The Richmond County Board of Education on Saturday, Jan. 7, elected a president and vice president and called for a special election March 21 to fill a vacant seat.
At a Saturday meeting, the board unanimously elected Charlie Walker Jr. As President. He is the current vice president and a trustee since 2018. Walker works for Modern Business Workplace Solutions, the office equipment and supply business owned by Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson, and Johnson openly expressed support for Walker.
The board elected Shawnda Griffin, a small business owner who nominated herself, as vice president. Griffin, who said she prefers to use her married name Shawnda Stovall, was seconded by Trustee Wayne Frazier. Trustee Patsy Scott was the only “no” vote against Griffin.
The nominations and elections were marked by a discussion, raised by Trustee Helen Minchew, of board “norms” and the need to follow them.
“For whoever is nominated or elected, there are some really basic things that I feel we need to address,” Minchew said. The first was the importance of communication, in having a “more of a complete method of informing all board members” about school system concerns, she said. “We should all be able to weigh in.”
The second was confidentiality. “If we’re going to communicate as a board and work together, we have to keep matters confidential. We cannot go out in the community; we cannot send social media texts trying to say or undermine what’s going on, until we get or make a decision among ourselves. Then, it’s fine to send it out to the public,” Minchew said.
The third was adhering to the board’s norms, a set of rules approved by the board last year governing how members conduct themselves. The norms cover interactions with system staff, students, the public and the media and designate the president as official board spokesperson, with the vice president serving in the president’s absence.
“We as a board have to help our leadership work toward sticking with those norms. We know what they are and we have to take them seriously,” Minchew said.
Trustee: Norms not being followed
Trustee Jimmy Atkins, who has served as board president and vice president twice, said one or more trustees were breaking the rules.
“To be honest there’s been a lot of times since those were implemented roughly six to eight months ago, and they’ve not been followed,” Atkins said. “I’ve been guilty of not saying anything or calling the individual out or individuals, whatever the situation was, in an effort to keep peace. Going forward, those norms have got to be the standard that we live by, and when a board member does not adhere to those, this board needs to look at what the penalties would be.”
The norms identify no penalties or procedures for handling a trustee who breaks them.
After he was elected, Walker thanked the board for its support and said he would abide by the norms.
“We all have a voice, and I will echo what Mrs. Minchew just said; that our standards and norms are what I’m going to use to guide me as we move forward. We’re all accountable to those. We spent a lot of time coming up with those norms and standards and we should follow them to the letter, with some flexibility,” he said.
Griffin affirmed that as vice president she would abide by the norms. Asked about her goals in the role, she said restoring trust and raising visibility.
“One of the areas we need to strengthen is community visibility, being present, winning the trust back in the community,” Griffin said. “One of the things I bring to the table is being able to work across lines with any and everybody. I know how to leave my personal differences to the side, out the door and come in here and do the the board for the kids.”
Trustee Wayne Frazier, one of the board’s more outspoken members who has been publicly critical of the system, warned the board about selectively enforcing the norms.
“I would just caution when we do that, we want to make sure we write those rules out and be transparent and let’s not pick and choose who we’re going to punish, based on who we like and who we don’t like,” he said.
The discussion about board norms wasn’t directed at either of its new leaders, Trustee Venus Cain said. Other members did not return calls seeking comment.
Special election set to replace Tyrique Robinson
As expected, the board called for a special election March 21 to fill the District 6 seat left open by the Nov. 15 death of Tyrique Robinson.
Board attorney Larry Fletcher said the school system’s charter does not address what to do when a trustee-elect is unable to take office, while state law requires a special election be called within 45 days, which did not happen, he said.
But under the law that redrew the school system district lines, the sitting District 6 trustee continues to serve until a successor takes office, Fletcher said.
“What this means is A.K. Hasan will continue to serve until the successor to Tyrique Robinson is elected,” he said.
Hasan, whom state legislators drew out of District 6, released a statement Saturday stating it was a “privilege” to serve in Robinson’s absence.
At 20, Robinson beat Hasan’s record of being the youngest person ever elected to the school board, which Hasan set in 1981 at age 26.
“I was quite impressed with Tyrique on the two occasions that we chatted about his candidacy for the school board here at board meetings,” Hasan said.
Formal candidate qualifying will be held Jan. 17-19 and two candidates, Ed Lowery and Laura Green, have filed notices they are accepting campaign contributions so far.
