Letter: Moss should return $33,000 bonus

The majority on the Beaufort County Board of Education recently gave Superintendent Jeff Moss a “proficient” performance review along with a $33,000 bonus.

The Moss majority on the school board include Mary Cordray, Evva Anderson, Laura Bush, Bill Payne, Earl Campbell, Geri Kinton and Paul Roth. They all voted to reward Moss, and as usual did it with no transparency.

In his nepotism scandal, Moss lied, suffered memory lapses, stonewalled the media, and denied he did anything wrong. Then he had the audacity to cop a guilty plea with the State Ethics Commission resulting in a fine of $3,000 and a public reprimand. What does he do next? He boasts about what a good job he’s doing and the board gives him a bonus.

Any accomplishments of Moss are overshadowed by one glaring unethical move when he covertly tried to pad his household income of $220,000 by more than 40 percent with the hiring of his wife to a front-office, $90,000 job. He has single-handedly destroyed the school district’s reputation and credibility with that single act. And it will take years for the school district to recover.

His name was not on the ballot on Nov. 8 but his unethical behavior was. It was the primary reason that voters overwhelmingly rejected the two school district ballot questions.

The voters were not fooled by Moss and a petition has now been started, demanding that Moss give back his $33,000 bonus. Why should his unethical behavior be rewarded? It makes no sense.

This story was originally published December 2, 2016 at 12:35 PM with the headline "Letter: Moss should return $33,000 bonus."