Update: School board passes nepotism policy by slim margin
This story was updated Feb. 4 to clarify remarks attributed to Thomas Greiner.
The Beaufort County school board's new nepotism policy includes no restrictions on the hiring of a superintendent's immediate family members, despite last minute efforts by some members to ban just that.
The policy passed 6-4 at Tuesday night's regularly scheduled meeting, with board members Evva Anderson, Joseph Dunkle, JoAnn Orischak and Michael Rivers opposing. Anderson had sought to reinstate language that would prohibit any family members of the superintendent from working for the district, but was shot down by a majority.
"Its unconstitutional, unfair and inappropriate," Paul Roth said of imposing a different rule on the superintendent than on other employees.
One member of the public, Citizens About Responsible Education member Rebecca Bass, let out a quiet "Oh my God" as the board gave its final vote.
The tally put a dot on an issue that has plagued the board since mid-September when Superintendent Jeff Moss changed his own nepotism rule and recommended the hiring of his wife.
The board had promised to craft an overarching nepotism policy the same night Moss announced his wife's resignation.
The policy does not go as far as the district's current "performance expectation" for the superintendent on human resources, which states that the superintendent must "inform the Board when initially recommending individuals to administrative level positions or general contracting positions who are immediate family members of the Superintendent, Executive Leadership, or Principals."
Board chair Mary Cordray has previously said to a reporter that the performance expectation still stands, though district spokesman Jim Foster said Tuesday night the board will now review the performance expectation to determine whether it is in sync with the new policy.
No board members mentioned that human resources' performance expectation during Tuesday's meeting -- or in any public discussion of the nepotism policy.
Still, Orischak said the final language was less stringent than any rule the district has imposed before relating to conflicts of interest.
"We have actually stepped backwards," she said before voting against the policy.
The new rule includes similar language to what Moss revised over the summer around the same time as his wife applied for the district's new director of innovation job. Under the policy, he could once again recommend Darlene Moss' hiring to the unfilled director of innovation job.
It states:
No immediate family members may have direct supervisory authority over each other, work in the same administrative unit or school building, or for the same immediate supervisor without prior approval from the superintendent.
The superintendent does not have to notify the board when he or she grants approval, though the board is responsible for ratifying all district hires once a month.
However, all district staff, including the superintendent are required to remove themselves from situations in which they would make a conflict of interest decision that would impact themselves.
Additionally, no immediate family member of a board member can begin working for the district without written approval of the board.
Members of the executive leadership were also defined Tuesday night as senior staff.
One speaker, Thomas Greiner of Beaufort, told the board Tuesday it had failed the public. David Striebinger was elected to the seat late Tuesday over his opponent Rebecca Cooper and is invited to join the board at its work sessions Friday and Saturday.
Members Orischak and Dunkle had requested the board wait, but their motions failed.
Greiner also criticized Moss, saying he and the board had since this "created an environment where dissent is muzzled and governance in good judgment have been overcome by politics, misinformation and damage control."
Moss responded to the comments a few minutes later, correcting another claim Greiner made that he had removed a student from a round table discussion for fear the student would bring up the nepotism controversy. Moss said he did no such thing.
Moss added that, after four months, he's tired of listening to inaccuracies and false statements about him, some of which he believes are delivered with "malicious intent."
"I'm not going to sit quietly any longer" and will seek to correct false information, Moss said. "Whether I do it in a superintendent's report or someone else does it for me, but everyone in this room knows what's being said is inaccurate."
Follow reporter Rebecca Lurye on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Rebecca.
Related content:
- Superintendent changed nepotism rule: Questions arise following wife's hire for new position, September 14, 2015
- Dissent marks school board's first nepotism talk, November 17, 2015
- School board's nepotism policy could be final in February, January 20, 2016
This story was originally published February 2, 2016 at 9:26 AM with the headline "Update: School board passes nepotism policy by slim margin."