Beaufort County school board reveals reason for 4 employee complaints against member
More than one year and $16,000 after four Beaufort County School District employees lodged complaints against school board secretary William Smith, the reason for the complaints has been revealed, but not the details.
Smith disrupted “the day-to-day operations of schools” and visited schools without notifying principals he was coming — both violations of school board policies — board member Richard Geier said, asking the school board to “publicly express its disapproval” of Smith.
Geier said Smith had violated the policies in 2019, leading to four employee complaints against Smith. The board learned about the complaints in June 2019, but at the time the board refused to make the complaints public, denying requests made under the Freedom of Information Act.
“Unfortunately, we’ve had multiple violations of this policy over a year ago, and we did not make our displeasure obviously known, because it’s happened again,” Geier said.
Smith had “passion and initiative,” Geier said, but he was afraid of lawsuits against the board, referencing two recent harassment suits filed by former and current Beaufort County officials — one employee and one elected official — against auditor Jim Beckert, an elected official.
“When you make the same mistake twice, actions must be taken,” Geier said. “So I have regretfully made this motion to ensure it does not happen again.”
Reached Tuesday night after the board meeting, Smith declined to comment on Geier’s motion or the complaints, other than to say “it’s like deja vu all over again.”
The board voted 8-3 to postpone a vote on Geier’s motion. Member David Striebinger said the postponement was to give Smith “time to digest the complaint and make his response to the board.”
“Before we take any action, we need to hear both sides,” Striebinger said.
Smith, JoAnn Orischak and John Dowling voted against postponing the vote.
Dowling said that he believed Geier’s motion “should not be entertained at all,” and said it represented a “continued harassment” of Smith by fellow board members.
In August, Smith and board chairwoman Christina Gwozdz publicly clashed at a board meeting, with Smith asking Gwozdz to “take her foot off my neck and let me breathe and serve my community.”
That exchange led to a formal discussion at a board work session of Smith’s conduct. In an August interview with The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette, Smith said, “there’s been multiple things since I came on this board that have led up to this situation.”
“I don’t believe I’ve been able to serve my community under certain things that have been going on on this board,” Smith added.
What we know
The public still does not know what the board did in August 2019 to resolve the four complaints — at least three of which were filed within eight days of each other, district emails show. The action came in a closed meeting with board attorney Andrea White.
Also unknown: Whether Smith was disciplined last August as a result of the complaints, or what drove then-superintendent Herb Berg to order a seemingly illegal concealed weapon permit check on Smith in June.
Only Smith and board chairwoman Christina Gwozdz have confirmed they’ve seen the actual complaints.
Smith was cleared to discuss the details of the grievances in February, but declined to do so.
In February, Geier, along with board members Tricia Fidrych and Cathy Robine, confirmed that they had been briefed on “the general details” of the complaints and that they did not involve anything illegal or sexual in nature.
Smith said in February that district employees should have filed their complaints against him with South Carolina’s State Ethics Commission instead of the district.
“You know why they didn’t go through the State Ethics Commission?” he asked. “Once you grieve someone and there’s no merit to it, then you possibly might have to pay any law fees or any fees that they’ve taken out of their own pocket.”
Smith and his lawyer, Clifford Bush III, have previously discussed the possibility of filing a lawsuit stemming from the complaints, though neither has elaborated on what the suit would say.
On Tuesday, Smith declined to comment on any whether he had any plans to file a suit or take other legal action, saying he needed “time to think.”
White’s firm and David Grissom, the district’s chief security officer, ran background checks on Smith without his knowledge before the complaints were resolved. Smith responded at a February school board meeting that that was “out of order and criminal.”
A private investigator contracted by White’s firm ran a background check on Smith during their investigation, which cost the district upwards of $16,000.
In June, then-superintendent Berg asked David Grissom, the district’s chief security officer, to check if Smith had a concealed weapon permit.
In an email to Gwozdz, Berg said Grissom had not found a permit for Smith, though Smith said in an interview with the newspapers that he has had a concealed weapon permit for several years.
According to state law, Grissom should not have been able to confirm whether Smith had a permit, as he is not a law enforcement officer.
This story was originally published October 6, 2020 at 7:57 PM.