Our view: School board fails to address problem

The Beaufort County Board of Education flunked its big test Monday night.

It failed to address the root of the problem placed on it by Superintendent Jeff Moss' unethical behavior. The root of the problem is not a nepotism policy that should have prevented Moss from hiring his wife to a newly created $90,000 job in the central office. The root of the problem is Moss.

Moss removed a perfectly clear administrative rule stating that members of the superintendent's family cannot take central office jobs.

The board should have publicly dissected Moss' stunning move -- when did he make the change, at whose request, with whose consent, upon whose advice and for what reason. How can a superintendent unilaterally change district regulations to enrich his family?

Instead of publicly exploring the real problem, the board came to agreement on the next steps in executive session, came out and read them off, unanimously voted on them and then dismissed.

It sounds as if they are going to shuffle some papers around about nepotism policies and perhaps actually approve hirings once a month.

That can hardly be called progress.

Board chairman Bill Evans, a champion of Moss, announced that the superintendent's wife had voluntarily resigned her new position on Saturday.

That's good, but it dodges the problem.

She never should have had the job. How did it happen? Why would you employ a chief executive who made it happen? How and why did the school board relinquish oversight of its superintendent?

Moss' behavior has incensed the broadest and deepest segment of the community we've ever seen get incensed. But apparently the say-nothing board was more influenced by Moss' employees who testified to his great vision and the qualifications of his wife for her short-lived job as "director of innovation."

The board, not to mention the public, did not even merit a full apology from Moss. He apologized to the board for the trouble he had caused them and their families due to the strong backlash from the public. But he did not apologize for the blatant nepotism that destroyed his personal credibility and that of the school board.

To be the leaders the school district so desperately needs at this moment, the board must first lead in public.

And it must keep plugging at this problem. It was discouraging to hear a board member say after the meeting that the unethical hiring is over and "the past is behind us."

No, it's not.

Questions remain about just how the tail can continue to wag the dog in Beaufort County.

This story was originally published September 23, 2015 at 9:51 AM with the headline "Our view: School board fails to address problem ."