The Roanoke School Board reached consensus about one thing related to the highly publicized grievance hearing of William Fleming High School Principal Susan Willis on Tuesday evening: She had to go.

Where the board diverged, however, was which route to take.

A minority of the board wanted to give Willis, who was implicated in a Standards of Learning testing scandal, the opportunity to resign.

A subsequent motion to fire Willis was approved by a 5-2 vote. School board members Mae Huff and Courtney Penn, the board's only two black members, voted against the motion, which raised a touchy question about whether there is a racial divide among the board. Willis, too, is black.

Penn said Wednesday there was no such split. Huff could not be reached for comment.

"At the end of the day, the record is the record," Penn said of the vote. "It doesn't facilitate any type of conclusions."

Both Penn and Huff have declined to discuss the reasons behind their votes.

"I know Mae Huff and I know Courtney Penn," said Jeff Artis of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Roanoke chapter. "I know that there has to be a good reason why they voted the way they did."

City Councilwoman Anita Price, who is also a guidance counselor at a Roanoke elementary school, said she does not believe that Tuesday's vote indicates a racial rift. Price said she just wants to see the school system get back to what she said is important: educating the city's schoolchildren.

"As for race, it seems unfortunate that race is always right below the surface," Penn said. "On this instance, going into it, I don't guess I would expect people to think any differently."

He said that disappointed him.

The Roanoke branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is not taking a stance on the decision to dismiss Willis. President Brenda Hale said Wednesday that while the group is aware of the grievance process and the outcome, Willis' next move is up to her.

"We are not going to intercede," Hale said. "We have nothing to do with her decision as to what direction she wants to go in."

The board's decision is the end of the line for Willis unless she files a lawsuit. She previously acknowledged the option but said she had not made up her mind.

Artis, who also is an outspoken blogger and a city schoolteacher, said Willis "needs to ride off into the sunset." He said her actions were unconscionable and though the road ahead may be a rough one, the school will prevail.

"I think the community is going to come together," Artis said. "If Susan Willis just shuts her mouth and stays out of the fire, then the Fleming community can overcome this black eye."

Vice Mayor Sherman Lea served on the school board when Willis was hired.

"William Fleming is near and dear to me," he said Wednesday. "Both my children graduated from William Fleming. I think Susan did some good things there and I just think this is an unfortunate situation."

A Virginia Department of Education investigation implicated Willis as the ringleader in a schedule-manipulating scandal that kept dozens of special education students out of Standards of Learning tests in an apparent effort to bolster the high school's SOL results. She filed a grievance and had her claim heard by a three-person fact-finding panel. Witnesses testified before the panel for nine days at the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center. Willis footed the bill for using the facility. Ultimately, the panel provided the school board a written recommendation, which has not been publicly disclosed. The board's decision was based on the recommendation and the accompanying 2,000-plus pages of testimony transcripts.

The school board on Tuesday also approved a motion to attempt to recoup some of the costs associated with the scandal and to seek a way to open the grievance reports to the public.

"With the community not having the privilege of knowing all that transpired during the hearing process, that left us in a void," Hale said.

School board attorney Tim Spencer said releasing the grievance reports could potentially violate Willis' privacy rights. Because of that, the school board is calling on her to release the records herself.

"Right now, there is one person who has no legal impediment whatsoever to release those documents and that is Susan Willis," Spencer said.

Willis said Wednesday evening that she has not decided whether she will consent to the release of the grievance reports.

Spencer said he plans to consult the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council to determine whether Willis' partial release of the report may allow the board to make the entire report a public document.