From the Gaston Gazette (5/20/11): A Gaston County health education worker caught sleeping on the job and an EMT accused of conducting an unauthorized medical procedure were fired last year, according to personnel records. An assistant principal tested positive for a controlled substance and was demoted and reassigned to another school.
Long-overdue changes to the North Carolina Public Records Law that took effect in 2010 gave residents more details about these dismissals — as well as information on government workers’ promotions, demotions and suspensions. Employees who are paid with public money should be accountable to the public they serve.
Now, a bill proposed by a state lawmaker would hide some of this information once more.
It’s a bad idea, even if it’s a well-intentioned one.
The lawmaker in question is state Sen. Pete Brunstetter, R-Forsyth, and his bill would limit access to records involving pay, promotions and dismissals of local government workers. He took up the move to revise the 2010 law because lobbying groups for municipalities, counties, sheriffs and school boards asked for it.