vice Chair and I just recently exercised this right ourselves. 

With code books distributed to our Board this week and further questions arising after the opportunity to dive in, along with the desire to hear updates from any work sessions and modifications of request that you all may have had since our last meeting, we do hope to see you at the table. The invitation to your Board remains, whether staff be required to attend or not. As per statute, there is still a little over 24 hours to post notice. We hope to see you there. 

And thank you for the Mother’s Day wishes! 

Best,

Emily Truman

From Byrum at 7:31 p.m. Saturday, May 9:

Good evening everyone,

I have attached a Special Call Joint Meeting Request for both Boards.

The objective of this meeting is to answer any unknown questions that the Commissioners have on our 2026-2027 budget and the MEMORANDUM DATED MAY 8, 2026 from the Commissioners.  The School Board would like to have some clarification on this MEMORANDUM.

It is simply that one side thinks that everything is complete and the other sides thinks it is incomplete.

This meeting requested is not to call names of employees of the school system or accused any employee of any work performance.  Our meeting is to discuss what is the best of amount of money to allocate to the school budget for the upcoming year and to see that  every child and staff can succeed.

WE ALL MUST ACT IN A SPECIAL MANNER!  There is a right way to say something that we disagree on. We must use our words better.   Remember everyone has an opinion and who is to say we are right or wrong on our opinion!  “THEREFORE LETS ALL ACT PROFESSIONAL”!

It is clear that both Boards are divided.  IT IS TIME FOR BOTH BOARDS TO UNITE!!! 

WE ARE TO ACT IN THE BEST INTEREST OF OUR TAXPAYERS, CHILDREN, AND STAFF OF BOTH BOARDS.

This special call  meeting is being sent to you and will be posted on the door of the Gates County Board of Education.  I don’t have access to our website.

Thanking you,

—

Sincerely,

Leslie Spencer Byrum