School board paid nearly $2,600 for letter to censure its own member

The cease-and-desist letter presented to school board member and frequent leadership critic JoAnn Orischak in December cost Beaufort County taxpayers nearly $2,600.

An unapologetic Mary Cordray, who was board chair at the time, said Monday it was well within her right to do so.

The Beaufort County Board of Education paid a Columbia law firm to help it write the three-page letter, even though the board has its own attorney on staff.

The decision to hire outside counsel was made by the board leadership at the time: Cordray, Laura Bush and Evva Anderson. Cordray said she didn’t consult staff attorney Drew Davis because, “It’s important not to put Mr. Davis, who has to work with board members on a regular basis, in the middle of that board issue.”

The school board has been dogged by dysfunction, in-fighting and, at times, increasingly personal attacks since it came under scrutiny for its lack of action during the scandal involving the hiring of Superintendent Jeff Moss’ wife in 2015. Orischak is one of the most vocal dissenters on the school board, often voting against the majority bloc.

A back-and-forth email chain between Orischak and attorney Davis shows the division is not healing. Orischak pressed Davis for information on how the letter came to be, with the attorney initially replying only that he knew nothing of it and offering no assistance.

At one point, Orischak’s irritation became clear.

“You report to the Board,” she wrote. “I find it incredulous that you have no knowledge” of the attorney who was hired and what fees were paid.

Davis eventually provided the information, but reached Monday he said he had no knowledge of the hiring at the time, hadn’t received a copy of the invoice and still doesn’t have a copy.

The $2,592.50 expense was one that only three of the 11 board members approved, Cordray confirmed Monday. Signed by Cordray, the letter asked for Orischak to cease and desist from “all actions which adversely affect the functions and operations of the District and the School Board.”

Orischak called Cordray’s hiring of an outside firm “way out of line.”

“(Cordray) did not have the right to seek outside counsel without the permission of the full board,” Orischak said.

She pointed to the policy manual, which does not specify if board officers can unilaterally approve hiring outside counsel.

Cordray countered, “There is no requirement for a board vote for outside counsel. It’s standard practice for chairs, not just me.”

She offered the example of an outside firm assisting with the board’s evaluation of the superintendent.

“There was no vote for that,” she said.

The cease-and-desist letter is not an option listed in the board’s policy manual for disciplining a fellow board member. Nevertheless, at the Dec. 13 board meeting, the board voted 7-3 to send the letter to Orischak. Orischak, along with board members Joseph Dunkle and David Striebinger, voted against it.

Boykin & Davis, a Columbia-based law firm that is unrelated to school district attorney Drew Davis, received the $2,592.50 payment.

The lack of a policy stating when the board should turn to outside counsel, or if board members can or can’t unilaterally hire outside counsel, could soon be cleared up.

In early May, current board chairwoman Patricia Felton-Montgomery announced the formation of an ad-hoc committee to discuss outside counsel. The first meeting was scheduled for early June but was canceled because of scheduling conflicts. It has been rescheduled for 2:30 p.m. June 27 at Okatie Elementary, according to an email board member Bill Payne sent May 30.

This story was originally published June 5, 2017 at 8:59 PM with the headline "School board paid nearly $2,600 for letter to censure its own member."