Beaufort Co. school board reprimands member after he sues board, district for defamation
Beaufort County school board members publicly reprimanded one of its members Tuesday evening for the second time in a year.
The board voted 8-1-2 to “publicly express its disapproval” of William Smith, the board’s Lady’s Island and St. Helena representative since 2019, for violating board policies on conduct. His colleagues specifically criticized him for trying to resolve school issues without involving Superintendent Frank Rodriguez or the rest of the board.
David Striebinger, the board’s secretary, made the motion to reprimand Smith coming out of closed session. Smith voted “no.” Angela Middleton and Mel Campbell abstained.
Striebinger listed the following board policies he said Smith had violated:
Each member has the obligation to bring constituent issues or new initiatives to the Board or the Superintendent, depending on whether the issue involves the Board’s role or the Superintendent’s role.
Members will not attempt to assume personal responsibility for resolving operational problems or complaints. Members will refer to the Superintendent or to his or her designee any complaints or concerns about operational issues.
Members shall not assume responsibility for resolving problems or complaints (and/or) give personal direction to any part of the operational BCSD.
He added that Smith had violated the district’s Administrative Rule E-13 on school visits, which requires visitors to go to the front office and get authorization from the principal before going anywhere else in the building.
In October 2020, the board voted to publicly reprimand Smith for violating a board policy that says members cannot make official visits to schools without notifying the school’s principal.
Smith has sued Beaufort County School District, the school board, board chairperson Christina Gwozdz, board member Richard Geier, former interim superintendent Herbert Berg and district chief of security David Grissom.
In the June 7 lawsuit, he alleged that the defendants slandered him and conducted “a concerted smear campaign” in 2019 after at least four employees filed complaints against him, claiming he “created a hostile work environment” by making unannounced visits to their office. (The defendants in that lawsuit responded to Smith’s claims on June 29, calling the suit “starkly self-serving” and asking for all of his claims to be dismissed.)
Smith said Tuesday that because of his pending lawsuit, his attorney advised him to not speak about the grievances until he had “sufficient time” to review a report made to the board by their attorney, Andrea White, and to “conduct my own investigation into the incident.”
He asked the board to postpone its vote on reprimanding him until the next meeting; the board voted 5-6 against postponing, with board chairperson Christina Gwozdz saying Smith and his attorney Maureen Coffey “have had more than 30 days to respond to this.”
Columbia-based attorney White was hired by the board in August “to investigate a grievance filed by a District employee against a Trustee.” Smith was the lone “no” vote on her hiring; she also represented the board in the 2019 grievances filed against Smith.
The school board has not named the subject of the August complaint or discussed the nature of the complaint. These complaints can encompass any form of work grievance, ranging from discrimination to a hostile environment to violations of the law.