New Hanover County school board attorney announces resignation

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — The attorney for the New Hanover County school board announced his resignation Tuesday afternoon.

In a statement, Wayne Bullard wrote that his resignation as General Counsel to the School Board is effective March 17, 2020.

Bullard’s resignation comes just one week after he was highly criticized for recording video of audience members speaking about the handling of alleged sexual misconduct in New Hanover County Schools at the school board’s meeting on March 3.

When asked about the incident, school board member Judy Justice says she doesn’t know what reason Bullard would have for recording video, especially since the meeting are streamed live.

“It is not policy or practice for videotaping or photography to occur from the board table at any time,” a NHCS spokeswoman said.

In his statement, Bullard addressed the video recordings at the March 3 board meeting:

“For about the past year, I have been subjected to what, in my opinion, is extreme harassment and attempts at intimidation by several members of the public, two in particular.

Between them, they have made numerous false and defamatory statements about me, distributed them to my employer as well as other state and local officials, filed a complaint against me with the NC State Bar, reported me to the Sheriff’s Department, or reported me to the State Bureau of Investigation. I have done nothing to deserve those outrageous attacks. I have simply been doing my job.

At the School Board Meeting on March 3rd, I video recorded their public statements concerning me with my personal cell phone in an open and transparent manner.

School Board meetings are open to the public and speakers are video recorded routinely by the School Board itself, as well as reporters and members of the audience. What I did was perfectly legal.

I recorded the two speakers who were attacking me so I could document any abusive conduct and to ensure that I had a personal copy of what they said. I did not intimidate anyone. To suggest otherwise is absurd.

There was no policy, procedure, or practice of the School Board that prohibited me from recording the verbal attacks against me in a public meeting that was already being recorded by the Board and others.

I have the right to defend myself from false personal attacks. However, it seems that some members of the School Board may not be fully supportive of my efforts to defend myself. I choose not to continue to work in that environment. I am resigning as General Counsel to the School Board effective Tuesday, March 17th 2020.

I wish the students and the hard-working teachers, administrators, and other staff of the New Hanover County Schools well.”

There has been no word yet on who, if anyone, will replace Bullard as the school board’s attorney.