Members show their colors
BOE not allowed to vote on principal issue
by Terry Toole

Three BOE members Vicki Merritt, left, Leroy Bush, with the cap on and Sheila Freeman, right, voted against allowing the full board to take up hiring of the Miller Elementary School principal.

The Miller County Board of Education met in regular session Monday evening, May 14, for the first time with all five members present since one BOE member resigned on February 6.

After the call to order by Chairman Leroy Bush, Terry Pickle gave the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

High School Principal Ginger Webster introduced the STAR student and STAR teacher to the crowd. The STAR student is Kayla Calhoun and she chose Bill Spooner as her STAR teacher. Also, Megan Phillips was introduced as being chosen as a Governor's Honor recipient. Stephanie Hart was recognized as receiving the Mitchell EMC award.

Since February 6, the four member board has attempted to carry on the biggest business in the county with one member short. At the risk of the governor appointing the member after the BOE failed to, a fifth member was finally appointed on Monday, April 9, of this year. David Lovering was named as the missing member for District Three.

Lovering was finally sworn in on April 19, and for the first time in more than 70 days, District Three had a voting member on the Miller County Board of Education.

According to state attorneys, the fifth member could have been named by the other BOE members the day after the vacancy occurred, but they did not, or the chairman did not bring it up since he had a tied board on hiring a principal.

Chairman Leroy Bush and newly elected member Sheila Phillips Freeman had said Richardson would not be rehired. On each occasion the motion to hire Principal Kent Richardson, Miller County Schools Superintendent would recommended that Richardson be rehired. BOE member Terry Pickle would make the motion, and Vicki Merritt would second the motion. Bush and Freeman would vote against the motion, and the tie was on for months.

When the motion to approve the agenda came up on May 14, with the first full regular board meeting since February 6, Terry Pickle made a motion to add to the agenda the issue of hiring a Miller County Elementary School Principal. New BOE member David Lovering seconded the motion. Leroy Bush, Sheila P. Freeman and Vicki Merritt voted against allowing the issue to come up for a full board to vote, in effect voting against rehiring Principal Kent Richardson.

Earlier, Superintendent Phillips stated that if the job of principal came up again, he would certainly recommend Kent Richardson since he has done a good job when he was principal of Miller County Middle School and he had done a good job at Miller County Elementary School when asked to take it and try to bring it back up to standards. Superintendent Phillips stated further that he wouldn't be too smart not to recommend one of the best principals in the State of Georgia by the State School Superintendent and the state Board of Education standards.

At the May 14 meeting, approximately 10 minutes of school business was handled in public with the rest in executive session in the "back room."

One of the spectators stated that this BOE didn't have to worry about the size of the new school buildings, not that they cared, because with the teachers quitting and leaving and parents taking their children out of this mess, they would have plenty of room.

Another spectator who waited for the board to come out of the "back room" said that this board of education has done more to bring down the standards of education in Miller County than any board in the history of the county.

When the members came out, it took seven minutes to "take care of all the business which included school personnel reports, review financial statements of all schools, approve financial statements for March, accept more letters of resignation from a teacher, permission to advertise for a teacher, approve additions to the substitute list, approve a board policy of JCEB, and sell a house on the new school property for $100.

Three of the new teachers of four were introduced to the BOE, so they could see who they hired. One new teacher was unable to come. The meeting was adjourned.

Chairman Bush had said, "All you can do is vote," when a citizen said wait till election time. A number of citizens said, "Voting may be enough to take care of several problems."