Where are they now: After nepotism scandal, former board chairman Evans adjusting to retirement

The news was out and the community was upset. Beaufort County School District superintendent Jeff Moss had changed the school district's nepotism rule and approved the hiring of his wife.

Only one of Moss' bosses on the school board knew what he had done -- chairman Bill Evans.

"There's a dark cloud hanging over the district," a board member said during a closed-door session of the board on Oct. 6, adding he had repeatedly been stopped in public and questioned about the rule change. "I don't know how to remove the cloud."

Evans had an idea on how to do it. As conversation around the conference room table continued, he quietly pulled out a piece of notebook paper and penned his resignation letter.

He never thought he would do it. The 68-year-old Lady's Island resident had spent 45 years in education. Part of it was as a principal at Battery Creek and Beaufort high schools, part as an ombudsman and director of athletics and school community relations and finally as the chairman of the school board.

Now, two months later, Evans said he doesn't regret walking away from his life's work as an educator. It was time for a change for him personally and for the school district.

But he's sorry his sacrifice didn't accomplish his goal. The dark cloud is still looming. The public still doesn't trust the school board.

"Possibly, I didn't have a very good insight into what my action was going to accomplish," Evans conceded this week.

Evans said he still feels a ping of disappointment when he reads media accounts of the board's continued squabbling. He points to a few board members who, he says, takes a back seat during school board meetings, then lambaste the board afterward for its inaction. He argued Monday that the controversy over the hiring of Jeff Moss' wife may have been settled by now if one of the critical members had sought to release Jeff Moss from his contract.

And recently, when commenters were criticizing the school board on Facebook, he couldn't help but chime in, pushing them to run for school board since they were so confidant in how to run the school district.

"You just can't look at a singular incident and say this incident represents everything you need to know about a superintendent or the school board or the school district," Evans said. "No, it doesn't."

But he's learning to let go of the past. He's learning to look elsewhere for meaning.

"It was tough for the first week or two," he said. "But it's gotten a lot better."

He's getting reacquainted with the Neighborhood Outreach Committee and local chapters of the United Way and Rotary Club, which he stepped away from in 2010 to avoid conflicts of interest as a school board member.

And there's the camper. Evans and his wife recently bought a simple, 24-foot travel trailer. A couple of months ago, they hitched it up to their pickup truck and took it on a test run -- a three-day trip to Hunting Island. For Thanksgiving, they camped in it near Clemson.

And they're making plans for a longer trip for the summer, visiting national parks out West.

"It's nothing fancy by any means," Evans said. "It's simple. It's got a bed, a kitchen and a bathroom. We're looking forward to using this to take some extended trips to go and see our children and grandchildren, maybe take some of the grandchildren along."

On Monday, Evans drove to Hilton Head Island to hear a friend, William Bilek, speak to the First Monday Republican Lunch Group about American Jews, politics and Israel.

After the lunch, a woman approached him and said he had behaved unethically.

He listened. He was polite. He told her that she didn't know him.

And on Monday, he repeated his regret for not telling his fellow board members that Moss' wife was interested in a district job. He added that he wished Jeff Moss has told the school board when he changed the nepotism rule.

That's all he can do. He's no longer the voice of the school board. And changing people's minds it out of his control.

"I told people my mantra for years is, 'I'm not surprised by anything people do. I just get disappointed every once in a while.' "

Follow reporter Rebecca Lurye on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Rebecca.

Previously reported:

• Chairman Bill Evans resigns from Beaufort County school board, October 6, 2015
• 1 of 2 Beaufort County school board candidates stands with 3 members against Moss review, December 3, 2015

This story was originally published December 7, 2015 at 6:24 PM with the headline "Where are they now: After nepotism scandal, former board chairman Evans adjusting to retirement."