As if Robert Escamilla – the ‘Mr. Peepers’ of Enloe High School – didn’t have enough problems after being demoted and publicly tarred and feathered by School Superintendent Del Burns, now, School Board Chairman Rosa Gill, lowering her head, has charged right over him too.

Mrs. Gill feels that the students and parents questioning Superintendent Burns public pillorying of Mr. Escamilla are attacking her Board’s integrity. Her solution was swift. And brutal. She released Mr. Escamilla’s confidential personnel file to the press.

But not all of it.

Just part.

She left out eighteen years of reports praising Mr. Escamilla.

When asked if that was fair Mrs. Gill lowered her head and charged again. “You can mess up in one year,” she said defiantly. “Having a good evaluation one year doesn’t mean you’ll keep it.” Especially if you run a foul of Mr. Burns and Mrs. Gill.

What Mrs. Gill saw as justice, the North Carolina Teachers Association saw as a not too subtle way to intimidate teachers. They said so. And Mrs. Gill lowered her head and charged, again, declaring, “We’re not trying to put the fear of God in teachers.” No! But she’s done a good job of putting the fear of Rosa Gill and Del Burns into them.

The last time the School Board saw fit to release a personal file was twenty-years ago when a principal was fired for making sexual advances to a student. By comparison all ‘Mr. Peepers’ did was appeal what he thought was an unfair demotion.

Rosa Gill has been on a rampage lately. She gored the Chairman of the County Commissioners, Tony Gurley, at a recent meeting because he said she was paying more for land than an appraisal said it was worth. In a way, Chairman Gurley is fair game. After all, he’s a politician and he climbed into the ring with Mrs. Gill voluntarily. But, maybe she ought to draw the line at goring ‘Mr. Peepers.’ After all, all he wants is his job back.

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